Day 39
Niles, OH to Erie, PA
90 Miles, 10th State Line crossing
The day started cool, around 54*, with climbing right from the start. unlike yesterday the climbing never got serious, just enough to keep us humble. The wind remained steady from the Northeast so we had headwinds and crossing headwinds all day again but they were mild and didn't torture us.
We had back roads again almost the entire day with just a couple very small towns along the way.
A ride like today couldn't be complete without a covered bridge, Steph and Mike will be happy to see that I stopped and took this picture.
Just before the Pennsylvania border we all stopped at The White Turkey Root Beer Stand. Everything is open air and they are only open in the summer months. The place was doing a booming business and the root beer milk shake was great.
Another 15 miles down the road we came across a fruit stand and Dave treated everyone to strawberries. they were fresh picked from the adjoining field, they were good but they weren't Gresham quality.
We are staying in the marina on Lake Erie, Presque Isle is in the background.
This is the view from my desk .
I walked about a mile into downtown Erie and found that they had a nice ball park and that the home town Erie Sea Wolves were playing the Portland (Maine) Sea Dogs. Five bucks got me these seats behind home plate and is was Buck Night....Beers, Sodas, Hot Dogs, Pretzels, your choice $1.
The Ball Park holds 5,500 people and has everything that big league parks have except high prices.
I asked an usher if these were AA teams and he confirmed that they were. The Sea Wolves are Detroit Tigers AA team and the Sea Dogs are The Boston Red Sox AA Team. "Usher Bob", as he introduced himself as, gave me a quick history on the ballpark and some of the players that have come through. Usher Bob came and found me and since I was a first time visitor he brought me a Erie Sea Wolves cap and a Sea Wolves Pennant. For $9 I had a great seat, 2 beers, 2 dogs and the hospitality of Usher Bob.
Baseball is a great connector in America. You can go to any minor league ballpark and have a great time without breaking the bank. The mound is still 60' 6" and it is still 90' between the bases. I love seeing young family's, college kids out for a cheap night and retired folks that know all the players names and keep the box scores. Whenever I go to a minor league ball game I want to go again very soon.
Tomorrow will be a day of sleeping and doing some office work and it will also be my last rest day of this journey.
Dream BIG, Jeff
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