About turtles, cicada and a shower!

Luckily for me I had really good reception the time I woke up on my birthday so I could at least receive some of the birthday-wishes from home. Otherwise I maybe wouldn't have even recognized that I turned 20 that morning cause that morning wasn't really different from the other ones the last couple of days:)

I intended to meet some distant relatives who I know mostly from the family history research my grandpa does (Thanks for that grandpa!), along the way in the next couple of days. They live in Cleveland & Tiffin (Ohio) and in Indianapolis (Indiana) so I can meet them all without doing some detour or getting of the route at all.

Cool guy who put this sign here!

My first stay is the one in Cleveland but still like 210km (130mi) away from my start this day so although is was my birthday I tried to cover as much distance as I could in one day to have an early arrival the day after in Cleveland.

Like above but official: "share the road"-signs quite often here:)

Not much to say about cycling during the day except of that I took notice about all the dead animals along the streets! I wonder if I passed as many before (could be also because I was cycling along some highways that day) but there are especially on streets with much traffic as many dead animals as you pass one every minute! I didn't notice them on smaller streets but on the highways nobody seems to take them away, which doesn't affect car drivers probably but as a cyclist it's hard not to notice them because of the smell which is really pungent.

Animals often get run over on streets like this unfortunately

The other thing what was quite hard not to notice have been all the cicada all over the place. They're so loud that I could even hear them while listening to music with my earphones. There're billions of them in the trees, on the ground, on you (if you're stopping for longer than a second). Literally everywhere!! When I asked people they told me that these are 17-years-cicada which means they live as larvae for 17 years in the ground and just come out for about two weeks as cicada just for laying eggs and disappear for 17 years again. I just hit the perfect moment!:) As well it seemed to be the right time of the year for Cottonwood Trees and Geese families!! Three annoying things at once. The cicada flying in your face, the cottonwood sticking to your sweaty skin and getting into everything and the Goose families with their little chicken, what means the adults try to attack you if you come just a little close. But all of this (except of the Geese) just lasts a few days:)

White grass, almost like winter, just because of the cottonwood!

Goose family blocking my way and ready to attack me!

But that's just a small issue and I could really enjoy the day getting myself filled up with strawberries I usually buy in farm shops along the road of which you can find quit many now after getting onto the countryside again. After crossing the border to Ohio it didn't just got more rural but flatter as well so I could cover way more distance than I expected at first and by the end of the day I did about 130km (81mi).

Crossing the border to Ohio just before my 1000km-mark that day

This effort on my birthday deserved a big steak I decided but unfortunately there're not that many steakhouses in the middle if nowhere but in a small pizza-restaurant next to Lake Milton I found a huuuge steak pizza which was appropriate for my needs in that moment as well.

Huge birthday meal:)

Noce spot for fishing in the evening

Wether you need very good skills to fish here or people tried to kill the fish by hitting the electric cables:D

Just in time for my birthday I hit the 1000km-mark on my trip, earlier than on my map but that's probably because of all the turns I take every day. But the actual highlight of the day besides that and the food (food is always a highlight:D ) was another turtle I saw in West Branch State Park. This one was a massive snapping turtle (maybe at least about 40cm long and about 10kg). It was just about to cross the street and many cars stopped to watch what created kind of a small traffic jam on both sides of the road:) Never saw a turtle like this size before, not even in zoo, at least I don't remember it. In the same state park I looked for a place to sleep and just pitched the tent behind some trees not far from the road.

Biggest turtle I ever saw!

The remaining 80km to Cleveland the next day went pretty fast so I arrived there about 4pm which was and will be probably the earliest arrival ever on this trip. This distant relatives of ours who live here are connected with us via 8 or 9 generations in the past from ancestors of our family who moved to America in the 1700s (for further   information call my Grandpa, he does the family tree research and knows everything about it:) )

Nice bike trail in the woods

Refreshment-point along the way! They even forgive cream! Just on mutual trust!

I intended to visit Marion and Lowel Good who live here but unfortunately I've got a message a few days before that Lowel passed away, because of cancer which is quite hard to cope with when you're almost 90 I think. I'm so sorry about that loss, especially for his wife Marion and wish her and here family all the best, and lots of happiness in the future! I was looking forward to see him but sometimes life doesn't has the same schedule as you I think:/ But they assured me that I would be welcomed so I decided to visit them and met their children Kathy and William as well who are staying at Marion's at the moment.

Marion and her family:)

Where they live near the lake

We all went out for dinner that night and had some nice talks. William told me that his son is about to do the same thing as I'm doing and I hope he'll go for it cause as I can tell so far it's a great adventure and experience!

My bike in the 14th floor:)

They have a big apartment on the 14th floor in building at the shore of lake Erie and with an amazing view of downtown Cleveland at night! You can't see Canada from the top floor unfortunately, I calculated you would need a building at least 794m high to see the other side of the lake which is just about 100km away! The bending of the earth matters way more then I expected cause common saying is that you could see hundreds of kilometers from high buildings. To finish the day I went for a swim in the big pool in the basement of the building close to midnight which has a sauna as well, what a luxury!!
I really enjoyed getting clean again after a week without a shower. I mean while you're smelling the same as your clothes you almost don't notice it at all but after I was clean and smelled my clothes (especially the socks) I  wasn't sure if I should wash or rather burn them:) In the end - considering my money -
I decided to wash them:)

Downtown Cleveland from the top floor

Huuuge pool in the basement and nobody there!

King-sized breakfast in the morning:D

Before I left the next morning they gave me some contacts of people living in Kansas City and L.A. which both are pretty much on my way and I could visit some more people now if I want. Their other sister in L.A. lives just next to Hollywood and not far from Downtown which is such a cool spot to live! Hope I'll can pass by there:)

As I left then I wish the Good family all the best! I had such a welcoming stay, enjoyed it very much, thank you for that! I hope to see you again some day!

The route I did during this post:)