Grand Tour -Milan, Ohio scouting trip

 I asked my husband to drop me off in Milan, Ohio, as he drove north on another errand.  My general plan was to get the "lay of the land" and see how easy or difficult the trip I have planned in a few weeks will turn out to be.  

It was a foggy morning at home.   He said the weather report had forecasted "freezing fog".  I took my plants out to the deck and packed a lunch and filled a couple of water bottles.

When the sun rose above the horizon, it proved to be a beautiful drive up route 13 to 250, and from there to Milan-Greenwich road.  The green grass glowed in early morning sunlight as we passed farm fields and greenhouses. He pointed out that there was light traffic on that road.  I pointed out that there was no shoulder on the road to speak of.

He dropped me off in Milan on the village square, a grassy park with lots of benches and tables and relatively few statues.  The statues that existed were of Thomas Edison. 

 After taking a few minutes to get my bearings, I rode off to where I expected the Towpath park to be, but instead saw a street sign that said "No outlet".  I circled around the next block and drove by Edison's birthplace.  Again, street signs saying "no trespassing" and " no outlet" among the various historical markers.  I took a selfie with a bronze statue of Thomas Edison, but I didn't dare to sit on the bench with him.

I rode back to the village square, passing several galleries and gift shops.  I stopped in the "Coffee Station" shop at the south end of the square.  The friendly person at the counter pointed me to the restroom.   Then I bought a huge banana muffin.   I intended to save it for later in the day.  I asked her about the towpath park.  she was confused for a minute, then dawning understanding showed in her expression.  "You mean the Greenway!". Yes, I suppose so.   She pointed it out to me, telling me to proceed north, downhill, past the "no outlet"  sign and turn right at the bottom.

The Greenway is an apt name for this trail.  It has a gravel surface, but the grass and the wild plantain is growing through the gravel,

and lending a green cast to the trail surface.  The dew was still on the grass, and my road bike tires were soon wet and covered with dandelion fluff.   It was hard work pushing my smooth road bike tires through the rough surface, so when I stopped to catch my breath I started in on the muffin.  Oh my goodness!  It was heavenly.  Like banana cake.  I haven't had anything so sweet in a long time.   I have no idea how many points it will cost me on WW but I can only hope my fitness points from the bike ride will compensate.

I only met one couple walking their dog on the trail.   I heard several loud splashes as I reached the end of the trail.  I must have disturbed a predator's fishing. I looked for a heron, but didn't see one.  I heard geese honking and songbirds chirping.   A cardinal and a couple of blue jays crossed the trail in front of me as I huffed and puffed back the slightly uphill return.  Back to the town square, where I took advantage of the benches to make notes for this update.  The tantalizing food smells from the several restaurants around the square wafted through the air.  Invention restaurant, Jim's pizza box, Milan Wine Post, the Park Lounge, the Wonder Bar and Grille, and the Village Drive-Thru featuring Tofts hand-dipped ice cream, as well as the coffee shop I visited,  stand among the barbershops, florists, insurance company, antique stores, and banks lining the square.

I had several choices as to how to navigate to my next destination.  I wanted to ride on the North Coast Inland Trail (NCIT), but I was several miles north.  The closest place to pick it up was in Norwalk.  I rode down S. Main Street, which turned into SR 601 outside of town and then turned right onto Old State Road, also known as County Highway 52.  Main Street and the highway had a nice shoulder but a lot of truck traffic.  Old State Road was quieter, but no paved shoulder to speak of.  I was regretting my decision a mile or so down the road, as I sailed down a hill, knowing there would be an uphill on the other side.   I was right.  I had to walk my bike up one hill.  A friendly teenager in a pickup truck slowed down and rode alongside.  He asked if I wanted him to push me up with his truck.  No thank you.  I was sure he was making fun of me.  He took off, turned around in a driveway, and went back the way he came.  

Eventually I arrived in Norwalk.  I noticed a sidewalk along the road, but it was narrow and evidently not intended as a bike path, so I stayed on the road.  Google Maps wanted me to turn on State Route 18, but I knew the North Coast Inland trail was not far away, so I kept going until I reached Townsend Road, which was marked with "Share the road" signs.  I turned left and soon found myself on SR 18, known as Gibbs Road. When I reached the end of Gibbs Road, I found the "end" of the NCIT. 

