We arrived in Peter’s hometown of Upper Sandusky early on a cool beautiful evening. Bob had beaten us here and had driven around this small town of 6000 residents. We unpacked our stuff and put our bikes in Sharon’s beauty shop then toasted the beginning of our vacation with Gordon Biersch lager supplied by Bob and with Peter’s home brew. Then we dined at Mugsy’s before using Nancy’s hair dryer to fill up the air mattress that Bob would be using.
We got up early every day of the ride to avoid the hot afternoons. So today we were up at 6:00 am packing and loading the car to drive to Findlay for the start of our GOBA adventure. After registering and loading our luggage onto the “teal” semi, we rode out of the fairgrounds at 8:30 am into cool and sunny weather.
The terrain was flat, flat, with many cornfields and railroad tracks. We lunched at the Good Shepherd Nursing home just outside of Fostoria, where we encountered our lunch menu for the week: baked Idaho and sweet potatoes, sloppy joes and shredded chicken sandwiches, pizza and pasta salad. Nancy talked with a resident, Carol, before we hit the road again at 11:30. In Bascom we stopped for frozen lemonade before buying even more lemonade from a boy at the side of the road.
Arrived at the Tiffin fairgrounds, put up our tent and drank our first frozen cappuchino before deciding we wanted to ride more. 13.3 mph for the day’s ride. Rode into the city and to the Heidelberg College campus where Peter photographed some of the “Squirrels on Parade” touting the Nuts about Tiffin community theme. The campus was very pretty and was decorated with flags and balloons for freshman orientation. Back at the fairgrounds we locked our bikes in the tent, listened to a barbershop quarter, watched cloggers, then ate bbq ribs and chicken.
Mike and Sharon drove over and picked us up to return to Upper Sandusky. Enjoyed the great weather with beers on the back porch and then with a visit to Mike and Sharon’s house before falling asleep at 10pm.
Awakened by the sound of street sweepers at 6:30 am to another gorgeous day. Peter provided the tour of Wyandot County starting at the old Mission Cemetery and then to Indian Mill where the water was very low. In downtown Upper Sandusky, we visited his friends, Marc and Betsy Hart at their jewelry store. Peter drove us out to Killdeer reserve looking for eagle’s with no success, but we did watch 2 beautiful red tail hawks soar over head.
On our off day from biking we decided to golf at Lincoln Hills where we were joined by Mike for a good 9 hole game which everyone played well. Peter almost lost his putter, but found it in the end. Bob, Mike and Peter each hit onto the green in one shot on Hole #8, meriting a picture of the balls. At the pro shop we chatted with Emily Bastel's mom. Emily had recently gotten her LPGA card and was going to play in the Women’s Open later in the week. Her aunt is our friend, Linda from BGSU.
Dinner that evening was at Shabby M’s, the newly reopened Fingers Corners with Mike and Sharon. When we got back to the house, we first walked through Stepping Stones park then sat on the back porch and watched the dimming of the longest day of the year.
At 6:20 am (note the early times) we left with Mike to return to Tiffin and another day of GOBA riding. The day was cool with tailwinds so it was perfect for riding. Our lunch stop was at President Rutherford B. Hayes’ home in Fremont where we were entertained with period music and lay on the lawn in the shade after lunch. There are 30 acres of native trees here with a museum.
Our ride continued through farmland until we arrived at the Port Clinton High S chool about 1:45 pm. A great average of 13.1 mph for the day. We showered in the large semi trailers that GOBA provides at each campgrounds then walked into town. Our first stop was at McCarthy’s where we had our first taste of Irish nachos with corned beef and beers before we ate yet again at the perch fish fry next to the lake.
The Jet Express ferried us over to South Bass Island where we walked to the Niagara House to begin our 2 night stay. Everyone drives golf carts around the island, so we joined in by renting one from our host with Bob as the designated driver. He whisked us into the town of Put-in-Bay where we headed to the Put-in-Bay Microbrewery for more food and beers. We did some sight seeing, but it was starting to sprinkle so we headed back to the B&B before the hard rain started to fall.
We awoke to a cool breeze blowing into our 2nd floor room at the B&B. The entire day was awesome! Bob escorted us around the island on the golf cart starting first at the State Park with great campsites on the rocky Victory Cliffs. There were many GOBA bikers on the island who took the ferry over for the day. Our next stop was at the Perry Monument. We rode to the top in an elevator. What fantastic views of the islands and all the way to Canada!
More Lake Erie perch and walleye for lunch at the Boathouse. Bob went golfing on a 9 hole course while Peter read in the hammock and Nancy fell asleep in a chair at the B&B enjoying the shady breeze. When Bob returned, we walked next door to Stonehenge, but didn’t tour. Then we took the golf cart over to the Heineman Winery and Crystal Cave. The cave is the largest geode with huge crystals. We toured the winery which has been in existence since the 1880’s and sampled the wines. Bought one as a gift for Catherine and Bill, our hosts for Thursday night.
Then we wandered through the town of Put-in-Bay which is known as a party town. Stopped in several stores and restaurants before Nancy demanded to go look at the lake again. So we went over to the OSU Stone Labs and Bass Island Fish Hatchery to sit and stare at the water for a while. We saw one of the endangered Lake Snakes in the water.
