I had made my mind up that Saturday, August 25th, 2012 would start out with a trip to Pymatuning State Park for the Curt Patterson Invitational for the Pittsburgh Cancer Institute. Curt was a coworker and friend who passed away after a battle with Cancer. We shared similar sense of humor and would often make our coworkers groan as we played off each other’s punny quips. After dealing with Mom’s Cancer, I look for ways I can support the Cancer cause where I think the money will go to better use locally. Curt’s family has ties at UPMC. His son is a doctor there. I know they will find good outlets for money’s they raise on Curt’s behalf.
Friday night the weather was looking really great for the Invitational. I set my alarm to make sure I got my lazy self up Saturday morning. I knew my back wouldn’t take 5K (a little over 3 miles) of walking or biking. I would be there in support though both monetarily and physically. I suppose had I been riding my mountain bike this summer instead of the motorcycle, I probably could have made the distance. In the end, I’m glad I didn’t do the course.
Saturday started out with Maggie(my 1984 Honda V65 Magna Motorcycle for those who don’t know) being grumpy. She ran great all week. I guess she got up on the wrong side of the bed or something. I got her warmed up and we headed out to Pymatuning State Park Shelter #3. I met up with Dave, one of my coworkers. My boss and his family were there as well. We joked that I should get one of the kids that knew how to work a
camera and do a motorcycle camera get up like they do in the big professional races. As the race got underway, I thought “Hey Stupid! You can ride out to somewhere on the course via the road and get pictures for the family.” I grabbed my trusty camera. Maggie and I set off to the midpoint of the circuit to get some pictures. My plan was to take pictures there until the bicycle group came back around on the second lap. I would then head back to the Start/Finish Line to get pictures of folks coming in. I chose the bike group because they were sent out first to avoid running over any slower runners or walkers.
The first pack of bike riders made their way back around to me on the second lap. I headed back to the picnic shelter to catch the finish. I got off the motorcycle and began walking towards the picnic shelter, snapping a few pictures of kids playing and random stuff. I noticed one of the guys had pulled off to rest. He was pulling two small kids in a cart behind his mountain bike. I didn’t think much about it. Maybe the kids got rowdy or something. As I walked toward the shelter, he stood up from the picnic table and collapsed. His head hit either the picnic table or the concrete floor or both. I ran over to assist. There was a volunteer fireman there who stabilized the man while I called 911. Someone grabbed a bicycle and headed out on the course to find Curt’s son Kevin who is a doctor. Kevin arrived and began to evaluate injuries. I hopped on Maggie and headed out to the main road to escort the ambulance in. 911 told me they had dispatched the Park Rangers, Jamestown Fire Departments Ambulance and LifeForce Ambulance. A lot of good the Ranger did. He couldn’t find the shelter. He claimed that the dispatcher didn’t tell him the shelter number. That’s funny… the ALS ambulance from LifeForce drove right up without escort. Between the goose egg growing on his head and some minor complaints about neck pain, it was decided that transport was the best course of action. Later reports indicated no major head trauma. A CT was being done on his neck to verify there were no injuries there. Hopefully there was nothing more than the goose egg and some scrapes on his legs. The excitement turned back to the race once we knew the man was in good hands. I apologize for using general references to the injured man. I can’t remember his name. Yesterday was a long day. A picnic lunch was presented as the last few stragglers made their way in off the course.
I ate and talked with some of the folks there. It had turned out to be such a lovely day, that I couldn’t see just turning the bike back towards home. I decided it was early enough in the afternoon to make my way up to Lake Erie and a stop at Presque Isle. I spoke with the family, letting them know I would forward my pictures to share with anyone who wanted to see them. Kevin told me they would like to raise enough money in Curt’s name to open a bank account that could be used to continuously help the Cancer Institute. That would be cool.
I was following my GPS since I had no real time schedule. I made my way up through Ohio to Lake Erie and across through Girard PA over to Presque Isle. Riding the motorcycle is more fun when the roads twist and turn. Ohio has a made a habit of making roads as straight as possible. Route 7 must be one of the straightest. The GPS is set to avoid highways so it tends to find these quirky back roads. It again found a good one. Instead of taking me clear into Conneaut Ohio and then back into PA, it chose this lovely foot path of a road. The road surface was in decent shape but was heavily used by Amish so it had wheel ruts and horseshoe pitting on the right hand side. We see that here around home a lot. I hadn’t realized there was that big of Amish population in the Erie area.
