Day 54. Sandusky to Perry, 64 miles

I said goodbye to Andrew until Maine today, which was hard. I also said goodbye to all the amenities that Andrew conveyed: extra dresses and underwear, my electric toothbrush, Doritos and Diet Coke on arrival. It was, as you might imagine, a difficult parting.

He dropped me at a park in Avon Lake, 30+ miles from Sandusky; this would save me from a 95-mile day that included navigating Cleveland, my last truly large city of the trip. It’s actually very well routed and signed, but getting through a city always takes more time: more turns, more traffic, more people.

The bitterness of parting was sweetened somewhat by my proximity to Lake Erie, which I’ll be following for the next few days.

The trail through Cleveland was well marked and also familiar; I’m now on a route Joyce and I have taken twice before, once when we rode to NY and once on Infinity Tour around Erie and Ontario.

Returning to the ACA route was also a significant lifestyle upgrade; I’m back to getting turn-by-turn directions, which made Cleveland a lot smoother than I expected.

I had been struggling to remember how Joyce and I had dealt with Cleveland on past tours—it’s hard to get through it and far enough east of it to find camping options. While Andrew and I were pondering this and noodling around on Googlemaps, we ran across Perry Township Park, about 35 miles east of Cleveland, and a lightbulb went off: this was where we’d stayed both previous times. I love Perry Township Park—it has beautiful, lake-overlooking campsites, free for cyclists, and it’s quiet and friendly. I just hadn’t remembered where it was.

I made my way there, aided by a bit of tailwind (YASSSSS!) out of the south. I’d forgotten how steeply Erie curves north—that and Ontario are much of how I get back toward the north after my sharp drop south through Michigan.

It was very quiet at the park. I’d called earlier to verify they had sites, and the park manager said to just go ahead and set up if I didn’t see her when I arrived; she had a funeral in the evening and wouldn’t be around. I went ahead and got myself parked at the same site we’d had in prior years and took a shower. There were maybe 20 RVs in the place, but only one car (truck); I could see its owner inside the camper watching TV. After a while, he came out and asked if I wanted firewood, and shortly after he left. I’m pretty sure I was the only overnight camper at Perry Township Park Monday night.

I talked on the phone with mom while it rained out over the water and then got into the tent right as it started to rain over me. We chatted until the rain let up, then I went to brush my teeth and headed to bed to the whoosh of wind and waves.