DAY 43

ROUTE:Austintown,OH to Erie,PA	DISTANCE:96 miles	WINDS:Light headwinds
WEATHER:Overcast, but no rain until the last 20 miles	TERRAIN:Rolling hills	CLIMBING:1220 feet

Sunday, July 18th. I don't think there's a rider in our bunch who isn't thankful to be in Erie,PA, tonight with a rest day tomorrow. Wow. The past five riding days have been tough...nearly 500 miles, rain, accidents, bad roads, and HILLS. Whew! It'll be nice to let our legs recover tomorrow before the final eight days of riding into NH. When we departed this morning, the skies were really gray and overcast, but we did start the day off dry. We said goodbye at breakfast to Dale and hope that he'll be back on the bike soon. Our riding group today was a large one....me, Joyce, Steven, Kathryn and Tim, Mason, Joe, Bill, and Michael D. Nobody was particularly talkative early, but it never takes long! The roads today were rural backroads, but we saw some beautiful houses made of different types of stones. The fields of soybeans and corn began to give way to vineyards, apple orchards, and cherry farms. The climbing today was less than a couple of days ago, but some of the hills we did have were steep little buggers! We had two great food stops today. The first was at Richardson's Rootbeer Stand, aka The White Turkey Drive-In. This place was an open air grill with red swivel stools around the soda fountain type bar counter, but with picnic tables set up out back for the overflow...and believe me, there was an overflow! The joint was jumping, and I bought a souvenir t-shirt. :) Our second great stop came at mile 85. We stopped at a vegetable/fruit stand, Joe bought a watermelon, and we split it open and ate it right there by the road. Definitely one of the coolest snack stops yet! We left Ohio and entered Pennsylvania, and yet again took the obligatory state sign photos. The rain held off all day until just after the watermelon stop and was luckily fairly light when it did start...we got wet but not soaked to the bone. The only negative to a good day was another minor bike crash. We were riding after the first scheduled SAG and saw an Amish horse and buggy ahead of us. (We were riding in Amish country this morning). The road we were on was brand new blacktop, but because it wasn't finished, the two lanes were uneven. Joe and I popped over the ridge and passed the Amish folks, but birthday boy Steven lost control of his bike trying to do the same thing and went down. He got a bit of road rash, but didn't have any serious injuries and was able to continue riding all day. Just another reminder of how careful we have to be! It's a dangerous sport we play! I'm tired and heading to bed...thanks for checking in....tomorrow's a rest day, so I may not post again until Tuesday. See you then!

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