Day 43-- Youngstown, OH to Erie, PA -- 97.70 miles! Day 44-- Erie, PA --Rest Day-- 25 miles!

Hello Everyone.

Well, I am now in Pennsylvania! Yesterday we crossed another state line! We started out in Youngstown, OH and went into the town of Niles, OH where President McKinley was from. We continued on through a few other small towns along the way to Pennsylvania. It was still pretty cool yesterday, I needed my jacket for the majority of the ride. It was nice riding for most of the morning yesterday. Since it was Sunday, there was hardly any traffic on the country roads we were on. It was great!

I got excited when we passed this road.











Here is another pic...in case you can't figure it out....














Okay, here is a close up.....

Yeah, it doesn't take much to tickle me!







35 miles later...I thought it would be a cool to get a picture of my shadow....









We passed a covered bridge...








And finally made it to the Tarsitano Winery and Cafe....


Here we had some appetizers and a few samples of wine prior to going to lunch.

8 miles later we stopped here....

It is a rootbeer stand with fast food.

1 mile later we crossed the state line....



We also passed the old state line...before the purchase of the Erie Triangle in 1792.

I took a picture of this pretty flower along the side of Route 5...does anyone know what kind of flower this is?

When we made it into Erie, a group of us again decided to go out to eat. We ended up eating at a restaurant called The Wharf, which is alongside the Erie peninsula. They had really good food there, and it was fun just hanging out. Here is a pic of the sun setting there by the restaurant.



Day 44: Rest Day...

Today was rest day. I slept in and went to starbucks. I then went with Brian, another biker here, down to Lake Erie for a harbor boat ride. We learned little interesting facts about the harbor and the lake. I also fell asleep on this hour and a-half boat ride (hey, its rest day!). There is a bike path that goes around the peninsula and along the beach of Lake Erie that was really lovely. It was very much worth doing, and I saw some really beautiful scenery. I found this sign to be a bit amusing while biking along the path...


We then went and ate dinner at Joe Roots Grill, by the suggestion of the captain of the boat tour we were on. If interested, you can go to their website www.joerootsgrill.com and can read a quick blurb of the story about Joe Root.

Overall, it was a very relaxing and fun rest day. Tomorrow, we don't start riding until 7:30 am, that means a whole extra half-hour of sleep for me!!! Tomorrow our destination is to Hamburg, NY. Total mileage is suppose to be approx. 81 miles. Today is our final rest day until we make it to our destination-- Portsmouth, New Hampshire. I can't believe we are entering into our last week!!!!

That's all I've got for now!!! Adios.

Meiri.

Day 42 -- Wooster, OH to Youngstown, OH --94.01 miles!

Hello from Youngstown, Ohio!

Today turned out to be a good day. I was kind of tired and cranky, and thought that I was going to get rained on today because it was overcast this morning and quite cool out. I also thought today was going to be full of as many hills as yesterday, but the cue sheet was a bit misleading, and tho there were some hills, there were not nearly as many, and they were not nearly as steep as yesterday's were. The weather cooperated, and there was no headwind (that I can now remember), just was a cool, overcast day. It actually felt like autumn cuz it was so unusally cool out. I ended up wearing my jacket throughout the whole ride.

Really not much happened on the bike route today...

we passed by a park, and we stopped at a local shop for ice-cream for lunch. There was also a candy shop/bakery that we stopped at in a small town along the way (I forgot the name of the small town tho). We also rode along a nice bike path once we got into Youngstown, OH. This was only the fourth bike path that we could remember being on throughout this whole trip!

I was quite excited to see the starbucks that was right across the street from our hotel that we are staying at today.

Usually I have to ride anywhere from a few blocks to a few miles to get my daily latte! It was quite a treat to just walk right across the street!

I also was very excited when I saw this sign....

It is the first sign I have seen pointing me to home!!!

It was kind of funny, cuz when Norb, Leigh, Hans and I were at starbucks this evening, we saw a poster board of two baristas who are doing a self-supported bike trip across the country. They went on parts of the same route we took, but they traveled from east to west. Here is a pic of their adventure on display.

