August 29 - 31: Erie, PA to East Avon, NY

August 29 - It is only 8:30 and Donna's rear tire went flat (#10) just at the east end of Erie. Probably surprising that it didn't happen sooner as the streets had a lot of debris.


We are starting to see more vineyards. Turns out this part of Pennsylvania and adjacent New York are the Concord grape epicenter of the country.


10:00 - Flat #11 - Donna's rear tire again. While we were changing it the UPS truck went by. Five minutes later he was back asking if we needed help. He told us about the bike shop in the next town and the best way to get there on bikes ... another angel of the road!


And Lake Country Cycle Shop had the exact tire we needed. Dave said that he gets lots of cross country tourers because their tires wear out by the time they reach his town, North East, PA. He also told us about the Pedaling History Museum in the Buffalo area.


Our next to the last state!


We are starting to see a lot of these roadside fruit and vegetable stands, ­tempting us to stop.


This Portland is quite a bit smaller than the one in Oregon. We spent the night in Fredonia/Dunkirk which was only 7 miles from here.


August 30 - Another really pleasant day for biking along Lake Erie. Donna thought this church was distinctive for its hexagonal towers.


This river is really typical of the stream channels in this area. Most are running very low too. It's been a pretty dry summer here.


Another Donna magnet with a cute theme and good ice cream.


And here we are at the Burgwardt Bicycle Museum in Orchard Park.


Doug with Carl, the owner and collector of all these bicycles.

Besides the wooden handles this a tandem that has the seats side by side - a truly social bike.


Just a few bike bells.


The Schwinn Black Phantom: Doug says that every kid on the block wanted one when he was boy.








Time to move on but we are so glad that Dave told us about the museum. Stayed the night on the outskirts of Buffalo. We decided to save Niagara Falls for the next bike trip when we go all the way around Lake Erie.


August 31 - It was very foggy for the first few hours today. Our sound of the day came first thing. A fellow guest at the motel serenaded us in the breakfast room with his guitar while waiting for his partner.

Haven't seen this sign before!


This is very typical of this part of New York.


Grinning his way up another little hill.


Our smell for the day was silage corn being harvested right next to the road. Made Donna hungry for more sweet corn!


Stopped in Avon to use the library's computer. Afterwards we had just passed the fire station when all the sirens went off. Spent the night in East Avon. Today was the end of Week 9 - 3200 miles!

August 26 - 28: Bellevue, OH to Erie, PA

August 26 - We spent the night in Bellevue and woke to a very sunny morning.

A church sprouting from an Ohio corn field.

Tom and Joanie outside their house in Elyria. Tom found us on a street corner trying to decide which way to go. He not only gave us a bike-friendly route to take to Cleveland but invited us home for lunch - another angel of the road. He rode across the country when he was 22 and looks forward to doing it again someday.

August 27 - Our first view of Lake Erie from the Ohio shore. This very old cemetery is in Lakewood.

Now we are officially in Cleveland, "The Forest City". There really are a lot of trees in the neighborhoods that we've passed.

Coming into the "City"

Cleveland's version of Eugene's ducks and Portland's cows. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is down by the lake behind Doug.

For any Cleveland Brown fans.

The Great Lakes Science Center with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame behind it.

This Pulaski guy is everywhere!

Looking back at downtown.

A real diner in east Cleveland. We were the talk of the place as we left. We rode through some very poor parts of the city and found out later that Cleveland is the 3rd poorest city with over 250,000 population in the US. We were not surprised after seeing it up close.

4th U.S. President James Madison's house in Mentor.

We had 49 straight miles of town and traffic lights from the time we left the motel this morning. That is a LOT of stopping and starting.

Our first Revolutionary War statue.

Our campsite at Geneva State Park.

Checking out the sunset

This P52 buzzed by twice in the waning light. Donna saw her first firefly ever tonight too.

August 28 - Woke early enough (5:30) to see the moon reach full eclipse (accidently-didn't know it was going to happen). Dick and Melanie were in the campsite across the way from us and invited us over for morning coffee after Dick inquired about our journey.

He is a conservation archeaologist and does reproductions of traditional native items like this soapstone beavertail pipe.

They had just been to a flintknapper's gathering where he acquired this huge obsidian blade from an Oregonian.

Flat #9 occurred just as we reached our breakfast spot in Geneva-by-theLake so Doug changed it while we were waiting for breakfast to be cooked. The rear tire again.

A beautiful morning for a ride.

We have elected to take this route which is closer to the lake than Hwy 20 and has a bit less traffic.

One of the coal-fired electric plants that those trains in Wyoming feed.

Alas our quite pleasant stay in Ohio comes to an end ...

but Pennsylvania will be just as interesting and historical!

First all brick silo we've seen.

Now you know why there are only 49 miles of Pennsylvania on Highway 20. Made it to Erie and passed the 3,000 mile mark on our way there.