Hank – We got a late start and left Painesville in a light rain. The rain soon stopped but the cloud cover blocked the sun for most of the day, which kept the temperature down for us. I had called an RV campground in Conneaut (CON-ee-aught) and learned they had plenty of tent sites so we have a place to spend the night.

The northern tier route zigzagged its way back to the Lake Erie coastline. Traffic wasn’t bad and most of the road was good. Along the way a cyclist caught up with us. Melissa is a triathlete. After hearing our story she said we were a good source  of inspiration for her to do something similar. We stopped to eat in Geneva-On-The-Lake. It was a huge tourist trap. The food at the Times Square was disappointing and a whole order of fries is obnoxious.

We stopped to have a drink in Conneaut before going to the campground. Stephanie, the bar keeper, was amazed to hear our story. We seem to get a lot of that. When we got our site at the campground a guy tenting near us couldn’t believe what we were doing. He invited us to join him and his friends for dinner. They bought some sweet corn and had caught a bunch of walleye fish. They were frying up the fish and roasting the corn over a fire. So we got to meet Paul, Allen, and Billy. Paul and Allen are avid fishermen. Like insane fishermen. They had spent the day fighting seven foot waves on Lake Erie. Paul was extremely impressed and amazed by our story. He said he can’t wait to tell his wife and maybe inspire her to do something, too.

They had also just befriended Billy, who was also camping nearby, and asked him to join them as well. Paul can clean and fillet a fish like nobody’s business. And Alan can cook them up just right. Dinner was delicious.

Paul showed me an invention he had patented. He calls it the Draggpro. Its purpose is to slow the boat so you can troll for fish. It also makes the boat turn to the side the drag is on. Not being a fisherman, they told me this was a good thing. Paul is trying to figure out how to market his invention. Not being in that field either I suggested contacting local colleges and seeing if a business or marketing department could help him out. If anyone has other advice, please let me know and I’ll pass it on.

Sleeping in the cozy tent tonight. Tomorrow we’ll be in a Warmshowers house in Erie, PA.

Kathy – This morning we had a nice breakfast at the Rider Inn prepared by Eileen (the owner). We chatted with Eileen and Carol, another hotel guest from Chicago. Carol is just finishing up a big annual road trip of the New England area. It was great to visit with these ladies during breakfast. Carol gave us her card and told us to look her up when we get to Chicago. She said she’d love to host us and hear more of our stories. We meet the nicest people!

Today’s 55 mile ride was a mixed bag. The temps were in the mid 80’s. We had rain to start off our ride, then sun, and finally cloud cover which we were thankful for. We had headwinds…and tailwinds most of the last 15 miles, which we were thankful for too. The terrain was a mix of short steep hills and gradual climbs for about 30 miles But we also had sections that were flat, and we were thankful for that too. We also seen many beautiful landscapes.  We had a mix of farm land, small towns, tourist towns and of course lots of views of Lake Erie.  We have been traveling along Lake Erie for multiple days.  It is amazing to see just how big Lake Erie is considering it is the smallest of the five Great Lakes.  It was also interesting to see a 5 – 10 mile section of our ride that was farm land specifically growing all your landscape needs.  The many different types of trees, shrubbery/bushes, flowers, and tall grasses were wonderful sights to view as we rolled along. These are the sights that make the work of riding worth it.  Since we got s aate start this morning we didn’t get to our campsite until 6:00 pm which is a little late for us to get the tent up, showered and dinner.

I did scatter my Ohio flowers today near Lake Erie. No doubt they will be beautiful when they bloom. For those new to the blog, this is part of my campaign to Make America More Beautiful, planting one packet of flowers in each state we visit.

Our evening ended on a bang with meeting Paul, Allen and Billy. These guys were a real hoot. The crazy talk, mannerisms, and overall personalities of these three guys was over the top. They were so ridiculously funny and kind at the same time. It would take me all night to write about this evening and all the funny times. Next time you see us ask us to describe these guys as it’s so much better hearing it. Don’t get me wrong, they were really great guys just funnier than all get out. They insisted we have dinner with them and I must say it was fantastic. If the mosquitoes and black flies weren’t out and biting so much we could have talked to them for a few more hours. Overall It was a fun end to our day hanging out with these guys.