We camped on Thursday evening at Geneva State Park. We got up and were getting ready to go. A lady stopped to ask about our trip. She asked where we were from & said she had lived in Nampa. It didn’t take too long to make connections:). I know her sister, sister in law, niece & nephew went to Cole Valley Christian. Jon says, he can’t take me anywhere that I don’t find someone I know… The funny part is her brother worked at Fish & Game and Jon knew him!!!
With such a blessing of talking with Mary Beth we took off to breakfast at the Sunshine Cafe in Geneva on the Lake. Had a great waitress who owned a couple restaurants in town. She did advise us to rent a car, it was cheaper than new legs! I like my stronger legs than what I started with.
Sufficiently full, we began a nice day of riding. The hills are beginning to roll more now & it was hot & humid. As we neared Erie, PA, we wanted to look for bike tires. We scoped out a couple bike shops & started our search. This area doesn’t do as much tubeless tires as we do in Idaho so it’s harder to find what we need. We have to patch together different sized & types of tires since we needed three tires. (Side note here: broken glass on the side of the road is costly & irritating to say the least)! It is a purposeful act to throw your bottles out the window, please DON’T!!! First bike store had tires & sealant, no rim tape. They didn’t want to put them on for us, said they are a hassle. On to second bike shop to get tape. The road we were on was a five lane, busy road and cars didn’t even yield to us in crosswalks. After two near misses, we proceeded up many hills to our Warm Showers hosts. We were so glad to get there but now the work began for Jon replacing tires. Two hours later we had tires replaced. Good thing Leo had an air compressor and some miscellaneous tools.
Afterwards, Jon & Laura were so excited because we got the Pennsylvania famous hotdogs for dinner with delicious corn on the cob, cucumber salad & homemade macaroni salad. It was so wonderful!!! Thanks for a great meal Bonnie.
This morning we got a nice start when it was cool outside. Because of another thunderstorm last night, the humidity was lower so even the hills didn’t feel so bad. With Erie in our rear view mirrors we left the city for about 70 miles of vineyards. It was beautiful & we could see hills now in the background. Leo & Bonnie were telling us about all the wineries, Welch’s juice & jams are out of this area. Just a little south of here is Smucker’s Jams production. I saw the Welch’s operations as we rode today. We opted for riding highway 20 after doing many ups & downs along the shore of Lake Erie. After we climbed into the town of North East for second breakfast, we decided to try highway 20. It was such a great ride with large shoulders and good pavement. We entered New York on highway 20 but there was no welcome sign. It was still welcoming to ride on an enjoyable road. We rode 75 miles to a bed & breakfast in Angola. Pizza is ordered and then off to bed.
Tomorrow is Niagara Falls!!!
It has been surreal today as I think about Monday, August 16. I told my students when I retired, that when school would be starting I would probably be riding my bike in upstate New York. True statement! Even though at the time it was just my best guess. Well, as much as I do miss seeing & meeting my students; rest assured I am doing well & miss you!
gotta love those pa drivers��
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