Later that evening, after sending Diana home, I met a few of my best friends, Sandra, Eric and Orlando, at the Frog Bear and Wild Boar bar in Downtown Columbus, where my favorite local rock band, Jonzei was playing. 
After signing-in, pitching our tents and exchanging hugs and hellos with our GOBA friends, we headed out to Bob Evans for dinner. 
Once in Tiffin, and after going through the routine of picking our luggage, staking our tents and freshening-up up, it was time to explore the town, have dinner and to party. 
Monday, June 20 - Tiffin: Wanna go for the optional 40 mile ride today? I think not! Specially after the unusually cold weather of the previous night. I love riding but I'd rather relax and limit my riding to exploring the town. It is a vacation, for crying out loud! After breakfast at Chris Cakes and another run to the coffee U-Haul it was time to get on the bike and enjoy the sights of Tiffin, including the magnificent County courthouse.
Our day off in Tiffin, coincided with my brother-in-law Howie's 50th birthday. That evening, we all went to the Mexican Restaurant at the Tiffin Mall. There, we all surprised Howie by getting the Mariachi to sing "Happy Birthday" for him and by all of us wearing matching t-shirts in honor to his birthday. The T-shirts had had been ordered by Howie's wife and smuggled into GOBAville by his friend Bob. Howie was truly surprised and we all had a great time.
The road to Port Clinton took us along parts of the Sandusky River, including over an old metal bridge near the town of Fremont, where we had our lunch stop at the Hayes Presidential Center. I have fond memories of the Hayes Presidential Center, which hosted GOBA's opening ceremonies in 2000.
Past Fremont, it was an easy ride into Port Clinton, where we spent the next two evenings. We were happy to find indoor camping at the high school, which was good because that evening the rain just poured over GOBAville.
In Port Clinton, we had dinner at a local Irish Pub in the Downtown area which, as it often happens on GOBA, was overwhelmed by hungry GOBA riders and - not unpredictably - got most of our orders wrong. Thankfully the manager was a good sport and gave us a substantial discount on our food.
The downtown entertainment was pretty good, with a rock band setting the mood and plenty of establishments for food and drinks. We enjoyed a couple of scoops of ice cream at a local drug/convenience store.
Tuesday evening was not without its sad moments, though, because that evening my daughter Diana had to leave GOBA to attend a previously scheduled workshop at Ohio U. in Athens, Ohio, which would take the rest of the week. She really had a great time at GOBA and we missed her the rest of the week.
Later that evening, we settled at a local bar where we played pool and enjoyed a few cold ones. Thankfully, the rain had stopped by the time we got back to GOBAville. All we had to deal with now were the mayflies, which were swarming over Port Clinton in biblical numbers, making every surface look like a scene from a horror movie. I had never seen anything quite like that.
Wednesday, June 22 - Port Clinton & Trip to Put-In-Bay: On our second rest day of the week, while Laura and her teenage friends went to Cedar Point, the rest of us adults, Myself, Don, Mick & Marijo, Ryan, and Tom, loaded our bikes on the Jet Express II and headed to South Bass Island, better known as "Put-In-Bay". There we met with Bob and Howie, who had taken the Miller Boatline ferry. This island is known for its bars, restaurants and good night life. It is not a private island resort though; It has many permanent residents who have to do their best to co-exist with thousands of visitors every year. This was my second visit to the island, the first was in the summer of 2003, when my wife Gwen and I spent a weekend there to celebrate our engagement.
The ride from Port Clinton to Put-In-Bay takes about 20 minutes aboard the Jet Express and it drops you off right in front of the main street, by Jose DeRivera Park. The island's landscape is dominated by the 357 ft tall Perry's Monument, which commemorates Commodore Oliver H. Perry's victory over the British Navy in the Battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812. This is also a peace memorial celebrating the lasting peace between the USA & Canada, who share the longest undefended border in the world.
Although the island is very small (It took us half an hour to go around it on our bikes), there is plenty to do: We visited Perry's Monument and its visitor center operated by the National Park Service, where they have a large model showing the Battle of Lake Erie and where you can also see a short film about that event. We also stopped at several bars and restaurants for beer and food, visited the very nice state park on the south end of the island and - of course - stopped at the Heineman Winery, where we enjoyed a few bottles of the local wine, accompanied with a selection of cheese and crackers.
After a long day that included visiting the butterfly museum and having crab legs at The Boardwalk, we boarded the Jet Express back to Port Clinton and another evening at GOBAville.
Thursday, June 23 - Port Clinton to Elmore: For me, Thursday's ride marks the beginning of the end of GOBA; The day when you realize that you better have fun now because it is going to end soon. The ride to Elmore also marked the start of a very gentle climb towards Upper Sandusky as we rode further away from Lake Erie.
