The mountains are BACH!

      For the third day the weather has been in the four star category, cool in the morning, high seventies to low eighties in the afternoon.  To make up for the lack of sweltering heat, the exertion put into climbing the foot hills of the Alleghenies has more than compensated. From Lake Erie to Pittsburgh, the terrain is UP and down the whole way.  I am thrilled!

      The landscape has become dramatically more forested with fewer crops of corn and soybean. No  more big sky because of all the hills. For weeks I have looked at farmland, the change is welcome.

        As I was cranking away in  my granny gear with only wilderness around me, a sign appears out of nowhere advertising deli food and grocery supplies. Down a gravel road  surrounded by mowed lawn, I stopped at an Amish store with absolutely the best food.  Great people, I talked with them for over an hour as I ate lunch.  Everyone takes picture of these people so I held back from using my iPhone. I did get their business card however.  This place could become a destination, that good!

      I checked into the Mercer Library for a wifi connection.  No Warmershowers places in the area so I found the local RV camping "Resort" and popped my tent.  Upon arrival, my neighbors and I exchange greetings  After the shower and general clean up,  April, Andy, Mark and Michael invited me over for a veritable feast.  Great people who rendez-vous every year at this site.  Four people, four tents; they met seventeen years ago via an online game they played; the "Wolf Pack" as they are known. We are hanging out by the camp fire having some good laughs.

       Having ridden over seventy miles today, Pittsburgh is now only sixty-five miles further south.  The GAP begins in the center of the city, probably at the train station.  I will do Warmshowers in the city so I can bicycle to it first thing in the morning. 

      

The weather was perfect

       Ron and I rode east from Geneva with the temperature hovering in the mid-sixties.  Yesterday was the same; beats the heat of Kentucky and Virginia.  Nothing much today other tha following the shore of Lake Erie and passing over into Pennslyvania.  We split off as I had to head south to Pittsburgh.  We had a real good time together and I hope we stay in touch.  

          The hills going south are getting steeper but I am managing. Tonight I am at a Warmshowers house in Edinboro staying with a young couple. Jeremiah Covert likes furniture making so we hit it off.  Tomorrow he will return me to route 98. 

          Nigel and Derek text me to say they arrived in Yorktown, Virginia

with no teeth marks on them.  I image it will take another two weeks before I reach the Atlantic.

We be jammin'

      After being feed a killer breakfast, Ron and I headed east with the lake to our left. Thirty-four miles down the road, we arrive at Madison, with brewery no less... break time!  We ate like gods, drank two delicious IPAs followed by a nap in the town park; it doesn't get any better. The weather was perfect today.        

     On our way to Geneva, I once again was confronted by a missing bridge.  The river was merely a stream three feet wide one hundred feet to our left.  We muscled our bikes through the shallow stream and up and over a short but steep bank. Situation solved and a little wet below the ankles, we bicycled several more miles to Geneva-By-The-Sea, a nice lakeside resort.  I found another Warmshowers accommodation about four miles away at an old farm house belonging to a retired Air Force NCO.  We had take out pizza delivered and called it a day after fifty miles of easy terrain.

       Tomorrow I will be turning south at Fairview to get on the Underground Railroad Trail taking me to Pittsburgh.  The topo on the map is a bit hilly but a breeze l compared to the Rockies.  Checking out the temperature in Kentucky and Virginia, the states are pushing 100 degrees. I made the right decision to head north.  No dogs, no meth heads, moderate heat, and no endlessly short steep climbs.  Some cyclists feel compelled to stay on a route no matter how unreasonable the situation gets.  I would rather take the route that get me to the Atlantic safely without any nightmare sections like Eastern Kentucky.  

Lake side ride

         It was tough getting up this morning, great mattress, great everything including the send off breakfast.  Ron and I took it easy on route 6 along Lake Erie.  One upscale town after another.  Looking at the size these huge houses packed next to one another was ridiculous, just for a view of the water. As for the suburban drivers, they are much more dangerous than the city drivers.  They cut you too close, always acting so inconvenienced.  Texting in the suburbs is one of my biggest fears.  City driving demands all the driver's attention leaving no chance for texting.

        Weaving through the city proved to be much simpler than negotiating the roads into the city.  After breaking for a celebratory beer for getting through Cleveland, we were prepared to drive another twenty-five miles to reach a designated camp site.  Waiting at a light on a busy four lane road, an older woman asked if she could help us; her church was just up ahead a few hundred feet.  She pulled into  the church driveway, we followed.  She told us to stay at her house a block away; there was plenty of cold beer in the basement frig.  The door was unlocked and she would be back later.  Amazing!  So here we are, chilled out having ridden only 61 miles.  Tomorrow, we will shoot  forLake  View where I split off for Pittsburgh.  Ron is heading on to meet his son in Sackett's Harbor, New York as I am heading south to see Cyrus.

        Each day of this trip is special.  The

Atlantic is getting closer but it is the daily adventure that really counts.  Eighty days on the road and I am still having the time of my life.

