RA71: Gibsonburg OH
It rained solidly last night. Before I awoke Frank was already out of the campsite, and Gary was soon to follow. The gang reconvened at Mother Theresa’s Pizza joint in downtown Grand Rapids OH, which also served breakfast. My pancakes were decent but a little bit gluey, I’ll give them a 5.
We spun west and enjoyed the best tailwind since eastern Montana, directly out of the west. Roger rode with us, which was mutually enjoyable – fun for us because he is such a crack-up, and fun for him because he was growing weary of riding alone each day. The winds blew us first into Tontogany OH. Past town we ran into a cute touring cyclist headed west, having started in Bar Harbor. She reported that she’d had a mechanical breakdown on her Trek 520 east of Bowling Green, and the bike shop there had taken good care of her.
In Bowling Green we decided to find the bike shop. Jack needed a spoke to replace one of his spares, and I wanted the shop to adjust my derailleur and check the chain stretch for me. It is an especially welcoming shop for touring cyclists and they seemed to drop what they were doing in order to address our needs. We rolled a bit further east to find Bowling Green State University, explored around campus for a while, and finally found the student union for Coke and slushies. For almost an hour we had fun watching the students in there, reminding us all of college days.
Due east out of Bowling Green, the tailwinds really picked up and were pushing us along. Free miles! Unfortunately, I hadn’t eaten enough and started to bonk only a few miles out. I stopped a chowed down some candy and salty snacks I had, then regrouped with the guys and hit an IGA in Pemberville OH for a quart of chocolate milk.
Another 10 miles took us to Gibsonburg OH, a tentative destination for the day. Jesse was already in Fremont (down the road) in a motel room. We explored the Gibsonburg city park, called White Star Park and found it primitive but nice enough, and decided to call it a day after only 40 miles. Why not? Spending the rest of the afternoon and evening nibbling dinner, drinking beer and “punch,” and goofing around felt just about right.
A very abrupt shower swept through, for which Jack and I were ready but which soaked much of Roger’s stuff. Only 30 minutes later another quick shower blasted through and Jack and I dove into the tents again, leaving Roger outside wailing at his misfortune, which, well, was pretty damned funny. So here I sit once again, pattering outside, tent fan whirring (like being at the beach, Jack).
A mere 40 miles today. Tomorrow we’ll roll through Fremont for breakfast with Jesse, then head further east and north to Sandusky OH. There is supposed to be a grand amusement park in Sandusky called Cedar Point, one that Jack said is called “The Mother of All Roller Coaster Parks.” It has a whole bunch of different coasters and sounds like a worthy destination. We are hoping to devote a half day or even a day to it. We’ll see.
Rich, I’m the solo cycliest that came into Monroeville for a slushie mid afternoon and headed out after the rain. I’ve been following your blog since I returned home on Wed 8-10. I wonder if you could fill in the names of the RA 7 in the group picture in RA69. I would like to be able to put the names with the faces I met that day.
Denny w/ the Waterford