Day 12 – Columbiana OH to Richfield, OH

73 miles

Strolling out of my tent early in the morning I debated whether or not to go back to the Dutch House for breakfast. In the end, I decided against it as I wanted to get a couple of miles under my belt before breakfast. Again it was an incredible day in terms of weather and I am sure I am in for another hot one as the temperature is relentless. I was in Canfield and grabbed a big breakfast sandwich at Darrs Cafe. I got chatting to the couple next to me, The Palmers, a nice couple from down the road. I was telling them of my journey through America so far. As they got up to leave and say goodbye, the owner of the cafe told me that they had picked up the bill for me! I couldn’t believe it, I was speechless and somewhat awkwardly saying goodbye. Leaving the cafe I rode on through thinking about the kindness and generosity of the American people so far. Along the way stopped off at an English pub, didn’t resemble anything like a British Pub but down myself with some much-needed fluids.

The heat continued throughout the afternoon, again hitting a hundred plus Fahrenheit. I cycled through a lovely national park along the way providing me with so much needed shelter from the sun and some rolling hills to climb as the topography had become a little flatter since hitting Ohio. It was getting to the evening when I was around a place called Richfield, as I saw a woman picking weeds from her lawn. I asked where a good place to grab some food might be. She told me of this great place just up the road, here I was expecting another Hancock moment, but to my delight, The Clearview Inn was a treat, good food at a decent price. So a quality Sirloin Steak it was! The breakfast places I had been going to had been nice but I had struggled to find a place that did good quality food, finally, I had found one.

I asked the waitress what was ten miles down the road and whether she thought a farmer would mind me pitching a tent in his field, she said said she had no idea but would go and find out, when she returned she told me to come outside with her, I was expecting her to say “Go down there turn right etc”, but instead she introduced me to this large family having drinks. Mike the father, very kindly offered me a place on their lawn as long as I didn’t mind their dogs and that I sat and had a few drinks with them. I was a little shy about getting so close to them as I hadn’t showered from the night before and I thought the smell after another long hot day must be pretty bad by now. Things didn’t start well when the first question they asked me was ‘When was the last time you showered?’

I sat and got to know them a little better and told them of my encounters throughout my trip, we had a few drinks and headed back, the girls offered me a room in the house and a shower which was a little too good to be true and of course I didn’t turn it down.

We stayed up a little longer before calling it a night, I imagine in the morning they might wake up thinking, ‘Did we bring back some homeless guy from England last night’