Day 43 / Sunday, July 19th / Youngstown, OH to Erie, OH / 101 mile

Today I was on a mission since tomorrow is a rest day.

The mission was to get to the hotel first. The motivating factor was to see my wife Donna who I hadn't seen since June 3rd. I'd be lying if I left out the fact that getting to the hotel before Tom (CA) gave me a little added incentive as well. I was chasing Tom and Sean (UK) slowly closing the gap until they overshot a turn. I jumped on the opportunity and took a 100 yard lead into a lead where they were no longer in sight. There was a road closed due to construction that our sag support told us we could cross by carrying our bikes on a dirt mound on each side of a bridge under construction. What the support team didn't know was that 3 miles further down the road was another bridge under construction that had water all around. After about 5 minutes debating if I could get over it alone I found a section that looked passable. Just at that time Tom pulls up and takes advantage of my plan as well. We crossed together, tested each others strength the next 30 miles on our pulls and had a fun ride to the hotel together.

The only thing that slowed Tom and I today were these baby kittens on the road. They were to young and didn't realize how dangerous the road could be so we moved them off.

Right before we crossed the state line we stopped at this little outdoor root beer stand called Richardson's Root beer. Probably the best root beer drink I have ever had. I passed on the float with fear that it could keep me from obtaining my goals for the day. The sag was suppose to be here, however; Tom and I were moving to fast for the sags today and missed both.

A few miles down the road we arrived in Pennsylvania. I feel that I am getting back to my roots growing up in New England where we spent a lot of time visiting relatives in PA.



When we arrived at the hotel at 12:50 (after departing at 7:15am) we found out that check in wasn't until 3:00. there was a big motorcycle party in town and all the rooms had to be cleaned. Not to long after Tom and I had arrived came Sean, and Steve so I called my wife and good friend from Erie and they recommended that we get lunch at the Plymouth bar and grill. Had a good meal there but the best part was when I was interrupted from the table to greet my wife and Maureen. They meet several of the riders then off to the hotel we went to get my luggage and see Maureen's beautiful house that her son Sean, an architect designed.

What more could I ask for than to have a rest day in Erie, see my wife, be pampered with hospitality by longtime friends in a beautiful house on the cliff overlooking Lake Erie.