Archive for Ohio

NY/Canada, PA, OH Photos

Posted by Andrew on July 5th, 2009 - No Comments;  

Rain. Not sure what else stands out for me from NY, PA, and OH other than the rain, which is disappointing. Riding farm country in NY wasn’t bad, but I’ve seen farms in the northeast, so nothing new there. The best part of NY was not actually in NY at all - it was crossing into Canada, then back into NY later that day. Crossing the border on a bike amused me:

Border Policeman: where are you coming from?
Me: Um, New York? (huh? Bridge starts in NY and ends in Canada…)
BP: Where did your trip start?
Me: Maine
BP: Where are you going?
Me: Uhh, Canada?
BP: Where will your trip end?
Me: Hopefully in Oregon
BP: OK, go ahead.

The vineyards out in NY/PA were interesting too, but I blasted through most of it due to the rain. OH was my first experience riding in a truly flat area. We have little stretches of flat roads in VT, but nothing like this. Completely flat for as far as I could see in every direction.  More on the midwest later…

View NY photos on flickr…

View PA photos on flickr…

View OH photos on flickr…

ArrayAt Niagara Falls, Canada
view on flickr»

ArrayWelcome to Pennsylvania
view on flickr»

ArraySunset over Lake Erie in OH
view on flickr»

Almost 1500 Miles: Things I’ve Learned

Posted by Andrew on June 27th, 2009 - 3 Comments...  

  1. Bugs in the midwest appear to be tougher than east-coast bugs.  On a fairly regular basis, they manage to land on me and wander around while I’m riding.  Doing my part to get rid of a few - I must have inhaled about a dozen yesterday.
  2. Don’t clip one foot into the pedals and push yourself on a wet street.  Your foot will slip on a manhole cover, and you will be sorry.
  3. I am in John Deere country.  The signs, t-shirts, shorts, hats, flags, and bumperstickers tell me so every day.  I rode by a house with a Craftsman lawnmower (ride-on, of course), and a Case tractor outside - I would be willing to bet that he has no friends.
  4. Don’t steer off the road when waving to tractors, old people, little kids, or critters on the side of the road.  I waved to a family of beavers back in OH; I had been waving to tractors all day long, and it seemed like a logical thing to do.  One of them hissed at me - I hope someone makes a hat out of him.
  5. We grow an absolutely absurd amount of corn in this country.  The tallest I’ve seen is only only about 5 feet, so I can see that the fields go on forever.  First it was wheat, corn, and soybeans, then just corn and soybeans, now it’s almost all corn

Cruising on through Illinois today, and I’ll enter Iowa tomorrow.  As soon as I enter Iowa, I’ll turn north and head up to Minnesota.  I have some route changes in the works, which I’ll write more about tomorrow.  Does anyone have anything good to say about North Dakota?

Breakfast!

Posted by Andrew on June 27th, 2009 - 2 Comments...  

I’m really enjoying breakfast lately…  I stopped at “The Donut Shop” in Huron, OH for my 2nd breakfast and chatted with 6 older guys for a while.  Small shop, no tables, just one long looping counter with stools, half of which were occupied.  The questions started about 2 seconds after I sat down and came simultaneously from all directions.  I managed to hold conversations about saddles, bike frames, camping, and someone’s son-in-law from Cornell that rides a fancy Italian bike - and eat my large muffin at the same time.  While all of this was going on, I was promptly announced to anyone that walked in the door, “Hey Joe, this guy’s riding out to Oregon!” which, of course, kept the conversation moving along pretty well.  I left when the conversation switched to fenceposts - someone’s wife is very particular about the height of the fenceposts, apparently to within the half-inch.

Topped by breakfast a few days later in Monroeville, IN at the Pour House…  I met up with 2 other cross-country bikers, Jerry and Kris, also headed west, and we “camped” out at the pavillion in town.  Monroeville has a fantastic air-conditioned community builing with a shower, washer, dryer, and ample fridge space.  Great place to clean up, wash some clothes, and relax for an evening - thank you Monroeville!  On our way back from dinner, we asked everyone we passed for a breakfast recommendation.  The votes were split between the 3 restaurants in town (Kickin’ Chicken, Pour House, and White Dove), so we went back to the Pour House - dinner was good, so it was worth a try for breakfast. 

I arrived a few minutes late, just as Dan, the cook, brought out a plate of poached eggs for Jerry.  “I hope these are OK, I’ve never made poached eggs before, so I ran down the street to my Grandma’s house to ask her what to do.  She sent me back with her egg-poaching pan.”  Now that’s service!  Grandma stopped by a few minutes later to check on the eggs - I’ve got a picture of myself, Jerry, Kris, Dan, and Grandma, will post it next week sometime.  The pancakes were enormous (Dan made me an extra one because I looked hungry), and my side order of sausage turned out to be two quater-pound patties.  No real maple syrup around - the fake stuff has corn syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, and I think it had plain old sugar too.

1,000 Miles, Rain, Suburbs, Glass

Posted by Andrew on June 22nd, 2009 - 2 Comments...  

1000 miles!  Finally out of the  suburbs of Cleveland, the weather is good, and the roads are excellent.

I was not having fun at all for a few days - it seemed like nothing went well.  After I left the Erie Canalway (very nice ride) the weather got nasty and just wouldn’t let up.  I missed seeing the Canadian side of Niagara falls because of the rain and fog and the Cycling Museum in Orchard Park was closed when I got there (slow going in the rain).  Oh yeah, first flat in the rain too, that was fun.  It let up for 15 mins while I took things apart, then promptly started to pour again.  Outside of Buffalo I got into wine country for a bit, which was nice, but then the suburbs started.  I had a feeling I wouldn’t like riding through the suburbs  and Cleveland itself.  I was right.  I stopped on the corner of 3rd and West Superior in Cleveland and thought, “why the hell am I riding my bike through Cleveland!@#%?  Of all of the places I could ride in this country, why am I here?”

I remember standing in front of the train station in Buffalo for a bit thinking about packing up and going somewhere else because of the weather.  Not home, just somewhere else.  In retrospect, I should have taken the train right through Cleveland to the other side and started again.  I’ve got more to stay about the start of the trip, but I’ll save that for later.  In short, things got off to a slow start because I am so familiar with the northeast.  I’m glad it’s out of the way.

So, goodbye Cleveland.  Excellent parks along the lake (most with ice cream), well done on that front.  Really awful roads around the city, but thumbs up to Avon Lake and Sheffield Lake for the outstanding bike path.

Side note: what’s the deal with the broken bottles on the side of the road?  To the asshole that launches bottles out of the car, uhh, you’re an asshole.  Topped only by whoever is dropping dirty diapers on the side of the road.  Come on.

Headed to Bowling Green, OH, about 70 miles for the day.  I’m excited to ride this part of the country - I don’t know where I am, I’m looking forward to rolling through little towns along the way, and the sun’s out!