I hit Erie and a LOT more traffic than I had expected. I knew Peninsula Drive would be busy. The beautiful weather and the fact that we’re in what are probably the last two weekends of Summer for most families was going to make Presque Isle busy. It was WAY busier than I could have imagined. Turned out there was a Triathlon on Presque Isle in the morning to add to all the mayhem. I think it took 15 to 20 minutes to get the 1 1/2 miles from 26th street to the entrance of the park. My back was killing me by this point. I pulled off at the second parking area to take pictures of the sailboats and such on the bay and give my back a rest. My back does pretty well on the bike but I have to stop every so often and stretch. I had ignored it the whole way to Erie.
I had originally planned to take vacation this week and ride out to the Lancaster area this weekend. Dad getting sick and ending up in the hospital last week changed those plans. His health has to take precedence. That being said, I had decided that I was still going to treat my Saturday ride as a mini-vacation. There were a couple of things I’ve always wanted to do on Presque Isle. I either wanted to take a pontoon boat tour or the big boat tour that takes you out on the main lake. I love boating so either one would satisfy me. The pontoon boat excursion was busy. It usually is and with yesterday’s traffic, I wasn’t surprised. I stopped at Perry Monument where the other boat tour launches. The next trip was 3 pm. It was a little after 2 at that point so things would work out just right. I wondered around the monument watching the boats and kayakers to kill time. The 90 minute boat trip out around the peninsula was relaxing and very enjoyable. I miss being out in a boat but I don’t have the time or money to make the best use of one right now.
The other thing I have always wanted to do is to stop at Sara’s Cafe. Its a quirky little place on the right as you come down onto the peninsula. It is decked out in antique coca cola decor. It is one of those places that the food doesn’t really matter. Its a fun place to stop. I finally made the time to stop yesterday. I ordered a Chicago Style Italian Steak Sandwich with Onion Rings and a drink. This place is setup to crank the people through. I was surprised that the sandwich was so large. I walked around and took several pictures after eating. I like little places like that. They are way better than Mikey D’s or the other fast food chains of today.
This place is filled with character. Old Coca-Cola coolers are made into tables. Vintage license plates hang on the ceiling. Neon lighting is used everywhere. Yet for all the antique memorabilia around, this place is set to handle the crowds. Multiple ordering stations, separated pickup areas, multiple condiment and drink stands keep things moving while picnic tables both inside and out provide plenty of guest seating. The food prep areas are setup to handle the crowds too. There was a fairly decent line but I don’t think I waited more than 10 minutes from the time I stepped in line until I had my grub. I will stop there again. Usually I am rushing to get home because I waited too long to decide to head off to Erie, so I don’t think to stop. I didn’t care if it was dark when I got back last night since this was my ‘mini-vacation’.
After dinner and some exploring at Sara’s, I headed back home. I let the GPS guide me again. It had recommended a different route this time. The first few miles were a downer as it took me down Peach Street which is a busy area around the Millcreek Mall and several other shopping outlets. Once I got out of town, the road took a country twist, naturally. I could have followed Rt 19 the whole way to Mercer but once again it becomes straight as an arrow, so I broke from the GPS suggested course at Meadville and head back through Conneaut Lake and Greenville. I passed my dad coming through Hermitage so I spun Maggie around to go catch up with him. He stopped at Long John Silver’s for dinner. He seemed to be doing pretty well which is good after his tumble Friday.
I parked Maggie for the night about 8:30 ish. I spent the rest of the evening posting pictures from the Invitation and the ride around Presque Isle. I went to bed tired and sore. Surprisingly, I slept really well. I notice that my tan has darkened again. It had begun to fade after not riding the whole week Dad was in the hospital and the couple days of rain we had. I’m not sure what today will bring yet. I’m content at them moment to just lounge around here.
All and all, A good day yesterday. Gonna see if I can make another one today. Catch ya ’round!
~Cappy