The trail surface was fine, packed gravel.  Better than the trail I was on earlier that was mostly grass, but still not as nice as riding on smooth pavement.  While I was standing there taking pictures, a pickup truck slowed down and the driver told me I could take the "new trail extension" that ran parallel to Gibbs Rd, the way I had just come from.  It was marked as "Not open to public".  The surface was pretty bumpy as it was larger gravel, probably laid as a base for the eventual smoother trail surface.  It is nice to know that the Firelands Rails to Trails group continues to work on these trails.  I explained to him that I was going the other way.  He drove off, and another older gentleman on a bicycle cycled up.  His bike had fat, knobby tires.  He also wanted to let me know that I could get through on the new trail extension.  I chatted with him for a few minutes and explained what I was doing, scouting the roads and trails for Adventure Travel Weekend when I hoped to ride my "Grand Tour" of Ohio cities named after cities in Italy.  He said he rides 30 or 40 miles a day to get him out of the house, his wife chases him out! I told him I was curious about the bicycle shop "Rebs Bike Barn" a few hundred feet up the road.  He explained that it was a motorcyle/motorsports dealer, but that the owner can't understand why he gets so many people looking for bicycles!  (Google says it is a bicycle shop!)  He said the only campground in the area that he knew up was "up by the pike" by which he meant the Ohio Turnpike, Route 90.  

I bid him good day, and continued along the trail.  It was slow going.  I had trouble getting any speed, I was averaging between 6 to 8 miles per hour.  I attribute this to the soft surface of the trail gripping my skinny road bike tires.  I saw on the map that there was a "Camp Conley" in Collins, Ohio, but I didn't notice it while I was riding by.  I did see a sign directing horse trailers to park on a parallel road a block away.  This part of the trail is open to horses.  While I didn't see any on my ride, I did see evidence of their having passed by recently. 

After a few miles I came to DeRussey Road where the marked trail detoured on to the road.  I saw another cyclist go by, fairly fast.  A little later I came to where he was stopped by the side of the road, downing an energy gel packet.  I stopped and chatted with him a few minutes.  He was an older gentleman. He said he hoped to get 80 miles in today, going back to Oberlin, but he wasn't sure.  He thought he might make it as far as Kipton.  He asked how far I usually ride and I told him "30-40 miles, or maybe 10" and that I was on a scouting trip to see how many miles in the area I could comfortably ride in a day.  He was a much faster rider than I, so I continued on.  He soon passed me by.  

I continued into Wakeman, passing this derelict old house.  The barn behind it had livestock, so I assume someone is farming the property and just did not care for the house.  

The trail turned off Hyde Street onto Railroad Street, but I continued on Route 20 hoping to eat lunch at Sterk's restaurant.    I had actually carried along a couple of homemade energy bars and some fruit and a boiled egg, but I wanted to get off the bike, sit down, and relax for a while. I passed by this ancient stone marking the county line.

 I was too late, as they closed at 2:00 pm, and I arrived at 1:58.   I continued into town and found this place, the Historic Route 20 Pub and Grub.  

The menu was fairly limited to hamburgers, fried side dishes and grilled chicken sandwhiches,  not great for a Weight Watcher.   I ordered the Caesar salad with a chicken breast and  was pleased to have it cooked to perfection, moist and tasty.   

I checked in with Ed and he said they were making progress on his project but that it would be at least three and a half hours before he arrived to pick me up.  No problem, I had planned to get much farther than I currently was, and it would give me an opportunity for more miles.  

I wanted to go to Florence, Ohio to check it out for the Grand Tour.  It was 5 miles directly north of Wakeman on the Florence Wakeman Road.  I remembered my friend Ruth, who says "Anyone can go 5 miles," and starting packing up my helmet and paid my bill.  

