Day Eight: Cleveland, OH to Warren, PA
Well, today was supposed to be a short ride of 150 miles from Cleveland, OH to Warren, PA. It was not for me! More on that in a bit.
We spent yesterday (and some of the guys spent all night and part of the morning) working on our bikes at Pride of Cleveland. BTW, can I just say that the folks at POC ROCK!! They treated us so well. There was pizza and beer when we arrived in the evening and doughnuts in the morning the next day before we left. Phil and his crew did such a fine job of hosting us and helping us out. We had guys doing complete rebuilds!! It was crazy!!
Anyways, I got a good start in the morning. I slept like a baby at my couchsurfing place. Megan treated me real well. I slept in a bit and meandered over to the closest Catholic Church to go to Mass. It was St. Patrick's and it was 2 blocks from where I was staying. I walked in and it is one of those beautiful, old-school Catholic Churches. Huge spires, lots of statues of Mary and Jesus and the Saints, great stainless glass windows....it was wonderful. I wish I would have taken my camera with me so I could get some pictures afterwards. After Mass, I headed back to Megan's to load up the scooter and head over to POC.
We left on time, 1 p.m., and headed down the route. At some point, I got on 6-S instead of 6-N and ended WAY, WAY off course! I didn't realize it until almost an hour of riding and at that point it was too late to turn around. There were a couple of guys on Harley's who I had asked directions from in Cleveland, and turns out they were on the wrong road, too! They followed me for a bit, then I decided to take a different route to get back on the official route.
It wasn't a total waste, though. I got to see some beautiful country in PA and OH. I even saw not one, but TWO, Amish horse buggies!!! I think my scooter might have spooked the horses. Oops.
I did make it to Warren, PA around 6:30 p.m. and even beat Mark and Patrick into the hotel!! Yeehaw!
Even though I got lost, it was a great day and again, I saw some beautiful scenery.
We spent yesterday (and some of the guys spent all night and part of the morning) working on our bikes at Pride of Cleveland. BTW, can I just say that the folks at POC ROCK!! They treated us so well. There was pizza and beer when we arrived in the evening and doughnuts in the morning the next day before we left. Phil and his crew did such a fine job of hosting us and helping us out. We had guys doing complete rebuilds!! It was crazy!!
Anyways, I got a good start in the morning. I slept like a baby at my couchsurfing place. Megan treated me real well. I slept in a bit and meandered over to the closest Catholic Church to go to Mass. It was St. Patrick's and it was 2 blocks from where I was staying. I walked in and it is one of those beautiful, old-school Catholic Churches. Huge spires, lots of statues of Mary and Jesus and the Saints, great stainless glass windows....it was wonderful. I wish I would have taken my camera with me so I could get some pictures afterwards. After Mass, I headed back to Megan's to load up the scooter and head over to POC.
We left on time, 1 p.m., and headed down the route. At some point, I got on 6-S instead of 6-N and ended WAY, WAY off course! I didn't realize it until almost an hour of riding and at that point it was too late to turn around. There were a couple of guys on Harley's who I had asked directions from in Cleveland, and turns out they were on the wrong road, too! They followed me for a bit, then I decided to take a different route to get back on the official route.
It wasn't a total waste, though. I got to see some beautiful country in PA and OH. I even saw not one, but TWO, Amish horse buggies!!! I think my scooter might have spooked the horses. Oops.
I did make it to Warren, PA around 6:30 p.m. and even beat Mark and Patrick into the hotel!! Yeehaw!
Even though I got lost, it was a great day and again, I saw some beautiful scenery.