June 29, 2005

A Ride Along Lake Erie

We got a bit of a late start as the pictures I emailed to my son Jason late last night didn’t make it. We talked on the phone early this AM and he gave me a suggestion to make it work. I had to reorganize, zip, and attach the files in smaller groups. I talked to him this evening and he got them fine.

We only got in fourteen miles before second breakfast which we had at Gary’s Diner in Clyde, OH. The place was packed when we got there which is a sign of good food. Where Tim was sitting he could see Gary doing his thing filling the orders and was enjoying watching him work. Tim mentioned how amazed he was at Gary’s method of cracking eggs open with one hand one way for and omelet and another way for over easy. We had a good breakfast for a reasonable cost. Things slowed up before we rolled out and we got a chance to talk to Gary a bit. He seems like an honest working man with a good business based on fair prices, efficient service, and good food.

Second Breakfast at Garys

We were working our way northeast to get to Lake Erie. Our plan was to get through Cleveland and off the road before the evening rush hour. It was a bit farther to Cleveland than we thought, Nick’s wheel had another broken spoke (I told him he has to much power), and late in the afternoon he had a flat that put a good sized hole in his front tire so he replaced it with his spare. Also we stopped for ice cream sundaes early in the afternoon. All these things take time so as we approached Cleveland I didn’t want to be on the road in the city during Miller Time. We stopped at around 6:30 at a good motel two blocks from the lake. The motel is a six minute walk from a real good Italian Restaurant called Peppers that the desk clerk Joseph suggested. Joseph grew up and is good friends with Patricia Heaton from Everyone Loves Raymond. Joseph showed me a chair in the lobby that she sat in last week. Maybe I’ll sit there tomorrow morning before we leave.

Lake Erie

Before we got close to the lake I was expecting something quite different and not as nice as we found. We were riding within one or two roads from Lake Erie and the area is quite pleasing. It reminded me of a beach area as the coolness from the lake was present even with the warm (in the upper 80’) and muggy day. We saw another touring rider going west and flagged him down. His name is Dieter Busch. He emigrated from Germany some years ago, is retired and “winters” in Texas. He is solo touring Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. We exchanged some road information talked a bit and were on our way.

Talking with Dieter Busch

There was the one really bad section of road in Sheffield Lake, OH where the main road (US Route 6) ate Nick’s tire. It’s hard to explain, but with the tar filled cracks all over the place that acted like a zebra’s skin, it camouflaged the holes and unfilled cracks in the road.

We are staying in Lakewood which is really nice. The homes are older but large, and well kept. It looks like there is a lot of old money about in the quiet older neighborhoods.

Nick and I hit 3,000 miles today. Tim hit 500. We have plans for an early start tomorrow morning to beat the rush hour traffic in Cleveland and get on the bike trail that gets us out of the city before the traffic gets heavy.

3,000 Miles and Counting

Jim

Cycledog (Ride the extra mile!!)

© 2005 - JNS