When I went outside, the weather had changed.  It had clouded up more, and the wind was damp and chill.  It was still in the 50's.  I was wearing a long-sleeved jersey and still wearing my "bolero," a pair of sleeves attached across the back.  I put my pile-lined hoody back on and started off.  After a mile I realized it was cold and the wind was penetrating my hoody, so I stopped and took off my helmet, and pulled my hood up.  Replacing my helmet required me to adjust the strap to make it a little bigger.  I also pulled out my windbreaker and zipped the sleeves on, realizing that I must have left the hood for the windbreaker at home.  Oh well.  The windbreaker/raincoat made a big difference in my comfort. I continued on, past a house that proclaimed the occupant as a Trump loyalist by all the signs in the front yard and the graffiti scribbled with spray paint on the road.  Next up was a pasture with a lot of cattle.  One red youngster had its head and shoulders under the bottom strand of wire as if he were trying to escape, but when I came by with my yellow raincoat flapping in the breeze, he pulled himself back in and re-joined his herd. 

I finally reached Florence.  There wasn't much to see in downtown Florence.  An empty lot on one corner, a deteriorating Victorian house on another corner, a house that looked like it might have once been a florist shop on the third corner, but now had a pile of scrap metal and a rusty propane-driven fork truck along the side yard.  

As I paused to take pictures, a couple of people stopped at the intersection to talk to me.  One guy yelled "You're in Florence!" and, as I pulled my bike further off the road, another older gentleman in a car rolled down his window and said "I wouldn't hit you, I ride 30 miles a day" I thought he said he almost hit me, so I asked him why he would hit me if he rides? He said, no, he wouldn't hit me, and he rides an eBike.  He explained that he still gets exercise because he still has to pedal, it just helps him climb hills.  Traffic was building up behind him, so he drove on.   I turned around and took a photo of my bike leaning against the township border marker on my way back. 

Returning once again to Wakeman, I followed the marked trail behind the park through town and proceeded to the other side where the trail once again was packed stone. 

The park features a millstone from a historic grain mill. 

 A few yards beyond the park was a breathtaking bridge over the Vermillion river.  The bike trail runs over the Bruce L. Chapman bridge, formerly a railroad bridge, and there are beautiful views of the US. 20 bridge that runs parallel to it. 

I snagged a screen shot from Google to get a photo of the bridge that I was on in order to confirm that it matched the photo of the bridge in the link above.  

I was able to take my own photo of the US 20 bridge. There is a dam just beyond the bridge. 

Soon after the bridge, the path put me onto North River Street for a few feet, then crossing the road through a park.  I noticed an art welding studio up the road.  

A nice station for outdoor workouts and a large lake were in the park.  The surface of the trail was smooth concrete.  I felt like I was flying after the rough surface from before. 

 The trail runs along Route 20 for several miles, up to the county border, where you turn left on County Line Road, then right onto a trail surface running along the old railroad line again. The trail is paved all the way to the village of Kipton.  I stopped there.  Rain was threatening, and there was a picnic shelter in the park.  Ed had called and said he was 45 minutes away a few miles back.  I was weighing whether I should go another five miles to Oberlin and risk getting soaked if it started to rain, or just wait where I was. 

I parked myself and my bike. I noted the historic marker detailing the Great Kipton Train Wreck, which was caused by a watch being four minutes off.  Interesting story on the Smithsonian web site at the link.  I watched the demolition of the grain elevator. 

I love the attached  "rain cover" in my Po Campo pannier.  It can't get lost because it is sewn into a pocket. 

Ed arrived and after loading my bike, we took off for Oberlin, where we had dinner at the "Brickyard".  Unbeknownst to me, the Brickyard is owned by the Sterk family.  I am guessing that it is the same family that owns the Sterk Family Restaurant in Wakeman, so I didn't miss having dinner with the Sterks after all! 

In retrospect, I would avoid the Canal Towpath trail, and the gravel part of the North Coast Inland Trail East of Wakeman. I would just head to Florence directly from Milan.  The route is a highway with narrow shoulders, so perhaps find country roads that parallel Ohio 113, "The Edison Highway."  Or just ride it to see how busy it will be. Then head south to Wakeman to take advantage of that smooth trail to the east.