Phew!

After the problems with uploading photos last night, Blogger is running quicker this morning, so here is my latest post from yesterday....

This was day 31 of the tour, which saw me in the states of Ohio and Indiana.

I saw this fire hydrant and it immediately reminded me of the fireman’s helmet I took a photo of in Rochester....(see here for comparison)....

Coming from the UK, I had heard of drive-in movies before and on this tour I have seen a few old but sadly derelict ones. But today, in Oregon, Ohio, what a surprise – a shiny and obviously still being used drive-in movie theatre (US = theater)....

I stopped for petrol (US = Gas) in Bowling Green, Ohio and this place gets my vote for the best looking gas station on the tour so far....

Following the great advice from Jimmy to use Route 424 as it offers a much more scenic ride than Route 24 (and he was 100% right, so thanks Jimmy) my journey today took me through Grand Rapids, Ohio which is on the Maumee River. I looked at the rapids and I personally didn’t think they were very grand, but that’s just my opinion. The town does have a military gun at the site of the war dead memorial....

The town also has a very old but great looking railway bridge over the river....

The Leading Ladies having a rest from the sun. By now it was getting hot....

I rode passed a very large soup factory....

I cannot remember where this was – it was opposite one of the many places I stopped today to drink something because it was so hot. I liked it's grand looking appearance....

Did I mention it was hot? This was my thermometer as I rode along. Of course, it wasn’t quite this hot because the thermometer was in the sun, but it was bloomin’ hot anyway!....

I didn’t think I rode that far today....

Cool old fire truck just parked on the street with its engine running....

Is this a church? No it is a public library. Either the architect was very confused when the building was designed, or it may have been built as a church and had a change of use later? This was in Florida, Ohio....

A small dam on the Maumee River....

Here is the sign for Indiana, the 11th state I have ridden in on this tour. I can see I am going to have to get one of those “these are the states I have visited” maps for my blog....

As I left Ohio I reflected on the huge amount of road construction that I saw – no major new roads, but repairs and improvements were happening across the state. I saw signs indicating the work was being funded by the American Recovery and Re-Investment Act, which I am guessing is part of President Obama’s policy to inwardly invest to help maintain jobs during these difficult financial times. Great to see this investment, but can you please eliminate the grooved and stepped pavements until after I have gone through?

I have discovered something good on my Garmin GPS unit. There is a selection in the “Points of Interest” section called Lodging. This gives directions to the nearest hotels, motels, B&B’s, Inns and the like. It gives the name of the place, how far it is and in which direction. I used it today when I reached a certain point where I had had enough of the heat. I selected a nearby Holiday Inn, not because I wanted to stay at there, but it was near, would have air conditioning, as shower and maybe a pool. It had all of these and FREE WI-FI. Yeah!

Plus, it has a guest laundry. One of the things that is a pain when you are on the road is washing your clothes. Some riders use the wear it twice, throw it away and buy a new one policy, but I do not subscribe to this. I carry enough clothes for 9 or 10 days and after a week start looking for a laundermat. Simple things sometimes bring pleasure and I was delighted to see the Holiday Inn had a guest laundry. So, instead of washing my clothes in a laundermat as usual, my clothes are being washed upstairs as I type this, my blog. What a luxury!

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Sorry Folks

I wrote my blog words this evening. I sorted the photos and made them smaller ready to upload.

I see Blogger has changed its posting software – what a disaster, as it is so slow, it is impossible to use. After 2 hours of trying to upload my photos I am giving up and going to bed!

I will try again tomorrow.

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A Mixed Day....

I haven’t thought to mention this so far, but I really object to paying for connecting to the internet in hotels. This seems to happen all over the world, but I am pleased to say that it happens far less in the USA than other countries. So far on my tour, in most of the smaller hotels, motels and B&B’s, wi-fi is completely free. But in most of the larger hotel chains, you have to pay. Now, I don’t mind paying for things if the price is fair, but the cost of wi-fi in large hotels is ridiculous. $12 - 15 per day seems to be the going rate and this is simply a money making rip-off. I now have a policy of asking them to remove this cost from my bill when checking out, by saying that I do not pay for the internet. Result so far? About even, with some removing the charge and others not. Give it a try next time!

