Day 22: Conneaut, OH to Mentor, OH - Seeking a Bicycle Warrior's Death, Part I: The Northern Tier - CycleBlaze

May 27, 2021

Day 22: Conneaut, OH to Mentor, OH

"Tin Soldiers and Nixon Coming"

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Rick FerlGentlemen, Rick from Conneaut here. I've finally caught up on the journal. So I will be checking in from time to time to follow your progress. Thank you for letting me know about this site. I'll be looking forward to reading other adventures from different people. For now I'm focused on you two and joining the ride in spirit. I love the fact that Doc is just a little more disorganized than George. I hope that he is keeping an extra mile log (kinda like your found money) my bet is that by the end of the road Doc will have 200 more miles than George.
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2 years ago
George HallRick,

Thanks for checking in, it's nice to know folks are actually following us! It was good meeting you - we have a high opinion of folks from Ohio, as several (including you) offered to help us in any way needed. And I agree with you about Doc :>)

Bud
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2 years ago

Climbing Today;    874 ft                      Climbing to Date;  46,302 ft

Last night's hotel room was nice but simple. There was no microwave, so breakfast this morning consisted of instant oatmeal and hot chocolate  made using the jet boil stove to heat the water. It was a very pleasant ride today but it was a bit cool with the wind, so for the first time in days I wore the wind jacket.  We thought we were out of luck for second breakfast in Ashtabula, but at the last moment Doc noticed a restaurant we passed that was actually open so we had a nice sit down breakfast. 

We Have Been Following the Ohio Coastal Trail
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The Sound of the Waves Was Soothing
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(Note: parts of this journal are written "live" by voice-to-text input when we take a break - so now you know.) It's our second breakfast and we are debating what we will do tomorrow. The forecast isn’t favorable with 100% chance of rain and a high of 60° so it’s possible we may take a rest day or opt for a very short day. So we have a lot of unknowns ahead of us, I guess that’s what makes it an adventure. Being a little cold is no problem, and being wet for a bit is no problem, but being cold and wet all day long is something we’d like to avoid. So we’ll figure that out tonight, in the meantime I’m going to enjoy my breakfast.  Our waitress was apprehensive about us bicycling through Cleveland, but that doesn’t necessarily frighten us because most people have an unreasonable fear of bicycling on the roads anyway. Soon enough we will see what it's like to bike through Cleveland.

Employment Opportunity Near Ashtabula, OH
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The Kent State massacre was at a different campus not far away from here, but still I was overwhelmed with emotion from the sight of flags flying at half-mast at Kent State.   The younger audience can't realize how much the Vietnam War influenced the politics and culture of my generation.

"This Summer I Hear the Drumming, 4 Dead in Ohio"
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For some of the younger audience, a bit of insight;

But I diverge from our little adventure, so let's get back to it. Doc is unfazed by signs and such - surely they don't apply to him?  "Sign, sign, everywhere a sign..." 

No Words Needed
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The route wound through rural country and followed the Ohio Coastal Trail much of the time.  The wife's car is misbehaving and is probably due for replacement soon - I found the perfect answer today.

But Honey, I Really Do Need This!
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Anita HallI really don't think so!
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2 years ago

The cool weather kept our bicycle engines running smoothly, and we moved along fairly well today until it heated up a bit in the afternoon.  We rode through downtown Painesville, and the downtown square was quite impressive.

There Were A Lot of Impressive Churches in Painesville
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Steve HenryBud what a loverly Mayberry sort of day! Just what we all need right now. Seeing the video one cold imagine it was 1960 all but for the cars. It’s nice to know that places like this exist. I want to buy a house on that lake and host all of the Hall-Henry’s for a Fourth of July Hullaballoo!!!
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2 years ago

When I booked the Super 8 in Mentor, I estimated it was about 1 mile off of our route.  It's hard to estimate distance using Google maps cause when you can see a scale it doesn't last long before it disappears - anyway, I blew it cause the hotel was actually 3 miles off the route.  Fortunately, there is a shorter route back that will intersect with the route when we leave.  The weather forecast for tomorrow is not good, we have ridden 10 days in a row now, and we haven't planned our next stops yet - so then, tomorrow will be a rest and planning day.   If you aren't tired of videos, here's another one - if you are tired of them, then don't watch it - we love you either way.  Good night all...

Today's ride: 61 miles (98 km)
Total: 1,077 miles (1,733 km)

Rate this entry's writing Heart 8
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Lednar De NallohYou are doing a great job on the journal. The map, narrative and video, I almost feel I'm doing the ride with you, well done. I borrowed my sons Go-pro for some riding but the noise from the wind, cars etc is drowning out my voice, might have to move it to the front of the helmet. Looks like the motorists are giving you plenty of room. Keep up the good work.
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2 years ago
George HallTo Lednar De Nalloh"Lednar,"

I have the gopro Hero 8 - it does a great job with discriminating my voice from the wind - I think the audio technology is improved from earlier gopro models.

Bud
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2 years ago