Since we stayed up watching movies last night, we both slept in til about 8:30 this morning. We headed downstairs to go to the continental breakfast and were very presently surprised- not only did they have waffles, but they had strawberries and whipped cream to go on top! We used to have that all the time when we were in college as it was one of our favorite things. Needless to say, we both had some waffles with strawberries and whipped cream, along with a whole bunch of other things from hot cocoa to fruit and a bagel. As they were going to be closing breakfast soon, I took a couple yogurts to go, my carton of chocolate milk and a couple bananas, and my cold cereal with me so that I could eat it later. We got packed up and when 10 am rolled around, departed from our cozy room to meet Lisa down in the lobby. Although it was snowing when we first woke up, we were happy to see that it had stopped by the time we left the hotel. She took us back to the church where we got our bikes all packed. There, we also had a chance to meet Pastor Joel. It was a very relaxing morning and the roads looked nice and clear today- not anything like they looked like yesterday. After saying our goodbyes and thanks agains to Lisa and the Pastor, we headed out down the road. Both Joey and I were still so surprised at what an amazing day we had yesterday and of all the nice people we met here. The hills weren't as bad today. Although my knees were hurting a bit the night that we got to Butler, they are feeling better today. It seemed like the further we went the smaller the hills got. After a while we made it into the town of Slippery Rock and then eventually crossed interstate 79 again. By that time it really flattened out quite a bit, at least until we got closer to the town of Mercer. The funny thing is that we rode through Mercer on our last tour, entering from a different direction than today. We went to this place called "Pizza Joe's" and had their buffet, which only happens one day a week- on Tuesday. Guess what today was... Tuesday! With that being said, we were going to have pizza for lunch. By the time we got there, we were both super hungry. The place was just as I remembered it. Since it was already after 2 when we got there, no one else was there eating, so they made us our own pizza with whatever we wanted on it- for us it's always pepperoni and mushrooms. They also made some cinnamon pizza for dessert. Everything was delicious. We had fun talking to the girls that worked there because when they asked where we had ridden to, we told them and also explained how we came here on our last trip too. They thought that was pretty neat. While we were there, I was able to call home and talk to everyone. A little while later, Joey's phone rang and it was my Grandma. I asked why she just didn't call my phone, but she said mine is usually dead- which is true, and it was a force of habit. When I asked what she needed, she said "nothing." There was a long pause and then she said "Well, I was trying to get a hold of your Mom and I couldn't." I told her that I would text her question to her so she could get it when she wasn't busy. When she hung up, Joey asked what she said. I explained how the conversation went and he started laughing pretty hard. It was pretty funny. For some reason we thought Grammy was just being crazy or something for "calling for nothing" at first. It was funny to say the least. After we were stuffed to the brim we headed out again. It is nice knowing that we won't have to worry about dinner tonight since we had buffet for lunch, and a late lunch at that. There were bits and pieces of the ride that I remembered. We passed by route 62, which will eventually go straight into Buffalo and passed through a little town that looked familiar. After going through the town, we passed a fireman's park that was all empty. I remember last tour that we went by there and they were having their field days that day. There were rides and venders, people all over, and cars lining the road for about a mile in each direction. Not this time, it was very quiet. The first 8 miles or so of this afternoon's ride were really windy, a headwind of course. It slowed us down quite a bit and made it feel like we were never going to get to the town of Meadville like we wanted to. But after that 8 miles, the wind seemed to die down a bit, but we rode into a cloud of white. More big white fluffy snow! It lasted for a mile or two and then disappeared. The ride was pretty hilly, which we didn't remember at all. For some reason we were thinking that it was flatter after Mercer, but that was not the case. Eventually, we rolled into the area at the top of the hill near Meadville. That area I did remember quite well. We saw a McDonald's and decided to head there for a quick break and to look up where there might be some churches in the nearby area. We were definitely going to need a carport or pavilion to camp under tonight! There was two ways that we could go to get to Erie- through Meadville itself on 19, or down 98, which would probably have a lot less traffic. We found out that there was a church less than 2 miles down 98, which was our preferred route. Using Google maps street view, we saw that it had a big carport and we knew we'd be able to get out of the snow there. So, that's where we headed. At that point it was almost dark, but still light enough that we didn't need our headlights yet. It was a very quick ride down to the church as most of it was downhill. It started to snow again as we were on the downhill; snowflakes were hitting us in the eyes. When we got to the church, it was a perfect little carport. Unfortunately there was no one there to ask, but with it almost being dark already, that is where we had to go. We got set up and in our sleeping bags right away. A cold day, but overall very good, like almost every day. Of course- a "bad day" on the tour is always better than a good day at work. There is nothing to complain about in that sense! Our miles totaled 60.67 today. Tomorrow we will be in Erie!
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