We found it ironic that even though we are doing something similar (tho not self-supported), that we are just as intrigued to read about other people who do this. I found it funny too, that the two baristas who are doing this cross-country ride are 19 and 21, and I am 38. Just goes to show you, I will never grow up!!!

This last pic is a photo of a map on our bulletin board, showing us the progress we made thus far on our trip. We are definitely getting close!!!


Tomorrow is to be 97 miles however, the profile shows it will be downhill for a good part of the way, with only a few hills. Tomorrow we cross another state line too, into Pennsylvania! Our destination is Erie!

We are staying at Country Inn and Suites tonight. This place has a cool system where you can take a book to read off of their bookshelf and can return the book to any Country Inn and Suite at your next visit! I am starting to read a book by Helen Keller, an autobiography of her life which was originally published in 1902!

K, that's all I've got for tonight! Hope you are all doing well!!

Meiri.

Day 41 -- Marysville, OH to Wooster, OH -- 103.03 miles!!!

Good evening from Wooster, OH!

Today was a long and busy day. I was correctly informed that today would be a bit harder of a ride. I was expecting hard like climbing Mt. Rose or Monarch pass hard. It wasn't nearly as difficult as those mountains were however, I've been riding on flat lands for almost a good week, so the steep hills that I was faced with, I did at times find challenging, and it did cause a few explicit words to be spoken (imagine that)!!!!!

There was lots of turning and going through farm lands throughout the day. A good half of the day was cool and overcast as rain was expected. By 1pm though, when we stopped for lunch, I really thought we were in the clear. It suddenly was very hot and the sun came out. We stopped to eat in the very small town of Frederictown, OH. As I was going inside another Mennonite/Amish buggy went by with about 4 women in it, dressed in long dresses and prairie hoods. Unfortunetly tho, I couldn't get my camera out quickly enough to take a pic! :(

Prior to entering Frederictown, we passed by a llama farm. This man had 10 llamas as pets, which he had bought and raised for show. They all turned out to be too small to be winners or worth much money. In stopping and talking with this man, I did learn that we can use the wool from llamas to make warm sweaters and from their coat also comes the felt hats! Here is a pic of a few of the llamas.

After lunch, around mile 60 or so, the climbing of the hills began, and so did the rain. We put on our rain gear, so it did keep us warm, but it did downpour on us none the less for a good 1/2 hour. By the time we made it to the next sag stop at mile 75 it was sunny and warm again, so really, it could have been a lot lot worse than what it was. This also is really only the 4th day out of 41 days that its rained on us, so I think we've been really lucky weather wise thus far.

Here is yet another picture of a corn field I passed by today in Ohio. Cool huh?

I also passed what I believe to be another christmas tree farm. It looked like some blue spruce trees along with some other kinds of trees that were all neatly pruned. Here are a few pics of that too.

Tonight, Norb, Brian, and I decided to go into town to eat at one of the local restaurants rather than eat at the buffet again. Wooster is a nice, quaint toan, and we ate at a place called Broken Rocks Cafe and Bakery. It was quite good!

Well, tomorrow is going to be another long day, and probably still challenging as the profile shows many hills. Tomorrow I will be riding from Wooster, OH to Youngstown, OH. Total mileage is roughly around 92 miles, so I am gonna sign off now!

Adios!!! Meiri.

Day 40-- Richmond, IL to Marysville, OH -- 107 miles!!!

Hello from Ohio!!!!

Today was really a great day and a great ride!!! The sun was shining, it was warm out all day, and we had nothing but tailwinds the whole day!!! We all headed out about 7am, and crossed the state border early, after just riding about 3 miles. Another state down!!!

