It is a beautiful morning to start a bike trip. The weather is clear, the humidity low and temperature moderate. After spending an uneventful evening at the Travelodge, Ted and I went for a short walk to stretch our legs and take in a view of Lake Erie. In the distance, two large freighters steamed easterly on flat, placid water. To our right the skyline of Cleveland was silhouetted as the sun rose behind it and the morning mist burned off the lake. We quietly reflected on the trip to come and headed back to our hotel to ready ourselves for the day.
But rather than hop on our bikes, we helped Brian our shuttle driver load them into his trailer for the four-hour plus drive to Cincinnati. Brian owns a shuttle company, Ohio Trail Shuttle, and was very helpful in helping to arrange our tour. He sent us a long list of places to stay and suggested routes, which we used months ago to set up our trip.
And as we drove south, we were able to pick Brian’s brain, and that of his wife Truc, on good places to eat and go for our week on the road.
Brian and his wife are avid bikers having travelled together through countries as diverse as Vietnam and Ireland by bike. They have also biked the Erie Canal trail, which Ted and I are considering for next year’s adventure.
The road to Cincinnati takes us through Columbus, the capital of Ohio. Farms hug the highway with fields in different stages of growth. Now the grasses are higher than the corn; Brian explained that excessive rain this Spring has not allowed farmers to sow corn seeds. Many of the fields we pass are brown with fallow.
The beauty of the ride is occasionally counterbalanced by the mothballed manufacturing facilities we pass. Just out of Cleveland, one of two adjacent Ford engine plants sits unused.
We pass the town of Mansfield, where Brian says the Shawshank Redemption was filmed in an old reformatory. “You can take a tour and spend the night looking for ghosts,” he says, not joking. “I had a friend do it and he enjoyed it.”
The drive is fast, with little traffic and lots of conversation between the four of us. Brian and Truc tell us about where the trail is in relation to us as we drive as well as other little local factoids. “I used to go for free tours at the Budweiser plant over there, while waiting for Truc to get off work,” he said. “You get two free beers as part of the tour.”
South of Columbus, we pass through farm country and here the corn is planted, though far from knee high. The ground is wet and the sprouts have greened up the soil though there are many fields yet to be planted on either side of the highway. To our left we pass Meyer’s Farming Equipment, which has a variety of used and new tractors facing the highway. Lone farm houses sit in the distance adjacent to silver grain silos. We pass over slow rolling hills as we continue or journey south.
Approaching Cincinnati the farms change over to amusement parks, malls, corporate parks and housing. A few warehouses are under construction. Soon we arrive at our hotel. Our adventure is about to begin.
