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Across Ohio Bicycle Adventure |
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XOBA 2008 by Dan Sheridan |
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Thursday, 61 miles, Ashland to Richfield
I joined Tom Purkey for Thursday's ride. Tom is a retired civilian employee of the air force who now teaches advanced math to junior high students, a job that he refers to as his hobby. We continued to have some challenging hills, although often we were able to gain enough speed on the downhill to make it most of the way up the hill.
As we neared Wadsworth, Ohio, Tom and I came to "Sky Park". This small airport was originally intended to be the hub of a flying community, where each home would have an airplane that could taxi to the runway. There no longer seemed to be taxiways leading to the local homes, but it was a nice little airport. We had been warned that Wadsworth would be our last chance to buy food until 20 miles into the next day's route, so we asked directions to a grocery store from several local citizens. We ended up eating at another Beuhler's Restaurant, and were joined by Lonnie Gross from Kentucky.
After lunch we continued northward on scenic county roads. Stopping just before a long downhill, I had a nice conversation with Charlie Pace, the TOSRV tour director. Charlie told me the story of how he became the TOSRV director. 43 years ago, the previous director asked for a raise from $8,000 to $20,000. Hearing that, Charlie said "I'll do it for free!" He said that in 43 years, he's never asked for any pay. Those of us who ride TOSRV certainly owe Charlie and his team of volunteers a sincere "thank you" for his wonderful efforts.
Near Richfield, we stayed at Revere High School. We had another delicious catered meal, but unfortunately the caterer ran out of food. 24 large pizzas were ordered to feed the rest of the crowd.
After dinner, many riders boarded a bus to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, where staff and many talented volunteers guided us through an "Experience the Underground Railroad" program. This program is normally presented on two Saturdays in November, but they staged two presentations for us. During the program, we assumed the role of escaping slaves, and met many of the characters that an escaping slave might actually encounter during their journeys. The characters were portrayed by talented volunteer actors, who helped us to understand what life was really like for escaping slaves. The program was very moving, and many attendees said that this program was the highlight of their week. |
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A talented volunteer actress, dressed in period clothes, during the "Experience the Underground Railroad" program at Cuyahoga Valley National Park. |
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Tom Purkey, my Thursday cycling companion. |
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Contact Dan through the Heart of Ohio Tailwinds web site. |