I've never been to Ohio, and really didn't know what to expect. I have found it thus far, to be a fairly nice and pretty area. It is full of a lot of more farmlands than what we passed in either Indiana or Illinois. We passed endless cornfields and soybean fields all day long. We passed by a few cute farmhouses and I am seeing fewer abandoned homes here in Ohio than I have in other states that we've riden through. I am also finding it to be very very green out here with a lot of trees among the cornfields.

We passed by Bear's Mill which is right near the border of Ohio. It was built in 1849. It was not open when we passed by there, and given the long day we had ahead, we did not wait around for it to open. As we continued on into the first town, we passed by a few areas that were raising goats, and had some pony's and horses, something I don't usually see everyday. We went through New Madison, OH, which is another small town. We stopped to have lunch in St. Paris. It was a small town that seemed to only have one cafe there. Given that that was our only choice, we ate there and they did have great smoothies. This cafe is owned and run by the mayor of St. Paris. Here is my pic with him.

We continued on passing by a few cemetaries, and rode through the small town of Woodstock, OH prior to arriving in Marysville. From what I've seen of it, Marysville seems to be a nice and quiet farmtown, although it is much larger than the farmtowns I've passed through. The sign says: Marysville--where the grass is greener.

Today I passed the 3000 mile mark. This means I've rode over 3000 miles since
June 7th!

Tomorrow is another long ride of approx. 103 miles. I've been warned it will be more difficult than today was---meaning more hills and more climbing. I seriously doubt it can even compare to what Mt. Rose was in California!!! There is also a slight chance of rain tomorrow too.

That's all I got for now!!! Adios!!!

Meiri.

Day 39 -- Indianapolis, IN to Richmond, IN -- 76.02 miles!

Hello Everyone!

Today was another fun day today. I was really tired this morning, and it was humid. There was a storm we were all trying to out-bike-- to no avail. The rain came. It was quite a downpour! I actually stopped and stood under the front porch of a farmhouse that was on the side of the road because the rain was coming down so hard. After maybe 15 minutes, it calmed down, and turned into a bit of a sprinkle. We were only about 5 miles out from our first destination, which was the Hoosier Gym. This was the gymnasium where the movie Hoosiers was filmed (way back in 1985)!!!! It's been awhile, but I do remember it was a good movie.





The man who gives the tours showed us around, and we shot a few baskets while we were there. He shared how the gymnasium was chosen for the film-- The Indiana Film Commission was given the assignment to find a gym that fit the era where this film takes place -- apparently they put an ad in the paper. A resident from Knightstown, IN wrote in to tell the film commission to come see this gym -- this is how it was chosen. As for the extras during the basketball game scenes-- again, the producers put an announcement in the Knightstown local paper telling people who want to be in the movie to come dressed up in 1950's outfits, and to be willing to have a stylist do up their hair for that era. They had boards that had the cheers they wanted the extras to shout out during the scenes. It was a pretty cool tour. This gym is used for many events even now, from birthday parties to wedding receptions. And according to this man, many tourist still come after all these years to see where this movie was filmed!

After this tour was done, so was the rain. The sun came out, and we were able to enjoy a nice flat ride for the rest of the way into Richmond, IN. Along the way we passed one small town after another..Dunreith, Lewisville, Straughn, Dublin, Mt. Hermon, Cambridge City, Pennville, and Centerville. We took US 40 going through this route, which also is a historical road, the one that built the nation according to this sign....

We passed more corn fields, and after passing through Cambridge City, we passed by Huddleston Farmhouse museum. It was an original farmhouse that was built back in 1841. Apparently, the Huddleston family were Quakers, and built this right when this historic road was forming. The people here have maintained the house and farm over the years. They take reservations for having hearth cooked meals. This is a pic of the fireplace that is still used in this original house that was built over 100 years ago. (Okay, just look at the house with your head tilted)!!! :)

As we were leaving Centerville, we also came up to one of the last wooden (log)cabin that was used as a courthouse.

There was a lot of interesting history on this trip today. Tomorrow is a long day, 105 miles. We will be going to Marysville, OH.

That's all for now. Meiri.

