Eerie Erie

Mark and I did not find any trouble when we went back downtown for the last night of Bike Week in Erie, PA.  One thing that was quite obvious was that any laws on open alcohol on the street were being ignored.  Another observation was that there was not a very visible law enforcement presence, but when a scuffle did break out, they arrived within just a couple of minutes and settled everyone down quickly and then disappeared again, maybe just out of sight on the side streets.  Seemed like a good way to not interrupt good fun, but react when needed.

The Erie waterfront turned out to be a nice place to stop.  The harbour is surrounded by Presque Isle, which is a state park.  This creates a very protected spot for sail boats and other small craft as well as providing a well protected bay for marinas, which there are many.  This is the Sheraton Hotel, connected to the Bay Front Convention Center and between us and the main harbour.

This is downtown from the harbour.  Many of these buildings are part of the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center.

Lake Erie is also a popular fishing lake for Walleye and Perch.

The weather forecast for Monday was for T-storms, so I sent Mark back to Buffalo on Greyhound to retreive his car.  The original plan was to take the train from either western Ohio or Michigan, but with knowing Monday was going to be a down day, Mark took the 2 hour bus ride and brought his car to Erie.  We had decided the best place to get off would be Cleveland, so this way he only had another 2 hour bus ride back to his car.

Surprisingly, the mechanic called at 9:30 AM and said the part was already in and he would be over shortly to install it.  By noon it was done.  I had also taken the opportunity to call a glass repair service to see if they could do something about the broken window.  Our patch job of plastic and duct tape was starting to fall off frequently.  One of their guys came by and determined that they would have to order the right glass.  I didn't want another delay, so instead he installed a piece of plexiglass that will get us by until we have enough down time to fix it properly.

We made preparations for an early Tuesday departure.

Winds were forecasted to be from the NW and eventually swinging to the NE, but seas only 1 to 2 ft.  As we made the turn to the southwest towards Cleveland it was a little bumpy, but pretty much on the bow so not too bad.  By mid day it had calmed considerably.  There are not a lot of photo opportunities on the open water, so I took what I found interesting.

Eventually, Cleveland was in sight.

We had identified a marina that would be a relatively close walk to the bus station for Mark in the morning and pulled in before 7.   It was also time for fuel.  The last fill up was way back in Cape May, NJ, but I did add a little on the eastern end of the Erie Canal, enough to get me out of New York where the state taxes make fuel much more expensive than other places.  Cleveland was 34 cents a gallon less than NY, but still 40 cents more than what I paid in NJ.  I wasn't sure what fuel efficiency was going to be because of two factors.  One was all of the idling while traversing locks, although I did shut the engines down in the bigger locks, and the other was the running on just one engine for nearly 100 miles on Lake Erie.  I guess the two factors netted out and fuel efficiency was still a very good 2.8 MPG.  Still well above the estimated 2 MPG that I used for budgeting.  Some of that is being offset by the higher diesel prices lately.  I used $4 / gal for budgeting and am now averaging $3.90 for the trip so far.  With this fill up I can avoid fuel in Michigan, where it is not cheap, fill up in Wisconsin and hopefully skip Illinois where it also is not cheap.  Illinois is one of those states that puts road taxes on marine fuel.

Earlier I reported that the trip from Tonawanda to Erie was an even 100 miles, but I found an error and it was only 94.  Still the longest day of the trip, beating the 93 Denise I had.  But the trip to Cleveland is now the new longest at 103.

Mark was off early this morning for a one hour walk to the bus station.  But as a long distance hiker, he did not think it was going to be a problem.  I am now solo and departed downtown Cleveland headed for Put-In-Bay, OH.  The Ohioans pronounce it Putin-Bay, with the emphasis on Put.

I got a few more photos of the Cleveland sky line.

I don't know much about the sky line, like which are well known buildings, but the structure to the far right is Cleveland Browns Stadium.  Here is a close up.

Just past the stadium was the main exit from the harbour to the lake.  This is also the mouth of the Cayahoga River and as with almost every river I've been on so far, there is lots of debris.

The water was also very muddy.  Of course one can't mention the Cayahoga River without including the story of the river catching fire.  It famously happened in June of 1969 when an oil slick was ignited, apparently from a spark from a passing train.  What is really surprising is that the 1969 fire was the 10th time the river caught fire, dating to 1868.  Maybe it was for the good though, because it prompted the Clean Water Act and Lake Erie, as I mentioned above, is a great fishing lake now.

It wasn't obvious to me while cruising behind the breakwater that the lake was really calm.  But when I cleared the harbour and was back in the main lake, I found nary a ripple.  And it became very hazy and soon the skyline disappeared and it was almost impossible to differentiate where the lake ended and the sky began.  Lake Erie was eerie.

So I cruised along, alone, not really able to see the shoreline because of the haze.  I only encountered a few fishing boats along the way.  I thought I was going to get into Put-In-Bay early, but as I approached the island, I found that the harbour entrance was on the northwest side of the island, so I had to go all the way around it and that brought me to this ligththouse on the southwest tip.

There are several marinas and a city dock in Put-In-Bay, but none were answering their phone or the radio.  Finally, I was in the harbour and had to drive up to the dock and yell to the dockmaster, who said they don't really monitor the radio and the best way to get a spot was to do what I was doing, show up. 

Put-In-Bay was billed to me as the party capital of Lake Erie and as I've been running into everywhere, something special is going on. It is "Christmas in July" here this week and weekend.  Many boats are sporting decorations.

Of course dock space is at a premium, so I am rafted to another boat.

The forecast for tomorrow is for higher winds out of the southwest, not the most favorable direction for my northwest course.  Plus there may be other reasons to stay a little while longer.

Next stop, Michigan, which will be the 12th state of the trip.