I went back to Ohio - Two Far 2018 - Trailing through the Rust Belt - CycleBlaze

I went back to Ohio

It's pretty difficult to return back to Ohio without getting the Pretenders lyrics stuck in your head:

I went back to Ohio

But my pretty countryside 

Had been paved down the middle 

By a government that had no pride

I spend a lot of time stareing down at pavement, and I can tell you that those lyrics are a good reflection of Ohio pavement on US-20. 

Welcome to Ohio. Notice how the shoulder disappears?
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Rich McKayI hadn't scrolled down far enough to read your caption... the disappearing shoulder was the very first thing I noticed
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5 years ago
Alain AbbateTo Rich McKayI was impressed with the roads in northwest Pennsylvania. They were well marked with cycling route numbers and had excellent shoulders.
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5 years ago
Brand new pavement but no shoulder.
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Conneaut is the first town you reach when you cross from Pennsylvania into Ohio. It was a Saturday, but some kind of D Day reenactment was going on and the town was hopping.

No sign of the allied fleet, but they must be out there somewhere.
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I'm not sure what role these antique cars played in D Day, but they're ready to do there part.
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They make a good omlet here.
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The first library I used as a child was a Carnegie library. I have happy memories of picking out books to read. When I was around 10 years old my home town outgrew the old library and built a much larger new library that had many more books, but only a fraction of the charm of the old library. I always enjoy seeing Carnegie libraries in small towns.

Conneaut library.
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Lots of bike traffic follows the shores of the great lakes.
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We passed by the Cristal plant in Ashtabula. They make Titanium dioxide, which is used as a pigment in paints, plastics and other products. We may be in the rust belt, but this factory is still going strong and employs about 500 people.

Brilliance inspired by titanium.
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Cristal.
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Cristal.
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The air separation tower.
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Cristal.
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Ohio roads may not be ideal for cycling, but Ohio has a superb system of rail trails. Today we started the first bit of the Western Reserve greenway. It's well paved and tandem friendly (flat). We're looking forward to more of it tomorrow.

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