Guess what? I saw another lighthouse today! This was the first of two to be closed, but I didn’t mind this one being closed as I did get there quite early. I will tell you about the second one being closed (snarl) later in this post! Here is the light in Fairport Harbor, OH....




























Just as I left Fairport, I went passed a sand yard, where they handle loose sand. I liked this huge pile of sand and the shape it made....






















I rode through Cleveland today and was quite impressed. Many of the larger cities I have been to have seemed as if they are on the decline. Cleveland didn’t feel that way. I saw lots of operational heavy industry around the Cleveland docks area, which was good to see. It struck me that in this area of hard work, sweat and muscle was just the place to locate an American Football team, which is of course exactly where the Cleveland Browns are located. Good choice of location!

The view as I entered Cleveland....














The Leading Ladies outside the Browns stadium....




























I couldn’t work out what this statue was when I first saw it....




























Looking back across Lake Erie, as I left Cleveland....




























I rode through Lakewood, just west of Cleveland and I was impressed. Being so close to the centre of Cleveland, the area is very good, with the lake nearby and some fabulous houses, set amongst clean streets lined with trees. Set amongst many other great houses, this one caught my eye....






















I like meeting people. Today I stopped for lunch at Rocky River, Ohio at the Cravings Cafe. A very nice place....






















There I met another customer, Ralph, a silver haired man with the look of lots of experience in his eyes. He told me he has visited 70 different countries, including the UK. He worked in Russia in the 60’s during the cold war period when “people asked you in the street if they could buy your shoes or your jeans”. Ralph rides a Vespa with nearly 100,000 miles on the clock.....






















Ralph doesn’t wear a helmet when he rides his bike. He told me that when people ask him if he feels safe not wearing a helmet, he says “I have been shot at in Vietnam and I had to avoid landmines. I have been deported. Do I feel safe not wearing a helmet? Yes I do!” He is considering riding a Vespa down through South America – what a great idea, but there would be many challenges on such a trip. I am sure he would cope though!

Very soon, I spotted something very strange in the front garden (US = front yard) of someone’s house....




























Quite what a gondola from a ski lift in Aspen was doing there, is anyone’s guess. I wanted to knock at the house and ask, but it looked as if there was nobody there.

On my journey west, I have now travelled most of the length of Lake Ontario and then Lake Erie, but riding along these Great Lakes has become less interesting today. Most of the lake edge is owned by private houses and there is a strip of houses along most of the lake with a road running parallel to and one block away from the lake itself. This means that in order to even see the lake, you have to turn down one of the roads that lead to and stop at the lake edge. Sometimes you can gain access to the lake, sometimes not. This means that rather than simply enjoying the view of the lake as you ride along, you have to make the effort of turning onto a different road to even catch a glimpse. I got tired of doing this so I gave up. It is a shame that the lake is right there, but most of the time you cannot see it. Great for the house owners though!

I stopped at the Quaker Steak and Lube in Vermillion, OH. This is a cool place, with bikes and cars used as part of the decor....




























This is the view from their balcony bar....






















I went passed Cedar Point – which looked good if you like roller coasters....






















As I approached Marblehead I saw these houses. Nice, normal up-scale row of houses....






















BUT look what they had in their back yards!!!!.... How cool would this be!....






















Finally for todays post, everyone on my tour so far has been kind, helpful and really nice. Until today. I wanted to see the lighthouse at Marblehead. It was out of my way, but I thought it would be worth the extra miles. I arrived and parked in the car park and walked towards the lighthouse taking a couple of pictures as walked....























































As I walked along, I had a good view of the lighthouse and the attendants by the door, must had had a good view of me. As I got within 15 seconds of the attendants, they rose from their chairs, one walked away and the other entered the lighthouse. As I arrived at the door, the female attendant come out and said “we are closed, please come back tomorrow at one o’clock”. I was flabbergasted, I had arrived at 4.45 pm and they closed at 4.45. If I had been 15 seconds earlier, I would have been allowed in. I explained that I had come a long way (!) and that I couldn’t come back tomorrow as I was on a road trip. It didn’t matter to her – she said the last group had already entered the lighthouse and no I couldn’t join them. This group was there for another 15 minutes and it would have been very easy for her to say “OK, just pop in, but be quick”.

