What a difference a day makes. I got up early so I could take a shower before everyone woke up. The air was very still. There had been a few showers over night but nothing substantial. But, after I was dressed and got the kids ready for their morning walk there was a sudden burst of wind that rocked the motor home and was followed by a blast of rain hitting us sideways. Twenty minutes later the rain tapered off so I took the dogs out for a quick walk. Then the rain came back again and was heavy off and on for the rest of the morning.
Since today is a short distance travel day we weren’t in any hurry to head out. Fortunately I had dumped the tanks yesterday afternoon, put the bikes on the racks and hooked up the car. That way I only had to disconnect the water and electric and set the auxiliary brake in the car. By the time we were ready to leave it had stopped raining so we caught a break. With a last walk for the dogs we dropped off the gate key at the office and got on I-80 headed west.
Before long the rain was back in full force. At one point it was heavy enough that I slowed down to around thirty before the rain started to slack off. Twenty minutes later it stopped all together and within an hour the sun was out making the rest of the drive to Sandusky a real pleasure – except for one thing – the condition of the highway paving is atrocious. And this is a toll road. Of all the states we’ve been in so far, Louisiana and Ohio are tied for the worst road conditions both on and off major highways.
We got to East Harbor State Park, set up and planned our next few days. With the sun out we decided to go for a bike ride out to the lake. With trail map in hand we headed out. Naturally we got turned around and ended up riding on “Red Bird” trail which ran along the shore of the lagoon. Eventually we ended up in the right place and made it out to the shore of Lake Erie. We stopped for a while to walk on the beach. The shore is really nice sand with a very shallow slope. Deciding to follow a couple of trails we mounted up and headed along a service road that paralleled the shore.
At one point we pulled into a quiet picnic area and walked over to the lake. As I came up over the berm and walked toward the water, Tina pointed to the water and said, “Careful, that’s a snake.” I said, “Where?”
“Right there in the water in front of you,” She replied.
Sure enough, there was a water snake swimming along the shore in about two inches of water. So I snapped a picture.
We looked at the map and headed out towards one of the trails that showed a boardwalk. After riding through a swampy area (only a couple of inches of squishy bog and water) Tina got stuck and suggested I had got her into another fine mess. Well, she was partly right, we did have mud on us and it looked like it would get worse before it got better. So we turned around, rode back along the boggy section and back out to the service road. We stayed on the road and traveled back to the camp. It’s very pleasant. We’re in shorts and light shirts with temperature in the low 70’s. Very nice. Tomorrow we plan to take our bikes to Millers Ferry Landing and do a bike ride around South Bass Island with a stop at “Put-In-Bay” for lunch.
To see all of today’s photos click on the following link:
Distance for this leg, 84 miles. Total for the trip so far, 7,284 Miles.
1 comment:
Mikey? Get Tina into another mess? Naaah! Forbid the thought. *snicker*
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