September 15, 2022
Day 129 - Erie to Austinburg
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We finished our ride along Lake Erie today. The miles of vineyards we rode by for the last two days seemed to stop abruptly at Erie, PA. West of Erie, we rode by miles of suburban homes before we saw any farms or orchards. The farms were growing mostly corn, and the orchards were growing apples. Cider seems very popular here as there were several farmstands selling cider. The local bars were also advertising cider but of the hard variety. Hard-cider slushees seemed especially popular along today's route.
Just as we thought we were out of grape county, we passed a couple more miles of vineyards, but we have no idea what variety of grapes were being grown.
This section of our route is part of Adventure Cycling's Northern Tier route. We met two eastbound cyclists on the road. This is Chen, who left Seattle in July. We talked for a little while and took some pictures.
Just a few minutes later, we met Peter. He is from England and also riding east to Maine. He said he had met Chen yesterday. He's thinking about coming back to do the Southern Tier.
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We didn't need the above sign to let us know that we had entered a new state. Right at the state line we went from a two-lane road with a nice shoulder to a four-lane road with no shoulder and a curb. However, the traffic was very light, and it presented no problems.
The first town in Ohio was Conneaut. Jan taught us how to pronounce it - "Connie-ott". I would not have come close to that!
In Conneaut, we had lunch at JT's Bagels. They have these display cases full of wonderful origami figures folded from dollar bills. One of their customers gave them tips this way and they wanted everyone to see them.
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We went through the city of Ashtabula. It is home to this huge chemical plant. INEOS is the fourth largest chemical company in the world. The Ashtabula complex produces titanium dioxide and titanium chemicals.
Leaving the campus of the INEOS complex, we were surprised to see a railroad crossing with no gates, no lights, just a stop sign. A train was approaching the intersection as the same we were. We decided to let it go first!
The Western Reserve Greenway Trail begins in the old industrial part of Ashtabula. I don't think we saw the best part of the city.
The final six miles of the route were on the Greenway, which we will ride all the way to Warren tomorrow. It will be relaxing to have an all-trail day.
Today's ride: 52 miles (84 km)
Total: 4,205 miles (6,767 km)
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