Day 13 - A Campground too Far - The Long Way to Cleveland

May 27, 2023

Day 13 - A Campground too Far

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The Airbnb was almost at the point of this spit of land. Quite a nice spot on Lake Erie.

When I was in the Tonawanda area a few days back, I checked the map to see how far I had to go to make it to Cleveland Heights. According to the map it was about 210 miles. That meant four days of around 55 miles, or three of 70. At 70 miles I found the Airbnb that I stayed at last night, but 70 miles from there I found nothing. No Airbnb, no Warmshowers, no campgrounds. The only good campground was 98 miles away, an impossibility. So I headed off into the void...

I watched the sunrise through the French doors of the room I was staying in. It was stunning! Then I finally got a chance to read all of the comments posted on the journal. Thank you all for following. I'm not finished yet.

Today would be a perfect day for cycling - very little wind, temperatures in 60's, and not a cloud in the sky. I met a cyclist at about 20 miles in who was riding from Cleveland to Rochester. He warned me about the route through Erie, and I warned him about Route 5 south of Buffalo. Erie turned out to not be that bad. There is a very nice park in the center of town where I stopped and made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. That was around 1:00, and I had already gone almost 50 miles. I figured that if I didn't make any more stops, I might just make it to the nice campground at mile 98. The farmers always say make hay when the sun shines, so I made some miles in the nice weather.

I met this guy on the road. He was biking from Cleveland to Rochester.

Will and I were desperate to find a sandwich place when we biked from Ohio to Connecticut 10 years ago, and we found this place. We had a great lunch there. Unfortunately, it is permanently closed now.

I didn't take the tour, but I did taste the only red table wine they had. It wasn't very good.

Almost every town of size in the North has a monument to the soldiers who died to preserve the Union. Erie has one of the nicest.

In Conneaut, I stopped at a MacDonald's for a cheeseburger, and I met a gentleman outside the door who said he was hungry and broke and needed to find $25 to get a motel room down the street. He said not to worry about the bike, he would watch it. I gave him $3 to watch the bike, went inside and got my cheeseburger. I got one for the kind stranger as well. When I went back out, everything was fine, he thanked me profusely for my kindness, and we had a nice chat. As I was leaving someone came out and gave him a Big Mac. Good place to hang out.

Another road closed. As I approached the sign, a family was walking past it with fishing gear. I asked if the road was passable with a bike and they assured me that it wouldn't be a problem. Sure enough, I had the whole road to myself for a mile.

View of Lake Erie from the closed part of the road.

At 96 miles, I came to the town of Geneva-on-the-Lake. Just before the town center, I talked to a very nice local policeman to ask about getting to the state park. He said it's clearly marked, but mind all the cars. "It seems there are more and more every year." I agreed, but I was not prepared for the shit show in the center of town. The whole town was wild with motorcycles, young people partying in the street, live music and disk jockeys plying their craft every 100 yards down the street. Sorry I don't have any pictures, but I was just trying to weave my way through a mile or so stretch of town that was more like a fair midway than a main street. If I was 50 years younger, I would have loved it.

I reached the main entrance to the state park at mile 99, but the campground was a mile from the entrance. So, mileage for the day is 100. When I pulled up to the campground office there was an ominous sign that said campground full. I went in and put on my best lost puppy look but was told to scram - we're all booked. I didn't plead with the two nice women behind the desk, I charmed them, and finally they said that they could put me in a spot. But they couldn't enter my information into the computer because every spot was booked. So they couldn't charge me. Bummer. Free campsite. Hot showers. Electric outlets. Good deal.
Only 50 miles to Cleveland. Half a day.

An interesting piece of material handling apparatus in Ashtabula.

The two women who were kind enough to let me pitch my tent.

Today's ride: 100 miles (161 km)
Total: 877 miles (1,411 km)

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