We finally found some great cycling routes while in Ohio. Seeing on the area maps that there was a "Western Reserve Greenway Trail running up the middle of the county on a rail-to-trail project that claimed "47 Miles, 27 of it in Ashtabula County", we looked up the entry point claiming to be a public park at the end (or beginning) of the trail. We drove up to the address, and found the trail end, but were astounded to see nothing but a lot full of junked and rusty cars, a very seedy and uninviting neighborhood, no place whatsoever to park, and a bench full of unfriendly looking fellows drinking beer. We barely found a place to turn around and went to look for other places to enter the greenway. The next one we found was "Hamilton Point" which claimed another public parking area, which turned out to be a very narrow gravel strip next to an industrial lot in another seedy area of town we were reluctant to park our car in. A couple of cyclists rode up to the intersection while I was walking the dogs nearby in the grass, so I asked THEM where a good place might be to safely park our car and enter the bikeway. They mentioned something about being parked in Austinburg, which wasn't that easy to find either, but finally we did, and thoroughly enjoyed riding this lovely trail with it's tree-canopy-shaded pathway much of it's length.
A few days later we left Caesar's Creek State Park and traveled up to the Kirtland area to tour the Kirtland LDS Temple and the visitors' center.
We paid for 4 days' RV parking at Geneva State Park, esconced on the soggy shores of Lake Erie. They have had a lot of rain recently, not needing any since it's so wet and humid there anyway. Puddles of muddy water surrounded every campsite, and most visitors were underwhelmed with the soggy conditions. The weather was beautiful but the water puddles just would not soak in, dry up, or go away. There were more tent-campers than RV denizens and most of them quickly opted to set their tents up either on the pavement or concrete pad of their sites. Several left early, in spite of the anticipation of spending Memorial Day weekend there. We enjoyed our stay; we were high and dry in the RV except when stepping off the pavement. The first time we unloaded our trikes and took a ride we only got half a mile or less and stopped when we encountered saw-horse road blocks and detour signs indicating "go this way...." straight into a muddy dirt path. We gave up and turned around.
Sunday we attended LDS meetings in Perry Ohio and greatly enjoyed that friendly ward. May friendly folks welcomed us and made us feel at home.
The prior Sunday we had gotten all dressed up and drove to the Richmond Indiana Ward, only to find the building empty and locked, with no signs indicating where the saints might be otherwise.... most likely at stake conference. But lacking any signs or notices in the doorways, we went back home to the RV disappointed.
A couple days afterward, we drove down to the West Chester area near Cincinnati to visit our good friends James and Christel Wilson, pals from our mission service together in the New Mexico Albuquerque Mission.
Back to Kirtland and Geneva State park. Sunday after church, the late afternoon was so lovely I took my trike out for another ride and rode over to the lake side of the highway again to see if the Soggy Path had dried out any.... and it was still a bit wet but not several inches of water like before. I rode through it and back on to a nicely paved path that took me right along the shore of Lake Erie and over to a beach with all sorts of activity going on...... and a bike path leading farther along the lakeshore! I quickly turned around and raced back to the RV to get Jacque on her trike so we could ride and enjoy together. We rode for several miles, to and from various beachfront sites. We turned around earlier than planned when I had to go find a bathroom and the area was too full of people to get away with just peeing in the weeds.
I just wish we had discovered the entirety of these trails the first time we attempted exploring. Like so many other places, there may be a great cycling path available but - all too often - it is sadly undermarked and very hard to find how to ENTER the greenway or path. Even at "Hamilton Point", there was a lovely kiosk with a large map showing the trail and parking areas all highlighted.... WITH NO ADDRESSES LISTED for ANY of the parks and parking points. Google and GPS were of precious little help either. BAH
Today, Monday's update: As you can see from the link at the top of the page, we drove clear up into NEW YORK (?) to tour Historic Palmyra and the Hill Cumorah and other nearby LDS sacred and historical sites.
Neither of us had EVER had any intention of going anywhere near New York state but since we found ourselves with a few days and no advance plans, we decided to "Do the Tour" of places we haven't seen before. We're even thinking of doing Niagra Falls since it isn't that far from here. Stay tuned. We'll see.
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