Cleveland Rocks...but the Roads Jar. (Saturday)

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[Guido hanging out at the playground]

[Caveman gets a glimpse of downtown - terrifying!]

[Ben at Cleveland Browns Stadium]

[Another fighter jet - Blue Angels edition]

[Our campsite in Perry City Park along Lake Erie]
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We haven't had access to internet recently, therefore I will be posting three times today so I can add in all the pretty pictures from the past three days. Saturday was the big ride through the city of Cleveland. We had camped over night as close to the city as we could and we hoped to reach the nearest campground 92 miles away on the other side. Saturday morning we started bright and early with hopes that we could beat some of the traffic. We enjoyed a nice ride along Lake Erie through the western suburbs. We were frequently treated to the sight of enormous houses, or more appropriately estates, along the lake shore. It was a pleasant morning, although it once again was heating up fast. Before we knew it downtown Cleveland was in sight. I was very surprised by the number of very nice parks we passed. There were pools, awesome playgrounds, and beaches. While not all of Cleveland is a paradise, most parts that we saw were quite nice. After riding through downtown and past many cool sights (Cleveland Browns Stadium, the Science Center, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Fighter Jets, Submarines) we exited the city via a bike trail down along the shore. This dropped us into one of the most upscale neighborhoods that I have ever seen. These "houses" were surrounded by walls with gates complete with gate houses. There were guest houses, large garages, manicured lawns, and oh yeah, did I mention they were right on the lake. Lifestyles of the rich and famous, but why were they living in Cleveland? From there we had another 25 miles through the eastern suburbs and some of the worst roads of the trip. They had awful cracks and pot holes, there were no shoulders, and there was a tremendous amount of traffic. Not a great way to end a very long day of city riding. We finally reached Perry, a little town just past the outer ring suburbs. There we found a city park that had a legitimate campground that was right on Lake Erie. We were welcomed by a very friendly campground manager who let us camp for free and showed us around. There were hot showers (not nice on a hot day because they wouldn't turn cold), trees for shade, and curious campers who exchanged corn on the cob, cookies, and refreshments for tales of our journey. It had been a long, hot day, but the evening was very relaxing. We fell asleep to a cool breeze blowing through the tent bringing tidings of the storms to come.