Day 2: National Parks of the east

Day 2- 7/18 journal

*additional from last night: forgot to mention that after going to bed, about an hour later, I heard some rummaging outside me tent. Flipped on my headlamp to see two sets of raccoon eyes staring back at me, more annoyed than anything. I yelled and they scampered off to greener pastures; the dumpster 100 feet away. Funny because I didn’t leave any food out, only the stove and a clean mess kit. Never hurts to look I suppose.

Up at 6:30 and drove down to the beach for a run after breaking camp. The calumet bike trail reportedly paralleled US 20, although after a nice mile along the lake, the “bike” trail turned out to be an overgrown rutted gravel path that was filled with puddles. Not the worst run I’ve been on (looking at you white sands), but it wasn’t outstanding. Commuter trains rolling past every 10-20 min going god knows where and under the constant buzz of power lines. I couldn’t help but get the biased opinion that pence and crew turned this into a national park to tout their environmental record. 

Running back through the massive marshes on the way to the lake again though, I could totally see it. It felt like you were in Florida with the massive expanse of swamp-laden trees. 

The impending storm coming in gave me pause for another dip in the lake after the run, but I was sweating profusely and figured it was worth it. So nice to soak in one of the Great Lakes.

     Hit the road by 9:40 and immediately lost an hour to the eastern time zone. Passed the "RV hall of fame". Interested, but not curious enough to stop.
 Pit-stopped at cuyahoga for a quick double. Actually a pretty cool park- from at least the 45 min I was there. Ran the tow-path and it was beastly hot and humid again (although par for the course over the last week). Lots of woods though and a massive valley. The Cleveland folks have a real gem there.

For a time afterward, I thought there’d be no way I was going to make Allegheny state park as planned. Pulled off in Erie because the brewery had a sign on the freeway and it was close. When I looked at the mileage again, I realized it would be doable, albeit without much room for error if they didn’t have sites (I wasn’t able to reserve due to only wanting a night). I had written on my “plan” though that there were plenty of unreserved available, so I chanced it. Caught the guy at the office just as he was leaving (and an hour later than he should have been there) and he said they did have sites- but to check with the host. Drove to the campground loop to find the hosts weren’t there, but found two open sites right next door. Figured I’d might as well cook dinner while I waited for the verdict. 

The site ended up being open, and after a nice chat with the host (who can sometimes be kind of assholes), I learned that they also weren’t going to charge anything for the night with a last minute deal.So, the moral being- sometimes chancing it does indeed pay off. The alleghenys looked outstanding in the setting sun and the Erie beer was solid as well. Looks like a swimming beach close by for after tomorrow’s run too. Sometimes, things just turn out for you.