Thursday 8-02 Day 39

Start: Sandusky, OH
End: Burton, OH
Scheduled Miles: 92
Actual Miles: 94

This morning I helped the breakfast crew, as I am waiting on Steve and Andy. The three of us are going to the game and we decided to ride in together. Ane, Sean and Ben are going too, and have left already to so as to get a head start on us. The three of us head out with Andy doing most of the pulling, both of these guys are really strong, and even though Steve isn't feeling all that well, it is all I can do to hang on to their wheels. After a bit we pick up Jodi so we have a four person pace line going.
Going through Vermillion, OH, we stop at Granny Jo's. A nice little Ice cream parlor / Coffee shop. I have a cup of tea and a muffin. Which is very tasty. The building is one of the oldest in the area and at one time was a funeral parlor; Thus their motto, "Ice cream to die for” A few blocks away is group of people waiting for another bike ride to come through town. The "Ride for Hope" is group of people doing a trans ride too, as a fundraiser for the disabled. They ride in the morning and in the afternoon, visit and talk to community groups. They are doing some 4,000 miles and started June 11th.

At this point, Jodi drops out of our little pack and the three of us mush on. At the water stop, just outside of Cleveland we meet up with Ane, Ben and Sean and we head into to the city. The stadium as it turns out is visible from our route and is only 2 blocks off course. As we come into the plaza outside the stadium they are handing out free cupcakes to celebrate the "birthday' of their mascot. The boys eat up heartly. After checking with security guards, they let us put our bikes in a fenced in area in the parking structure that is only accessible by them, sweet! At this point, five other riders join us and we go in together. We stop for pictures and it is almost comical as we get two game day attendants to take our pictures. Each of us gives them a camera and between the two of them, they have 12 cameras dangling from them. The game is fun, and a guy sitting next to us is also a biker, so we had much to chat about during the game. I try to get him to sign up for next years ride.

After the game, we head out to the lakefront, past the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and as we get to the airport, it starts to rain. We decide to continue, but soon it is a downpour with heavy winds. We take shelter under the eaves of a restroom building that is "closed for the season"! So, do they open it up in winter? The wind is constantly shifting and our little group is chased around the building as we try to stay out of the wind. After about an hour it finally lets up enough that we can ride. It is still raining, but at least we are moving and generating some body heat which was getting to be a problem at our "shelter". When the rain stops, we stop for a burrito and coffee at Querdoba's and Starbucks. After that the sun comes out and we finish a hilly ride into Burton. Once inside Burton, the kids and I are trying to decide whether to go in to camp and get set up or stay in town for dinner as it is 8:00 at this time. Our longest day on the road. Andy and Dave who where coming from camp convince us to go to camp first, which is the county fair grounds. As I roll into camp, there is Crickette, waving at me! John, Evelyn and Darin are here! They were in the area "looking at Collages" for Darin. So, rather than camping out they invite me to stay with them at their hotel, that was a no brainer choice. So we had a nice visit in the evening along with delivery pizza. I had a great laugh on seeing Crickette, John and Darin had rigged her up to a telephone post and with some wire and John's shoelaces could make her wave as they hid behind a bush. My family is a bit on the crazy side.

As it turns out, the Storm we were in dumped 4.75" of rain on the area in 1 1/2 hours and wind gusts up to 60mph were recorded! Glad we didn't try riding in that!