Day 78 Warren to Ashtabula

August 17, 2021

On the Western Reserve Greenway Trail

“Since you work on vehicles, by any chance do you have an old Ohio license plate? I collect plates from every state that I’ve ridden. We’ve been mostly on Rails to Trails so haven’t found one at the side of road.” Patrick asks Richard. “Yes, I think I have one, I’ll have to look.” And just like that, Patrick has another treasure, an Ohio license plate.

The sky is cloudy and we ride our at 7am, immediately stopping to put on our rain jackets only for a short time. Taking a few side roads from our hotel and we are on a bike path marked with the green Bike Route signs. These lead us to the Western Reserve Greenway Trail from Warren to Ashtabula. This is a very nice paved trail leading us through tunnels of trees. At about 22 miles, at Orwell we leave the trail to the Country Store and Restaurant that is Amish run. The “special” for breakfast is still being offered until 10am, we got here at a 9:45am. For $3.99 each, we have 2 eggs, hash browns (a smaller serving than usual), 2 pieces of bacon, 2 slices of toast and coffee.

Re-enforced with good food, we roll on down the trail. Most of it leads through dense hardwood forests, a lot of them flooded because of the heavy rain this summer. There have been two short detours that are well marked. We pass over a couple of trestle bridges and get to the town of Austinburg where we’ll soon leave the trail. All along the trail are postings about the Underground Railroad. Historians believe at one point there were 3000 trails in Central Ohio providing secret routes and safe houses.

Right at the road crossing is a post office, deli and ice cream shop. We pick-up a sandwich for later tonight and enjoy an ice cream before riding the last miles to Richard’s house. Richard is a retired air force vet that hosts many cyclists since he is so close to the Northern Tier route. He lets us settle in and leaves to take care of some chores. The weather is sunnier than expected, but an afternoon shower passes through.

We plan the next couple of days to Buffalo and the first section of the Erie Canal route.