Day 37-- Crawfordsville, IN to Indianapolis, IN -- 72 + miles! Day 38-- Rest Day!

Hello from Indianapolis, Indiana!

Well, the past two days have been busy and fun. We started out yesterday at Joey's Main Street Cafe yesterday. We had eaten there the night before, and it was a good breakfast. Yesterday was a really short ride (it was suppose to be 62 miles but ended up being 72) so I was in no hurry to get into Indianapolis, especially knowing we didn't have to ride today.

Our route took us through a lot of little towns, Mace, New Ross, Jamestown, Lizton, and Pittsboro. Between all of these towns of course were more corn fields, soybean fields, and farm houses. After a quick snack at the sag stop, we went into Brownsburg, and on the way out of this town, we stopped by for a tour of the Roark Bike factory. This company makes custom made bikes that are made of titanium. It was pretty interesting to see, and hear how they got started...(a few bikers at the titanium factory decided to make a bike...by word of mouth others wanted them to make one too...and now they only make custom made bikes for people). I believe they have a website..I think it is www.roarkcycles.com

I took a wrong turn, and saw a minor car accident (a huge truck was going down one lane...but due to construction...the road was not that wide, so the truck side swept the car waiting at the stop light in the other lane). The car was hurt more than were the persons involved. I got back on the correct route, only to get off the route again (again due to more construction). Once backtracking, and going through some nice neighborhoods, I finally made it to the entrance of Eagle Creek Park. -- A park, that is like the mountains without the mountains. Norb and I decided to get our 3 dollars worth, and bike through the park. We biked down to the marina, and sat by the water doing nothing but enjoying the sun. We also ran into Brian, another biker here, and we all just hung out by the water for nearly an hour. It was beautiful out, and was a great way to enjoy the start of the afternoon. We then went and checked out what they call a beach here. It looked pretty much the way that the marina looked, except it had a slide for kids to slide down into the water...and it was fenced off.


Once we entered out of the park, it was constant turning left and right - just as the day before had been. Taking these turns though led us to the entrance into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. We went in, and took a bus tour on the track. It was fun to see, and to see the red brick finishing line.


We ate lunch there, and moved on. We took more left and right turns which took us to the Lake Sullivan Sports Complex. Here we rode on the Major Taylor Velodrome. My time wasn't superfast, but I did have fun riding it! It would have taken me a lot more time and practice for me to get up to a fast speed. Here is one of the pics of me riding on it.

When we left the Velodrome, we took a few more turns which led us on a nice bike path throughout downtown Indianapolis. We rode along the white river, and passed a golf course. The bike path took us right into the center of town. We passed by the NCAA hall of champions, and found a starbucks too!!! (I think I was more excited about finding the starbucks!)....Indianapolis is really, to my surprise, a nice little city. It reminds me a lot of Denver, and the center of the city, is in a circle- very much how columbus circle is set up in NYC.

When we finally made it to our hotel yesterday, we had some drinks and appetizers(Korean food provided by Zero- and some of his friends). We had a voucher to go eat at the Olde Spaghetti Factory, but some of us -- Norb, Leigh, Sean, Tom, Jack, Brian, and I decided to go instead to Ruth's Chris Steak House. The food and drinks were amazing after having eaten buffet food for over a month!!! It was quite a night!

Today- Day 38 --Rest day, has been wonderful! I slept in until 8 am! What a treat that was! I was out the door by 10, and of course went up to town to have my starbucks by 11. I just hung out in the city today, did some errands, and ate lunch. Here they have a Rock Bottom Brewery --I haven't been there since living in Denver, so Norb and I had lunch there today. Just blogging now. In about an hour, we are all going over to Jay's for dinner. Jay was one of the bikers in the beginning, who completed his tour across america when he finished his last segment from San Francisco to Salt Lake City last month. He has been gracious enough to open up his home to all of us and have a barbeque at his place so we can all catch up with him and tell him the stories/experiences we've all had since he's left.