Our innkeeper, DJ, had told us about Joes, a bar that locals visited, So we went there, got a beer and sat outside, but decided that it was no fun, so we dumped them out and went back to the winery to buy a bottle of wine for ourselves. At the B&B, we sat in the front yard, drank the wine and talked with the other guests before going to dinner at a restaurant they suggested, the Boardwalk. Another good meal of perch, walleye and shrimp. We were at the table next to the other guests who ordered lobster again.
DJ had recommended a great location to watch the sunset and we stopped there with some of the locals. Breathtakingly beautiful. We had met Marsha at the winery and she told us about the island’s history and then gave us an old book for DJ. A wonderful way to wrap up a restful and enjoyable vacation day.
The chirping of birds awakened us at 5:00 am to start our long day’s adventure. DJ drove us down to the first Miller Ferry of the day and we headed off across Lake Erie as we watched the sun rise on our way to Catawba. Another beautiful morning. Linda’s Cab’s met us at the other side and drove us the 10 miles back to Port Clinton High School. We unlocked our bikes, tore down the tent and were on the road by 7:15. Another great day of riding.
Rode into the very nice little town of Elmore, whose residents rolled out the red carpet for us. There were garage sales, the stores and even an art gallery were open. We walked around. Bob and Peter ate sandwiches from the Bethel Church. Then Bob bought an ink well at an antique shop. We called Cathy and Bill and they picked us up and drove us to their home in Perrysburg where we showered and then headed off to dinner. We dined at a great Italian restaurant (more fish!) and laughed and visited. Bill’s 87 year old mom had broken her hip just 2 days before and they wanted the diversion. We stopped by the condo his mom is building right on a lake. Very nice. They arranged for an air mattress and a couch for us for the night.
Another morning of getting up at 5:30 am. Cathy drove us back to Elmore and we were able to get on the road by 7:25am. However, we were probably in the last 10% to head out since it was projected to be such a warm day. The projections were correct. We had a difficult ride with heat and headwinds. Peter led the way and Bob and I drafted after him. We averaged 12 mph for the day and I have no idea how we did that! The first hour or so was pleasant riding, until we hit the headwinds.
The lunch stop was just 18 miles out where we dined on sweet potatoes and chicken sandwiches. Peter stopped at 10am to call TicketMaster and reserve seats for the upcoming Bruce Springsteen concert in Columbus! He caught up with Bob and I about 6 grueling miles up the road. The afternoon break was in Carey. We went to the park for snacks and then visited the Shrine Church that Pat belongs too. The stained glass windows were beautiful.
In Carey, we stopped at Commercial Savings Bank and surprised Pat. She introduced us to all of her colleagues and then came outside for a photo op! As soon as we left Carey, it started to rain (lots, we found out later it was 3/4“). But it felt really good after all of the heat and since there was no traffic, we rode in the rain for 5 miles towards Upper. As we got closer to Upper the rain slowed and then stopped. It had not rained there at all and the crops looked stunted.
As we entered the city, we took Peter’s picture. Then we toured the high school and took appropriate photos at his locker. In the cafeteria, they were serving great bbq and shredded chicken sandwiches. We wandered through the hallways and checked out the folks sleeping in the gym.
We rode over to the house and got Bob’s Jeep to head back to the campground and get our stuff. No more tents or lugging of gear! We cleaned up, did laundry and then headed downtown for the evening. There was a 35 mile professional bike race through the city so we watched that then went looking for supper. All of the churches had meals. We ate more shredded chicken, chicken noodle soup and Velvet Ice Cream. Yes, I gained 3 pounds and rode 260 miles for the week. Peter talked to lots of his friend’s parents.
We went back to the house and sat on the back porch enjoying Peter’s home brew and a slight breeze before returning downtown. Walker Street was closed for the evening and a stage set up for Mojo Risin, a Doors tribute band. Peter talked with his friends, Marc Hart and Jim Courtad. Bob and I were finally driven away by the cigarette smoke and loud music. Peter walked home and we spent our last night at his Mom’s house.
Today was our own personal GOBA guided by Peter. He took us down a memory lane pointing out to Bob many of the special locations of his youth. We rode by grain elevators, track fields, Alfred Koehler’s house, and finally the farm where Peter grew up. There were many photo stops. At 12 miles, we rejoined the GOBA riders for the home stretch.
It was amazing to see the devastation to the trees from the ice storm during the winter as we rode by miles and miles of wheat, corn and soybean fields. Our last lunch was devoured at 8:30 am at Riverdale High School where Mark McQuown used to teach and coach basketball. Imagine eating a huge sweet potato, sloppy joe, grapes and pizza that early in the morning and then riding your bike! It was a total of 39 hot miles to Findlay. Our average speed for the day was probably about 10 mph since we stopped under every shady tree.
At 11:00 am, we arrived at the Findlay Fair Grounds to
load up our bikes. It will be hard to top this and last year’s
GOBA vacations. We rode 260 miles in 21 hours over 5 days, golfed,
ferried, ate a lot of food and had a wonderful time. I hated to see it end.