Check the weather before you hit the sack

        Sleeping in a tent is generally a nice experience but come a heat wave, the comfort factor can deteriorate rapidly.  

In an effort to cool my tent, I removed the fly which keeps the rain out.  A little after midnight, the wind begins howling and I see what I thought was heat lightning. Checking the Weather Station on my iPhone, I saw  a huge red storm cell coming my its way.  Out of the tent in a heart beat, I reattach the tent fly and make sure everything is covered.  Ten minutes later back in my tent all hell breaks loose, pouring rain, crashing lightning and strong wind.  It could have been a soggy scenario had I not woken up when I did.

     Off by 8:15 the next morning, I ride twelve miles to Pemberton where I meet my first touring cyclist in two weeks.  Trip Edwards, as in Trip Powers, he was a third with the same name.  He had ridden from Mississippi to Vermont and out Ohio on his way to the Pacific.  Later after topping off for breakfast at a local dinner in Pemberton, I see a bike ladened with gear.  I joined Ron Occhiuto for breakfast and yes, we are headed in the same direction. At lunch we met a SAG (support and gear) van for a group of riders Ron ran into in Montana.  They had tons of food and insisted we join them for lunch. A good time was had by all. With the wind at our backs,  Ron and I navigate through the back country roads putting 79 miles behind us. We arrived at a beautiful (Warmershowers accommodation) stone house smack on Lake Erie.  Huron was nothing special but five miles east we lucked out to find this place.  Beer in the frig, smacks, beautifully designed new living room to hang out in and deck chairs on the lawn to watch the sun go down over Lake Erie.  The house owners, Dick and Sheryl Cawrse own a local winery and have restored this gorgeouse stone house over the past few decades.  Once again I have landed on my feet.

     Ron and I will be following the shoreline for a few days before I head south to Pittsburgh. Perhaps we will reach Cleveland by tomorrow.

Recharging my batteries

      Down time is a critical component of any endurance challenge.  Three to four hundred miles a week is tops for this boy.

I know my limits and after a week my mindset starts to get a bit shaky.  Burn out is as dangerous any physical injury.

      I have been camping in Bowling Green, Ohio in the back yard of a fellow bike enthusiast.   My tent is next to a Japanese style pond loaded with goldfish of varying sizes.  Apparently they multiple like rabbits or about ten times faster.  A local great blue heron had a feast a while back.  

       I had the bike checked over and a few things adjusted. Having found a local CVS store, I was able to replenish my heart Meds.  I am healthier than ever but I do what my cardiologist tells me to do.  Try my hand at sewing, I stitched up a tear in my pannier.  Other tasks included buying more sunscreen lotion and abright orange hankerchief to cover my head.  I don't need my skin doctor carving me up..  The bike got a rest and I walked around town; how boring is that?!  Tomorrow, I will try for Huron, Ohio about 68 miles away.  The town borders Lake Erie.  When I get to Erie, Pa., I head south to Pittsburgh. One mile at a time with the wind hopefully at my back.

      

Pleasant ride, beautiful vistas, kept it under 60

         Sleeping on a cot in a room open to the fire trucks was different, a huge floor fan kept me cool despite the heat in the concrete floor.  All but the shift on duty was attending the funeral of the naval officer from Defiance kill recently by the Muslim extremist.  A few thousand are expected to attend.

        After an evening of bonding with the men, I pushed off at 7:27.  The ride down route 424 follows a river and is know for its scenery.  Early in the morning, Saturday, was very pleasant.  Although I am racking up the miles everyday, I am always taking in my surroundings. That is one of the benefits of riding a bicycle, slow motion across America, checking out everything that goes by.  A cool looking barn, haul on the disc brakes and pull out the camera. You can't match the ride with any other vehicle. 

        Grand Rapids was a good mid-morning breakfast stop.  Very nice town, popular among the cyclists.  Recommended to be a bicyclist restaurant favorite, a fellow rider walks in and joins me for breakfast.  Nice black guy who I a lot in common with. Both fathers in WWII, an MBA from good schools and close in age.  His father was in a segregated army but bullets don't discriminate based on race.  Someday race will not cross our mind. He snagged the breakfast bill like the guy last week.  They hear about my journey and, who knows, they are impressed and pick up the freight.  Really, I am doing what I have wanted to do for thirty-six years, chipping away at the miles one day at a time.  I am no one special just fulfilling my dream.

       k. Michael Jackson is out for a Saturday ride on his racing machine but wants to ride with me to Bowling Green.

He takes me to the local bike shop via the nicest country lanes I have been on.

Once at the bike shop we exchange emails and photos and he heads off. The shop adjusts a few things on my long distance hauler and I search for a place to stay.  The map listed a biker only camp site which is where I am landed for the night.  Very nice setting with a pond stocked with large gold fish. Off to CVS to load up on Meds and then to a local brewery for dinner and a few IPAs.  Tomorrow is an off day. I will walk around town, check out Bowling Green University and keep the bike leaning against the fence.