Day 39, Sandusky to Burton, OH

Today's ride had a little bit of a lot of different rides in it. The road was dead level as we left Sandusky. We had another detour around a non-functioning bridge. This seems to happen a least every few days here in the midwest. Another legacy of all the spring flooding. We also had some real urban riding going through down town Cleveland. The picture at left is us descending the Veteran's Memorial Bridge, and entering down town.

We finally made it to Martin Luther (not the old dead German guy) King Jr Drive, (on left) which led us through the labyrinth of Cleveland's Rockefeller Park, to Case Western. We then went through Little Italy, up a steep hill, and out of town.

For the final 30 miles we encountered rolling hills, some of them up to a 9% grade. This area is largely a bedroom community for Cleveland. Even so, as we were rolling down a street full of Mc Mansions, Margaret spotted a deer on one of the front lawns.

Our friends, Nan and Scott, met us at the end of today's ride just minutes after we got in. They were a welcome sight. Suddenly my bags were loaded, and I was in an air conditioned car, heading for an air conditioned motel room and a hot shower. Later they took us out for a Thai dinner that we won't soon forget.

Tomorrow is a rest/laundry day. For those of you who might care, we have now ridden over 2,830 miles. According to the programs on bikejournal.com, we have burned over 189,287 exercise calories. I don't think we have lost any weight, but it does seem to have wandered around a bit.