Day 30: Holy Toledo!

Charlotte MI to Toledo OH, 105 miles, 500 feet of climbing.

What a difference a day, a dry road surface and a few squirts of chain lube make. We were pleased with the progress that we made yesterday but ended the day a little dejected. Today turned things around. The day was clear and sunny with nice temperatures for riding (at least through mid-day when the temps got a little hot - but nothing like the heat currently swamping the western US).  We clipped along nicely on quiet back roads, most of which were paved and in good shape.  (There is always the stretch of dirt and gravel, as well as some bone rattling paved roads included in the day’s portfolio and, naturally, we managed to find all of them.) 

We had fewer trail options available to us today, although one of them took us through the remains of Michigan’s first major penitentiary, stone walls and facade fully intact and currently used for community art. (Pretty interesting repurposing - prison to pottery.) The rest of the day’s ride was filled in with miles of farms and farmland and a few towns, some with active downtowns.  It was a good riding day for us.

We made it through Michigan and into northwestern Ohio.  “Holy Toledo” because we are on Day 30 of our adventure and because we wound up stopping in Toledo for the night. (For those of you not of a certain age - in the ‘60s there was a Batman TV show where Robin, Batman’s sidekick, would exclaim, “Holy Toledo” when surprised. Because of that we could not stop in, say, Akron, as “Holy Akron” is simply not the same.) Toledo provided a good stopping point for us as we just pushed over 100 miles for the day and, also, because we observed clouds building up in response to the day’s heat (the so called keen powers of observation referenced in yesterday’s blog). 

Our hotel is conveniently located near several restaurants (albeit of the loud chain variety) and we were able to walk over for dinner. We were greeted by a major T-storm as we prepared to leave. As veterans of such events, we immediately sprung into action, scouring the horizon for overpasses under which to take shelter. Fortunately, the storm offered a short reprieve and our hotel was only a short walk away, so we did not need to tap into our emergency preparedness skill set. But we were ready. 

Tonight’s storm may stretch into the morning hours but we expect the day to dry out. Our plan is to push further east into Ohio. (We double check every morning to make sure we are in fact going in the right direction.) As usual, we’re figuring out exactly how to do that this evening as we watch a great lightning show from our hotel windows.