I honestly have no idea where we are going to go tomorrow. I hear it is suppose to be rainy tomorrow....and I also heard it will be a long day -- I think over 100 miles tomorrow. That's all I've got for now! Talk with you all later! Meiri.

Day 36-- Champaign, IL to Crawfordsville, IN -- 81.22 miles!

Hey All!

Today was a really good day today. The sun was out, there was hardly any wind and no rain! I was feeling pretty punchy today too, as the miles were fairly short today, and the route was pretty easy (that is, not a lot of climbing)! We started out early loading up the van and heading off to breakfast, again at Bob Evan's Restaurant. This was not the first time during this trip that the one waitress assigned to serve the group of anywhere from 23- 35 of us, gets flustered, and I am sure it won't be the last. Remind me to tell you all more about that later.

Let me just start, that I have corn coming out of my ears! That is the scene we all have seen for many many weeks now...is corn, corn, and more corn. I want to know where do they grow the green peas and the green beans? It certainly is not in Kansas, Illinois, or Indiana!!! This morning a bunch of us were riding together and decided to take a "corny" picture. From left to right is Bruce, Chuck, Alex, Norb, Me, Carol, Leigh, Hans and Chris. The next photo is of the bikes being engulfed by the corn!
I could continue to post more corn fields, but I think you get the idea!!! There are plenty of soybean fields out here too, so those will be posted (with the rest of the corn fields) on flickr in a few days!

They had fresh peaches at the sag stop this morning-- an unbelievably delicious snack on a hot riding day! This gave us the energy to continue on as we crossed over the Indiana state line!!! Birthplace of Meiri McClelland!!! (That is what the sign is suppose to say underneath anyway!)

We continued on, passing more corn fields and farm houses, when we came across a fair. Norb and I decided to check it out. It was a countwide 4-H fair. They had kids trotting their horses for judging, had sheep, cows, and pigs all about. Now, I know they had 4-H out in Colorado, but I was never involved in it, and never really knew what it was all about, so I had a lot of questions re: this fair. Norb and I spoke to one lady who let me take a picture with one of her steer. There were two of them that were up for show...this photo was one of them.......
After this pic was taken, Norb laughed saying that he wished everyone could have seen my face when the lady who was answering all my questions told me that this steer would be in her freezer next month!!! :( I asked why this one and not the other, she said the other gained more weight so was worth more! :( The poor steer! She also taught me the difference between a steer, a bull, and a heffer! I learned a lot today at the fair. I also took a few pics of pigs and sheep that were there as well. I asked a few ladies if they would let me milk either their cow or their goat. I had explained to them that I was from the city and had never done this before. They all had the same generic answer.. "I don't think it is milking time yet!" I guess I will have to go visit a farm in upstate NY to fulfill that dream!!! We continued on with only 20 or so miles left, and we entered the town of Hillsboro, IN. Here is a photo of their welcome sign... I found that to be funny!!! In this same town there was an ice-cream shop--ready to open next week so we didn't get to eat there... but I liked how they had the old bikes hanging off the side of the building!








We finally arrived to our hotel, today it is at the Quality Inn. I was able to do my laundry finally, after four days without a facility! We ate at a local restaurant called Joey's Main Street Cafe. Now typically over the past 36 days, we've been eating at all you can eat buffets for dinner. Today, they served you regular portions of a protein, vegetable, and starch followed by a regular size scoop of ice-cream. Everyone at our table was laughing over how weird it was to be eating "normal" portions... and how we'll all be running into each at the McDonalds by midnight because we are so hungry! We all realize that this extreme amount of exercise is coming to a close, and that we will all have to dramatically cut our portions when we return home in a few weeks.

Well tomorrow should be another really great ride. I haven't yet checked the weather report but, we have a short 62 mile ride tomorrow with only a 700 foot climb throughout the whole route. Our destination is Indianapolis, IN-- and once there, we have a rest day! I have decided that I am going to skip any massage on this rest day, and just sleep to my heart's content!

Hope allis well with you all! Talk to you later! Meiri.