Last Day with Erie

I woke around 6:30 in the morning, had some cereal for breakfast, chatted with my host for a bit, and then headed out by around 7:30. I had a lot of miles to go, close to a century, and I knew I had better get started. Navigating out of Buffalo was a pain. I was glad for the advice my host gave me. There was construction, all kinds of messy zigzagging, and a stretch where I rode on sidewalk and felt extremely dirty for doing it. But riding on the street there was just too dangerous to justify it, no shoulder, four lanes, and all the cars speeding (as my host warned me they would be), and no one was using that sidewalk as it was through this derelict industrial area. I hated the whole slow, tedious process it ended up being getting out of town. But after that, it was all smooth sailing from there, riding highway 5 basically all the way. I took a brief detour onto the lakeshore road, a scenic byway taking me closer to the lake for a stretch, but that was it. Sadly, for a lot of that stretch, you still couldn't see the lake as well, but there were a few good views here and there.

Going along there also took me through Evangola State Park right before returning to 5, where not only was there a good beach, but I also ran into a bike tourist going the other way to the west coast to go bum around there for a couple months, started in Vermont. He had quite the improvised rig and was riding a Mongoose of all things. I asked if it was his first tour, which he responded it was. He has a lot of weight on the back, not even in proper panniers, and he's apparently, unsurprisingly, been getting a lot of flats. I was tempted to try and offer him advice on things he could be doing to make life easier for himself...but then I remembered how many people did that when I was riding my Diamondback with my Walmart trailer on my first trip, and I remember having much it really didn't help anything, as I had the gear I had and that was all there was to it. Hell, people still try to dissuade me from my wide tires. He's going to manage just fine. He's made it this far, and he has the will to keep going, and that's all that counts in the end. I wished him luck. I have no doubt he'll have a hard time in the Rockies...but then so did I, and it was all alright in the end.

The day was largely uneventful after that. I mostly just rode. I got excited crossing the Pennsylvania border and knowing I'm near the end of my journey. I ran into a couple cyclists out for a ride along the highway who chatted with me a bit, asked the usual questions, and when I said it was a little hot, told me it will be hotter tomorrow. I encountered some of the only motorcyclists that have passed me rudely, as well as a huge stream of thirty or so of them that had a warning vehicle behind them (for some kind of event or organized motorcycle ride?). And when I got into Erie I made my way down to the waterfront trail to see the little peninsula that juts out and forms a sort of bay, and had a hell of a time navigating to it. I had a driver blare his horn at me for literally no reason at all as he passed around me on a 25mph street with plenty of room and no oncoming traffic. I don't get the impression this is a bicycle friendly town, and my host said the same.

He's a fun guy. I showed up earlier than I had expected, since I did so little sightseeing, around 5, my usual time, and as soon as I had my bike maintenance done I had a beer in my hand (strong, almost 10%) and we were chatting away. It took some time before conversation died down and I went for my shower while he went to the store to get food. This is his childhood home (or one of many as he moved around a lot), and he's fixing it up to sell for his mom, and in the meantime living in it rent free and hosting people because he has the room for it. He's apparently had a lot of guests so far from all over. Just for the night he ended up with two as another lady on a trip from Seattle back to her home on the East coast came in late, having come even further than me from Cleveland. There was more beer, vegetarian tacos, and plenty of touring and traveling stories exchanged until late into the evening. I didn't get to sleep until after 11.

And today, as I type this in the morning, today is my second to last day, the last night this trip I shall stay with a stranger (who then becomes a friend), as I have done so many times over the course of nearly two months. It feels so strange. Patience, the lady coming from Seattle, remarked I was probably sad and unready for the trip to end. She's not wrong, but she's not quite right either. It's hard, but exciting at the same time for a tour to end, and my itch has been sated for now. And when it rises up again, I will be back on the road.