Day 28 - June 7, 2023. Austinburg, OH - Erie, PA

Just 4 days of riding after this one, with less distance almost every day.  About this time on every trip I start to think of all the things that will need to be attended to once I'm home.  Part of me wants the trip to go on for a few more weeks and part of me wants to get home.

It was a very good day today.  Nice ride and really comfortable temperature to ride in.  We got right back on to the Western Reserve Greenway for the first 6 miles.  There were lots of UGRR info boards along the way, although they didn't come out too clearly in the photos.



Into the city of Ashtabula, which is on the shore of Lake Erie at the mouth of the Ashtabula River.  The city was an important destination on the UGRR in the mid-1800s, as fugitive slaves could take ships to Canada and freedom.  One of the remaining houses is Hubbard House.




Some other interesting sights in town.











At about 15 miles we came to some "road closed" barriers.  Really - it just means there is a car-free section ahead.  In this case for only about a mile, but it was as Lake Erie came into view on our left - so very nice..............



SAG stop at about 22 miles and shortly after that we were in Pennsylvania.  











For probably the first time this trip we had a shoulder to ride on almost in to Erie.  A local rider apologized for its state of (dis)repair but really - I was just happy to have a shoulder.

Most of the day we rode as close to Lake Erie as was available to us.  And just about the whole way we had nice homes on either side of the road, but especially on the lake-side.  If I had stopped to take pictures of all the really nice ones I would still be out there.  At some point, though, we did have a bit of agriculture.  Vineyards for the first time, as well as some wheat.




Lots of turns as we would our way through rather beautiful and ritzy-looking neighbourhoods on our way into Erie.  At about 52 miles a bridge was out on our route.  Everyone else detoured around it; I just went down the slope to the street below and rode up the other side.  Made me think of a saying I recently came across:  "Impossible is just an opinion."  There was a nice view of the Erie Yacht Club from above.  We passed several marinas on the way in.  The last couple of miles were on bikepaths, which eventually led us to our Hampton Inn, right on the waterfront.  What a beautiful location, and I got a corner suite with a lake/harbour view.  Beautiful!





Out for a bit of a walk before dinner and then out again after dinner to check out the Flagship Niagara - famous for its win in the Battle of Lake Erie in the War of 1812.  














While I didn't detect any smoke in the sky today, the sunset was definitely more colourful than usual.  I was listening to CBC Ottawa this morning and their air quality was 125 on a scale of 1 to 10.  Yikes!  It looks like it's all down the eastern seaboard as well.  Hope it doesn't get too much worse before we get to NOTL.


Erie, Pennsylvania. 

Population 94,831 (2020).  That population is down from a peak of 138,440 in 1960.  This is due to the departure of factories and dependent businesses.  The median household income in 2010 was $28,387 and 19% of the population live below the poverty line.  It is considered part of the "rust belt".  American manufacturing, US steel and coal production, and commercial fishing began to gradually decline in the 70s.  Today's economy is based on some manufacturing along with insurance, healthcare, higher education, technology, service industries, and tourism.  Over 10% of the USA's plastics are manufactured or finished in Erie-based plastics plants.


Stats for the day:

Distance:  90.8 km / 56.4 miles

Elevation (Garmin):  366m up / 444m down.  1202' up / 1458' down.

Elevation (RWGPS):  489m up / 564m down.  1604' up / 1850' down.

Weather:  12C - 23C.  Pretty darned nice.  No evidence of smoke.  Wind wasn't a factor.  Sometimes a headwind, sometimes at our side, or behind.  As other riders were layering up (pants, earbands, jackets, long-fingered gloves), I couldn't even keep my lightest jacket on for 2 miles.  I almost hope for a really cool day, just to see how many clothes some people would put  on!





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