I was really annoyed by this woman’s attitude.

When I got to my motel for the night I enlarged the pictures I took and here is the one I took just 15 seconds before arriving at the door of the lighthouse. As you can see, the attendants have just got up from their chairs to close the place....






















I hope that she is happy with the way she treated me today. There was an e-mail address in the window of the lighthouse of the people that run the facility. I am going to write to them to complain. If you, dear readers, want to also write to them, the address is.....

east.harbor.parks@dnr.state.oh.us

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4000 Miles, Battleships, Blue Legs and a Plane in a Cemetary!

Today I rode 220 miles on back roads in the states of New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio. I kept turning off the back roads onto even more back roads and it seemed to take me ages to get anywhere today.

As I left Niagara I rode south on the Canadian side of the river along the Niagara Boulevard, looking at the big houses as I went. This is clearly an affluent road with many desirable houses and no doubt, the prices to go with them. I took photos of a few....
































































These were all very much the same type of style until I saw this house, which sort of came into sight and slapped me round the face with its contrast from the others. I am not sure if I like it in the setting it was in, but it was very striking....






















I crossed back into the USA over the Peace Bridge, south of Niagara....






















Each vehicle in the queue ahead of me took about 2 minutes to clear the immigration officer. It however took me about 10 minutes as the officer looked at my number plate (US = licence plate) and was then very confused asking what state it was from and she was not at all sure about what to enter into her computer system, as she had never had a foreign vehicle to deal with before. I imagine the people in the car s behind me were getting a little impatient....






















I decided I would go and see Buffalo. I had been told it was just a shadow of its former self and after seeing it today, I had to agree. The obvious industrial and farming might of the city’s west side was in major decline and it was sad to see so many buildings that were clearly the powerhouse of the city now in such a state of neglect. I had seen on the web that there were some WW2 battleships in Buffalo, so I went and took a look....

















































The main ship was a Cleveland Class Cruiser, the USS Little Rock and it seems it had seen its fair share of action....






















There was also a submarine, the USS Croaker....




























I am sure that its kill list didn’t include a kangaroo, so I am not sure what it is doing on here....






















As I headed west along Lake Erie, I reached the 4000 mile point of my tour. As with the other ‘000 mile points I took a picture of exactly where I was as the clock hit the mark. This time, I had just rolled into Little Erie Beach in Angola, NY, so the photo has the waters of Lake Erie in the background....






















The beach is small, but really nice. I had a drink (non alcoholic) in the beach bar “Castaways”. A couple of pictures of the beach, which I expect gets full at the weekends in summer....











































I saw this in Portland NY. Is this a water tower?.... I stopped and took a picture as my wife Jackie spent some of her early life near Portland, but in Oregon.....




























My journey today then took me to Barcelona, NY, where I saw two young women trying to paint a disabled parking bay – the type with blue paint on the road surface. As you can see, one of them wasn’t doing a good job, with a lot of paint on her legs....




























I continued on and stopped at the beach at Barcelona, where I saw this....






















Called the Sea Lion, it was most peculiar as it was a small reproduction of a late 16th century 3 masted square rigged English merchant sailing ship. It took 14 years to build the replica and I was told that some time later, nobody could afford to continue to maintain her, so the ship was scuttled, to be bought back to the surface later and then refurbished. The masts are not in place, but there were lying next to the ship. I hope they manage to finish the refurbishment.

I had heard about a military plane located in a cemetery, so I went to find it. Yes, it really does exist and the plane is a F-94C Starfire and it is inside the cemetery near exit 23 of I-90 in Pennsylvania. Very strange, but it did appear to be mainly a military cemetery....






















The sign defining the Pennsylvania state line was beautifully simple....






















The state line going into Ohio was a much more complex affair....

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