8/8/2021 Huron to Eastlake, OH – 3/4 of the Way!!!

74.57 Miles / 3043.64Total Miles

1056 Ft. Elevation Gain / 98,230 Ft. Total Elevation Gain

While we were getting our gear packed and loaded, this morning, Lance was busy cooking a breakfast fit for kings. He is such a great host! Before we could leave, he took photos, then he hopped on his bike and guided us out of his little resort community on a route that avoided the gravel hill we came in on. Cruising on the Huron River Path, which rides on top of a levee next to the Huron River, we made our way back to River Road, then turned north toward US 6, where we spent most of the day. We were headed toward Cleveland, so the closer we got to the downtown area, the busier the traffic became.

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We enjoyed riding through some sleepy little towns on the way. When we passed Lorain, we’d been on our bikes almost 2 hours, and I was wanting to stop for a bite to eat, but no one else spoke up, so I grazed on treats in my feed bag. Just a few minutes later, one of the guys mentioned being hungry. Well at this point, we were out of town, and the next town on the route with food was over 25 miles away. I consulted Google Maps, and there was a bakery about a mile south of the route–10 miles away, which is pretty far to go when you’re hungry.

When we approached Avon Lake, we let Google guide us to the bakery. The fella who owns Mimzie’s Bakehouse heated a big cinnamon roll in his oven, for me, and though they don’t sell milk as one of their beverages, they let me buy a glass of milk from the refrigerator back in the kitchen. They were so accommodating! We sat down to enjoy our pastries, then stepped outside. The skies had changed from cloudy to dark, and that’s when the torrential rain shower started. It poured for 45 minutes, and we watched the storm pass on our radar, before getting on our bikes again.

The roads were wet, and there was a lot of water and mist flying, as cars passed us. At one point, it started to drizzle again and seemed to be getting worse, so I decided to put my rain gear on. Me doing that ensured it wouldn’t rain. Once my gear was on, it stopped drizzling, and I started heating up, but I didn’t want to stop and waste more time removing the rain gear, so I suffered through the extra clothes until it was an absolute certainty that it wouldn’t be raining.

From Huron to Cleveland, we rode along the Lake Erie waterfront, so we were passing lakefront homes all day long. The closer we got to Cleveland, the more mansion-like they became, and the more mansion filled the neighbourhoods became

When we reached Cleveland, it was heating up outside. We grabbed a bite to eat, before taking in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, which several people had told us not to miss. The bottom level had so much music memorabilia, I couldn’t keep track of where I’d been. I wished I could have stopped and read everything I was interested in and looked more closely at the memorabilia, but that would have taken most of the day. I had to breeze through the place, and it still took over 2 hours. Some ‘artists’ who weren’t anywhere to be seen: the Monkies and Paul Revere and the Raiders. Come on, people–those were my favorite groups, back when I was in the 6th grade. So what, if they were all lip synching.

We had 16 miles left to ride, when we left the museum. As we moved east, we left the mansion zone, and at times were in some very run down areas. And it turns out that our hotel, for the evening, was also in one of those areas. As we checked in, everywhere we looked, things were broken, damaged or dirty–almost like no one was doing cleaning or maintenance any more. The pool was closed, due to Covid, and free breakfast was cancelled, due to Covid. Is it possible that there was also no maintenance and cleaning, due to Covid? I don’t know how a hospitality business justifies that.

When we got to our room, it was beyond sub par. There were little flying insects dive bombing me and hanging out all over the walls, the air filter looked like it had never been cleaned or changed, and the carpets and other surfaces were filthy. Ed was able to get a refund, but Chris, couldn’t get one, because he had already showered–without a shower curtain, because his room didn’t have one. We rode another 4 miles east to the first hotel with decent reviews–a Four Points Sheraton, in Eastlake. After we checked in, we invited Chris to join us, and while he packed up his gear and followed us over, we made room for him to join us for the night. We had wasted a lot of time and energy on the hotel problem, and I had too much to do, to take the time to go to a restaurant for dinner, so I cooked up some oatmeal and loaded it up with my hearty trail mix instead. My Mom would not have approved, but it sure was good.