83: the $250 motel 6, warm showers, guy in a coat, ditch, detour, residence only, whiskeyville, oberlin, wine tour, mile marker mystery, bank, deep green, i-beam, wild & free, the dozer, laney - My Midlife Crisis - CycleBlaze
83: the $250 motel 6, warm showers, guy in a coat, ditch, detour, residence only, whiskeyville, oberlin, wine tour, mile marker mystery, bank, deep green, i-beam, wild & free, the dozer, laney
Amherst to Norwalk
The forecast is ominous, with thunderstorms all night, but even worse is the heat, so I started looking at hotels yesterday evening - there are no campgrounds that I could find anywhere in the area. To my dismay, the hotels that have lawn chairs and a full ash tray resting on a TV tray just outside the door were going for $250. If I really wanted to shell out the cash, I'd have to pay even more for one of those fancy places like Motel 6 (yes, $250 for a Motel 6), the ones with lamps (bulbs may or may not be available) and flushing toilets. But upon further investigation, I couldn't even do that because even those were sold out!
With trembling hands and sweaty palms, I started looking at ones that cost $350, the ones with a lock on the door, and thinking about other things I could've spend that money on.... adding that faux fur to the inside of my refrigerator, for example.
With no real expectation of a response, I thought I'd give Warm Showers another shot. I've already tried 12-15 times on this trip and didn't even get a response, not even a "Sorry, we're taking turns painting each other's nails this evening" (with the exception of Brett, who was great). I found possibilities in Norwalk (on the route), in Holiday Lakes (17 miles off route), and near Shinrock (10 miles off route, and how'd they get that name?).
Just before bed, I sent a message to the Warm Showers host in Norwalk, Laney, realizing that if I waited too long to reserve a hotel there might not be anything available, for any price, and I'd be selling a kidney to pay for lodgings. Maybe I could fake some abdominal pain and go to the Emergency Room - at this point an overnight hospital stay was looking cheaper, but I'd probably leave without my gallbladder. Or a kidney, depending on the hospital.
Saturday is always the worst night to get a hotel, but if you're within fifty miles of Cedar Point Amusement Park, good luck. I had actually planned on going there myself until Jim and DeeAnn warned me off: NOT on a weekend. I've been planning to go since before startin the trip (especially since I missed out on Kennywood as mentioned earlier), but the timing just didn't work out this time.
I hope Laney responds, but the odds aren't great.
Because I won't have the cool, fresh air off Lake Erie, I left at inhumane hour of 6:45 in order to avoid the heat. I felt sorry for myself until I saw this guy wearing a thick coat. He's not gonna be smiling this afternoon.
This is a residence, but only for Amherstians? I'm a little disappointed, because it looks like a very fancy grass parking lot and I would love to live there.
Before turning onto the North Coast Inland Rail Trail, pictured above, I passed through Whiskeyville this morning. I was pretty disappointed that (1) there wasn't a sign, and (2) they weren't handing out samples. It is, after all, past 08:00, and it’s not even a Sunday.
This is the point where I passed through Oberlin, the home of Oberlin College. It's notable for being the first coeducational college in the United States, the second oldest continuously operating coeducational institute of higher learning in the world, and for its early admission of Black students. Its alumni include Ed Helms (who is now on the Board of Trustees), as well as William Goldman (screenwriter and novelist, known for The Princess Bride and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) and Lena Dunham (wrote Girls, which won a Golden Globe and received 8 Emmy nominations).
There was a group ride, and I saw about 20 or so riders over the course of two hours. I also saw nicely-drawn chalked pictures of wine bottles along the route, so I'm guessing it's a wine tour.
Today reminded me of our first day on the GAP after leaving Cumberland. It was mostly uphill, not steep but a steady push. Today, though, I had the pleasure of a headwind. My friend Paul, calls a headwind "a good training partner." The problem with that is I'm no longer training!
Approaching Norwalk, I looked up a place to eat and was routed here, but decided to keep riding because I couldn't see my bike from any of the windows.
In general, Norwalk looks like a healthy town, with no apparent boarded-up businesses in the downtown area, and interesting houses along the surrounding streets.
I got a message from the Warm Showers host in Norwalk, Laney, who said that she'd be able to host me. What a relief! I asked her if she's among the riders from Oberlin: "Yes. Just follow the wine bottles and join the fun!"
Tempting though it was, I wondered how a bit of dehydration would mix with a bit of alcohol. Nicely, I suspect, after which I'm in the Emergency Department without a gallbladder. Or a kidney.
She's doing a metric century (in this heat? impressive) and won't be home until around 3:00. It was so hot that the hairs on my forearms were starting to catch fire and I suspected that I'd spontaneously combust pretty soon, so I found a coffee shop and hung out there.
Around 3:00 I took Laney up on her alternate offer and, after arriving at her house, climbed into the hammock in the back yard while I waited for her to return. It was hot, but in the shade with a breeze (and not pedaling) it wasn't bad. The breeze, the shade, the buzz of a distant lawnmower....
I must've dozed off, because the next thing I knew a young woman woke me up. Hailey, Laney's daughter, escorted me inside and gave me the tour. I got cleaned up and Laney arrived a little later.
My visit with Laney revived my opinion about Warm Showers, and I might give it a few more tries. She was such a great host, and a real lifesaver when I needed some help. I should also add that she picked up her daughter today, and hadn't seen her in two months. Plus, it's her daughter's birthday! It would've been so easy for her to say she had too much going on, but she not only hosted me, she allowed me to foist myself on her reunion and gift-opening.
1 day ago