Day 28 - July 14

We woke in the Park Hotel circa 1887 (now Comfort Inn) in Warren Ohio headed through two states and into New York. We leave the Youngstown Warren metro area via Hwy 5 and the terrain and views quickly change to well populated rural. Each community has a town center which often honors the veterans that helped keep it free. I may be repeating some of the same flowers, however lets attribute that to training on my part and recognize that the bugs differ. You should notice that a number of the flowers are in profile view. A ditch kept me from moving to get a front view. I noticed that all the yellow flowers had turned and faced the rising sun. Nature is tuned.

I stopped at the New York sign to capture the moment with a picture. I was rewarded by getting to visit with three riders that were traveling self supported. Vernon and Nancy Coon started their ride in the Dakotas to celebrate 50 years of marriage. Happy anniversary! They were traveling with a friend they met a few days ago who came from Scotland to travel across the US. Gill Hamilton was interesting to talk to and gave me her web address. It is worth a visit. Witty and informative with purpose; she is riding to benefit arthritis research in three countries. Go visit at www.pedalplenty.com.

Our final destination is the Atlantic Ocean at Plum Island MA. Please do not be confused by the photos that look like we have arrived. Lake Erie is very large and has wind and wave characteristics I have seen at the ocean. We spent nearly 40 miles trying to view the Lake. It is not easy. The property next to the lake is mostly private and is heavily forested. Soon after turning on 5 the grapevines started. It turns out that Erie county has 14,000 acres of vineyards and 10,000 are concord grapes to feed the Welch’s grape drink machine.

Matt and Gary were fast today. I checked with them every 10 miles and the pace was 19.9 average over 115 miles. The ride day ended in Westfield NY followed by the chores. Clean the bikes, shower, start the laundry, eat, dry the laundry while reading and taking more pictures and finally Lake Erie.

Day 27 - July 13

The day started wet which delayed the start until 8am. Not real bad since we could see some of the Tour. The weather got better with just a light rain and Matt and Gary started riding. When it is wet I am no mare than a few miles away and the riders are separated to avoid spray. This makes for a business type ride day as concentration is a bit more.

At about Noon we connected with Matt's sister Wendy and her family. After the ride today they brought home cooking to keep the riders fueled for the next day. It was very good.

I did not see flowers so I shot the rain, riders and buildings for the most part. The hotel we are staying at in Warren was built in 1878 and sits on the square in the center of the old part of town. Many old buildings are in this area.

We head out in the morning and leave Ohio, touch Pennsylvania and land in New York.

Day 26 - July 12

The day started with a refresher in thermodynamics 101. The blue dot is cold. As you can see the day started with a sky that said maybe or maybe not for rain. The forecast was calling for it around three and this was a motivator to ride east - quick. The road was east all day and they were positioned for a great day on that little bitty seat.

It was a day for pictures of anything that caught my attention. Not long into the ride I found a farmer observing the combine cutting his wheat. As I took pictures a large rain drop struck me from above and I quickly looked for the riders since they are not accustom to this type of attack. They were not far away and I moved the SUV toward them. As I came to a stop Matt was very fast; he had the refrigerator stowed in back and the seat down before the 72nd rain drop struck him. I made note that the temperature was not above boiling even though there was talk of melting. The shower lasted about 2 minutes and they got back on the bikes and off to Glandorf and Ottawa Ohio.

There is a church which is the center point of Glandorf with about 1000 member families. This is a German community and as we approached a gas station the rain started for real. We decided to wait on the rain and eat. The lady at the station fixed us a taco salad that could feed 8. It turns out she lived in Glandorf and had 8 boys and a girl. They all still live close by and I suspect that is why she was so full of life.

The rain stopped for the most part and Matt and Gary started to ride. The rain was very light and it did not interrupt us again.

I know it is not safe to pick up hitchhikers, but this one seemed so small and it was greene (Bob says greene is good) so I thought it would be ok. It was not long before I was dominated and continually saying “Yes Deere”. I won’t do that again.

We found the Willard Country Inn and comfortable rooms. The patron at the front had a bell with a sign that said ‘ring for attention’, I was about to ring it when a lady came from the back and wagged her finger indicating that I should not. I started to protest as I really like to ring bells and she pointed to a hunk of wood on the wall and I put the bell down.

The day ended with the normal sight of Matt, a bottle, a book, and a nap. End day 26.