46.7 miles cycling, 766′ of climbing (3614.4 total) – to read from the beginning, click here.
David whipped up some delectable blueberry pancakes and we shared another great morning repast, toured their camper and took a walk down to the lake. No F.L.A.T.s this morning, thankfully, and the best part was having David and Mary escort us the first 10 miles to Cleveland.
The route to Cleveland was all on RT 6, and as it has in the past, it varied from a separate bike lane in the towns to wide shoulders to no shoulders at all in places. Being a Saturday morning, there was no semi-truck traffic at all and for the most part, the drivers were respectful of our presence (and the multiple “Give 3 ft while passing bicycles” and “bicycles may use full lane” signs helped keep the message fresh). For being one of our shortest days — only 37 miles — I was pretty tired and lagging far behind Dana and had to stop for a sandwich at one of the few stores on the whole stretch. When I finally caught up to her, we stopped at a McD’s, had an ice cream cone (and free WiFi, of course), then went to Edgewater park to get our first glimpse of the Cleveland downtown waterfront. Dana had her lunch there and I scarfed some granola while she was eating.
Then it was off to our host’s and there we met Mark, who gave us a warm welcome, showed us around the house and garage and gave us a key to the house. He and his wife Bobbi were grandchild-sitting that night, so wouldn’t be home when we got back from our first little Cleveland tour. That included a trip to the house from “A Christmas Story,” parts of downtown, the Brown’s stadium, and finally the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It was late in the day and we didn’t actually go into any of those, but did get lots of pics (We’ll tour the RRHOF on Sunday). We made our way back to Bobbi’s & Mark’s, chilled out in front of the TV for a while, and then had a nice talk with Bobbi after they came home. We all hit our beds pretty early — another nice end to another nice day.
Hi, Paul! Thanks once again for more of your wonderful posts. I particularly like the fact that you guys made it to the Christmas Story house – AWESOME! Janyce and I are looking forward to seeing you on the Avenue in just another few days. Travel safely home ,whether you’re on steel wheels or bicycle tires. HI to Dana!