August 20, 2024. Monroe, Michigan to Napoleon, Ohio.





.    We slept well in spite of the extremely soft mattress, but around 5:30 just after Jim got up to use the restroom, he heard a rustling sound that seemed to be in our room.  He immediately was worried about a mouse getting into our food, but never did figure it out.

     We got a very reasonable start and had a mild tailwind as we headed south towards Toledo.  We had pleasant riding on low-traffic back roads for the most part before the Ohio border, but never very far from I-75 so often could see it and more often hear it.  We also crossed a set of 3 railroad tracks numerous times as we wended our way south, but didn’t see a train.  We passed a local bicyclist, who mentioned that it was a good area for seeing egrets and sure enough, there were 2 great white egrets in the marshes right there!  We saw several others along with some great blue herons during the day.
    In Toledo, we joined US Bicycle Hwys 25 and 30.

 As we approached the Maumee River, we found ourselves traveling on a path winding its way under an expressway!  

  This was I-280 rising higher and higher above the ground to go up onto the elevated bridge over the river.  Next to the expressway bridge was a drawbridge that had just opened, and we watched as a dredging barge made its way through.  

   Thirty-six years ago this month, we crossed this same drawbridge on our tandem, from south to north, on the last day of our bicycle trip around Lake Erie.  Just as we were on the last part of the bridge, the bells started ringing and the gates went down, closing off the roads onto the bridge, except for the gate where we needed to exit the bridge.  It startled us at first, but they gave us enough time to get off the bridge before raising it up!  So it was special to see it open today.  (PS: the expressway bridge wasn’t there then.)

    While we were watching the barge, 3 bicyclists with panniers pulled up to cross the bridge. Two were going to Bar Harbor, Maine where we had started, and one was accompanying them as far as Fremont, Ohio.  
    We then followed the river upstream, more or less closely, for the rest of the day. When we passed the Owens Corning Headquarters, we saw a big area of parking lots that were covered with slanted roofs, We wondered, could those be solar panels? But we never were at the right angle to tell.  If so, it is a great idea that kills three birds with one stone:  parked cars get shelter from the sun, the panels cover areas that are already used for something else instead of installing them on farmland or other open land, and the electricity gets generated near to where it would be used. 

    In Maumee, we bought some freshly-squeezed lemonade from a grandma and her granddaughters who had set up a lemonade and craft stand at the end of their “Grandma Camp.”  A few blocks later in this very residential section of Maumee with city-sized lots, we suddenly saw a deer walking around in a yard! Thankfully it didn’t try to cross the road in front of us.

    Part of our journey was along 8 or 9 miles of remaining towpath from the Miami and Erie Canal.  When we were stopped by a shelter with a beautiful view of a bend in the river, 2 guys coming the other way on short-wheelbase recumbents pulled up. Doug was riding a Burley recumbent, and Tom was riding a Trek recumbent.  We had a lot of fun chatting together, of course, comparing notes on recumbents and conversations about bicycle trips.
     We would have liked to say to all you West Michigan folks that we went through Holland and Grand Rapids today—Ohio, that is.  Alas, it was looking difficult to figure out a route through Holland and we gave up. Grand Rapids was on the other side of the river, but we did cross the bridge and took a picture at the city limits before recrossing the river.  
     Tonight we are staying at a hotel that is vastly different from where we stayed last night.  It has a pool (Kay went for a short swim) and the room looks very nice and in good condition.