Cycling Traverse City to Cleveland: Day 13

Route
Huron, OH to Cleveland, OH - 51 miles
For details of part 1 of today's route, click here.
For details of part 2 of today's route, click here.
For details of part 3 of today's route, click here.

Weather
Sky condition: Overcast about 500 feet rising to about 1,500 feet
Temperature: 65 to 72
Visibility: 1-1/2 to 5 miles
Precipitation: Rode through light rain
Wind: Left quartering headwind about 5 to 8 knots
Comments: We were lucky that storms passed in front and behind us! All we got was mostly drizzle on the edges of the showers. Thunderstorms were forecast, but we never saw any!

Significant Events
-Arrived at Nolan's in Cleveland!
-Became honorary members of "Bike Cleveland"

Today's Song
"Money" by Pink Floyd
"Truckin" by The Grateful Dead

Wildlife Observed
Robins
Geese and goslings

NOTE: Earlier birds observed (I called yellow warblers) have been further identified as "yellow-throated vireos" after consultation with Jeremy.

Today's Ride
Got a decent start again this morning.

We headed eastbound and after about 2.5 miles we passed a restaurant that I had considered walking to last night. I'm glad we didn't; neither of us was up for 5 miles off walking!

Today's route followed the coast of Lake Erie all the east to Cleveland. There were quite a few cottages, bed and breakfasts, and motels along the way, especially near Sandusky. As we got closer to Cleveland, there was less of that kind of thing and the area became more residential.

Our route took us through Vermilion, OH which looked like it had a nice "old-town" section but it was still early so nothing was open yet. Next we went through Lorain, which looked rather large and industrial. We passed a closed plant that I think must have been a Ford factory. There were hundreds, maybe thousands, of Econoline vans in the parking lot. Many were already painted in customer livery (U-Haul, etc.) and others were plain. The plant was obnoxiously closed though.

We made a rest stop at a park in Avon Lake. Nice view of Lake Erie. Thousands of mayflies, which were harmless but a nuisance!

As we rode through Rocky River, Ileana spotted a diner called Bearden's. As soon as we saw it we knew that was the place for lunch. The place has been there since 1934 and has been called Bearden's since '48. Pretty cool place, they have cruise-ins, and make good burgers. They also have shakes and malts, which (unusually) I didn't try.

As we entered Lakeview, the route detoured off of the main road and took a parallel road that went along the shoreline through neighborhoods. There are some pretty nice homes in Lakeview. Money!

We rode across the "Detroit-Superior" bridge and into Cleveland. Riding into "Public Square", Nolan and the of his mates from "Bike Cleveland" were there waiting for us. We met them and became honorary members of Bike Cleveland. Then Nolan and one his friends, Christina, rode the last mile or so with us to Nolan's place.

Hard to believe it, but the trip is over. I plan to do a little riding and some site-seeing in Cleveland before we head home on Sunday.