Ohio to Erie Bike Ride Day 6: Akron to Cleveland. Last Day!!

Starting off from the Marriott Courtyard at 8am we begin our meandering north’ish ride to Cleveland on our last day of cycling.  

Of course everyday must throw us a curve ball.  We’d been seeing signs and talking to walkers/cyclists for the last hour whether the closure was real or not. Guess what, we went back! About a mile or two. 

Lots of pretty scenery and structures across the Cuyahoga River today.  

Our other natural guide was the old Ohio-Erie Canal which has mostly been stagnant and algae covered but shadows our ride regardless. 

We had a great day of riding a shorter ride than normal to Edgewater Park off of Lake Erie today, and the wild flowers were just a part of it.  We also had soooo many other pedestrians and cyclist on the trail, like every minute or less we were passing a walker, jogger or cyclist along our way.  Labor Day Sunday, a great trail, and an especially nice day brought out lots of people.  

We have our first real stop around 11’ish at Bob’s Big Boy which we pretty much chosen because it brought back memories of when Ang and I were much younger and back in Cincy where I went to high school.  It was wonderfully reminiscent but also wonderfully mediocre.  

Our server at Bob’s Big Boy was Evander, having the same unique name as our 1 1/2 yr old grandson, Evander Allistair Brand.  We traded barbs about the unique name and he took good care of us.  BTW Evander, according to my son Ryan, means “ Protector of Trojans and founder of the city that would become Rome”. Good luck Evanders!  

1pm and we’re getting closer to Edgewater Park where we can dip our front wheels into Lake Erie to “complete” our Ohio to Erie bike ride.  

Donna’s cruising into Cleveland. 

Navigating in the cities always brings a challenge and Cleveland was no exception.  In these situations our trail maps are usually pretty useless and we rely on Google or Apple Maps, dead reckoning and whatever luck we can conjure.  

As we dip our tires in Lake Eriewe can say “It’s  Done!”  We have ridden from the Ohio River to Lake Erie! Through heat and rain, good times and bad, we made it!

After dipping our front tires in Lake Erie at the Edgewater Park beach, we say good by to Peggy as she heads home with her family back to Findlay, Len and Chris drive their car to the Hotel Indigo where Donna, Angela and I meet them after riding our bikes the last 3 miles of our ride.  We saw the Blue Angels performing over Cleveland, and had a wonderful and laugh filled last meal at Flannery’s Irish Pub with Donna, Len and Chris.  It was delightful ending to a great bike trip. Tomorrow we begin our journeys back home to Summit County, CO!