Big Ride Day 39

Photos from Day 39

Today started out really slow and crappy. In the morning, I had a headache and had trouble getting started. I didn't get enough sleep (as usual) and just felt really sluggish and lousy in the morning. Once again, we wound through miles of farmland and down farm roads with almost no traffic. It was really glorious riding. It's too bad that I couldn't really enjoy it a little more. We slowly made our way to checkpoint and then stopped for lunch at a locally owned fast food restaurant similar to McDonalds or Burger King. It was interesting to see a locally owned and operated restaurant succeeding in the face of the big franchises. There were pictures of the owner's family on the walls and everything. After lunch, we plodded on towards Sandusky, stopping for a few more minutes to talk to two little girls who were giving away free energy bars to the riders. We finally made it in at the reasonable hour of 4:00.

When we got in, we immediately set up our tents and stuff and then got a ride to Cedar Point for the evening's festivities. I actually felt much better as soon as we got in. We got a ride from one of the local ALA volunteers and she took us to Wendy's for dinner on the way. Cedar Point was a blast. I rode the coasters with Jeff while Mary and Doug did their own thing. Actually, we all rode the water rides together first and got totally soaked! It was very refreshing because it had been really hot and muggy out all day. However, I hadn't come prepared to take a swim and was wet all night. We saw a laser light show that was really well done and ended with a patriotic song and fireworks. To cap off the night, we rode the ultimate coaster -- the highest in the world, called the Magnum. It kicked butt!

Then came the task of getting a ride home. We called a cab and waited for a good hour and it didn't show up. Then we saw a bunch of other riders in a pickup truck and piled in with them. We took the ride over the bridge to town and got off at a restaurant that was still open. We had some pizza and then called another cab and it still didn't show up. Finally, our waitress came out and said she would give everyone a ride home. She took one load and we were still left waiting. That's when the cook actually came out and gave the rest of us a ride home. He said that the cab service is always crappy in Sandusky. What an interesting night. We didn't get to sleep until around 2:00 AM. Ugh!

This page modified November 25, 2000