The Getaway that Wasn't

So Bill and I decided to leave town for a few days so I wouldn't "obsess" over my current cancer diagnosis. We decided to give Bill the opportunity to ride the Ohio to Erie Trail starting in Cleveland and heading south. We had purchased books and maps but had very little time to organize this trip. I was mainly going to play a supportive role, picking Bill up at the end of each days ride and perhaps riding up from the endpoint to meet him. 

As you can see from the map on the left, the route to the Tow Path Trail Head is a combination of paved paths, on-road connections and intermittently marked bike trails. If you look at the second map (what Bill actually rode), you can see at the mile 5 flag that he missed the turn, rode south, and the backtracked to an eastern connection. This path took him far east of where he needed to go, all the way over to the Cleveland Clinic and Case Western. After racking up about 20 miles, he called me and I came and picked him up. We drove to the Trail Head on Harvard to begin again.

# 1 and # 2  Starting out from Edgewater Park on Lake Erie after the traditional "tire dip" in Lake Erie.

# 4  View of downtown Cleveland from Edgewater Park.

# 3  Actual path Bill took from Edgewater Park to East Cleveland.

# 5  Actual path Bill traveled south from Trail Head.

# 6 Tow Path Trail Head with map on Harvard Ave.

By the end of the day, Bill had ridden more than 44 miles to Boston Mills in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. I met him there and we traveled to the B&B I had booked in Akron for the night. We tried to find a place for dinner where we were comfortable with their social distancing policies and ended up eating at Chiplotle's because of their outdoor patio. We followed this up with a butterscotch sundae at an ice cream shop that had made every effort to keep customers protected. We went back to the B&B and settled in for the night. Tomorrow would be another day.

Update: The next morning it was raining and the temperature was forecast to get up to 90. Wednesday was going to be much the same. We decided to return to Cincinnati and continue our adventure at a later date.