A momentus week started off with an historic event. With Covid restrictions lifted (generally) our local club resumed the annual Kaltour event. They hosted around 150 riders who were itching to get out and pedal with the company of like minded cyclists.
We were all lucky to avoid the monsoon storms which had been drenching the midwest
and enjoyed an afternoon in the countryside of Kalamazoo County. I cut the ride to a modest 30 miles since I had a full week ahead of me.
The next morning I set off on a drive to Cleveland. Planning to leave my car at the Amtrak station I was disappointed that the station was closed, although the website said otherwise. After an hour of driving around looking for an overnight parking facility, I found the downtown airport which was right on the trail out of town. Downtown was hot! It was in the nineties before noon and the concrete and asphalt surely magnified that to the 110 range on the street.
The route from town is a combination of trails, sharrowed roads and bike lanes which is well marked and easy to follow. It led through the north 'burbs and some less than modest housing developments on the lakeshore for a pleasant fifty mile ride to the Geneva State Park.
A pleasant evening chatting with a neighboring camper led me to enjoy
sunrise over the lake before heading out in the morning.
The coastline of Lake Erie is just what you would expect. Dotted with tourist towns like Geneva-on-the-Lake, it is a trip loaded with available services, restaurants and motels. It made cooking in my campsite unnecessary and I opted to eat out each meal and only make coffee in the morning.
The route continues north, is well marked and
replete with parks and public beaches.
I even got a brief ride through bicycle legend. Ashtabula is the birthplace of the one piece bicycle crank, a source of endless frustration for any mechanic who ever worked on department store bikes.
The views of the lake were spectacular and seemingly endless.
I found a little taste of the history in the area by spending a few moments imagining the early settlers coming here by ship. This little country cemetary had tombstones dating to the early 19th century.
Night number 2 was spent at "Sara's Campground" in Erie Pa. I saw it pop up on Google and expected a little mom & pop operation on the shore, but found a multi-million dollar complex of tent and RV sites with a group of restaurants and bars in the middle and a rollar coaster and a water park! Fortunately the beach was reserved for tent camping
and at the day's end I enjoyed a rare geographical pleasure. Watching a beautiful sunset after starting the day with a beautiful sunrise over that same lake. It's something you can't see everywhere.
The seaway trail is marked all the way and each state has designated it as a Bicycle Route and, when on the road, there are wide paved shoulders making the ride particularly safe and enjoyable.
I spent Wednesday night at Evangola State Park where there is a spacious family oriented campground. I slept late and left late because I had until midnight to cover the remaining 35 miles to the Buffalo train station.
The country side continued to provide picturesque spots along the Route,
and I had the opportunity to wonder at the
aesthetics of local landscape projects.
Yes, there was a big ass Cadillac in the drive.
I ran across Matt and Brent(on) along the way. They were taking a day from work on the local bikeshare company to ride through the countryside. They shepherded me through the miles into the south 'burbs of Buffalo and were damned fine company before we parted.
I whiled away the evening meandering through the suburbs which seemed refreshingly bike friendly. There are bike lanes wherever they fit and sharrows to remind people of bikes when the lanes didn't fit. I only ran across one shared use path but really wasn't looking either.
The train was on time (12:20 AM), it was packed. As a matter of blanket policy Amtrak is requiring masks continued to be worn in the station and at all times on the train by everybody. The train trip was without incident and riding a few blocks to the airport parking lot was no problem at 4AM. I was the only one on the streets.
The trip as a whole was one of the easier that I have taken. It's a perfect route for a light credit card tour if that's what you look for.