We began our ride along the shores of the lake and then headed inland. The landscape remained flat, making the trip very easy, with the monotony of endless farm fields broken by the several small towns and train tracks that we rode by.
My favorite stop of the day was the lunch stop at Rocky Ridge, where even though I declined to eat because of the extremely slow food lines, I got to enjoy the classic rock music, courtesy of a local DJ who was, oddly enough, getting friendly advice on what music to play from my brother-in-law, Howie.
We got to Elmore and, once again, found indoor camping at the school gym. We headed to town and were surprised by how small the town was! I was worried that the town would be overwhelmed by hungry riders, but that was not to be the case. We visited a local pizza place where we got fast, friendly service and left satisfied. (I did hear some horror stories, though: I was told that at one place, they did get overwhelmed and that two cooks had quit in discontent.)
Elmore also has a lovely public library where we were able to check our email and chill out in their air-conditioned lounge. Laura was even able to get a library card, which she used to borrow a DVD, which she watched on her laptop back at GOBAville! (She dropped the movie in the library's return bin the next morning, as we left town.)
I like to think of Elmore as "The Little Town that Could". They were by far the smallest stop on GOBA and they also put the best party of the week. Here, I found some good conversation with my friends Don, Amy and Steve.
The festivities at the downtown park were well organized and executed. The music was provided by the band "Live at Five", who played a nice selection of rock 'n' roll hits. The entertainment varied from a Log-cabin museum, civil war era re-enactors, a beer garden, to a huge motorized tricycle & even a motorized coffin!
Elmore, in my opinion, was the second best stop on this year's GOBA, only because Port Clinton included a side trip to Put-In-Bay.
Friday, June 24 - Elmore to Upper Sandusky: Rumors had been spreading all over GOBAville on Thursday evening that Friday was going to be a very hot day. Most people decided to get an early start on the trip to Upper Sandusky and we were not the exception. We got up at 5:00 AM and got on the road at 6:00 AM.
We witnessed a wonderful sunrise over a field of golden wheat as we left the town of Elmore - Here is a photo of Laura in front of it - and got to the first rest stop at 7:00 AM. After a quick breakfast, we arrived at the lunch stop at 8:00 AM. We though we were in pretty good shape to make it to Upper Sandusky before noon. Of course, we were wrong.
What followed next was not the predicted hot weather, but a fierce duel with a stubborn head wind for the next 40 miles or so.
It took us almost three hours to cover the 24 miles between the lunch stop and the PM stop in Carey, Ohio. We had to pause halfway there to catch our breath and rest our sored, aching leg muscles.
The only relief we found between the lunch and PM stops was the music of my friend from Columbus, Eugene Beer, who did not do GOBA this year, but showed up along the route to play music on his piano-bike six miles out of the lunch stop. It was great to see Eugene, since I had talked to him on the phone the previous day, giving him directions to the lunch stop and I though that I was going to miss him, since we had left the lunch stop so early. I am happy he decided to stop further down along the road instead. I have known Eugene since 1994 and I shall be forever grateful to him because he is the person who introduced me to GOBA in 1999. You can visit Eugene's website at www.pianopeddler.com
Once past the PM stop at Carey - Which, in my opinion, had the greatest lunch value of the week with $1.00 burgers and brats! - it was a final battle against the wind to get to Upper Sandusky. The almost due south route offered very little relief from the wind. But luckily, we were able to miss the rain by just a few minutes and rode into Upper Sandusky around 1:30 PM, 7.5 hours after leaving Elmore. We barely averaged over 10 MPH that day.
Once in Upper Sandusky, it was time to seek shelter and once again, found indoor camping at the school gym. After a shower and a well deserved nap, it was up to downtown to enjoy the bike races, the food, the beer, the song contest and the music. Out of those five, I got to enjoy four: The bike races were thrilling, the food was great and so was the beer, the song contest is always fun... but the music... well... I like The Doors, but the Doors-tribute band headlining that night "Mojo Risin" left much to be desired. I was wishing that "Live at Five" - the Band at Elmore - could come back for an encore.
W
e left the downtown area somewhat disappointed, because we always like to party and dance on the last night of GOBA. Too bad the band did not provide the right mood. I still remember GOBA 2003, when they had that cajun music band. Or when Arnett Howard and his Creole Funk band played in Marysville on GOBA 2002.
Anyway, we headed back to camp to enjoy a quiet evening of friendship and GOBA memories.
Saturday, June 25: Upper Sandusky to Tiffin: Well, It is time to pack our bags for the last time and face the inevitable: GOBA ends today. Tomorrow there will be no camping, no more riding, no more leaving the problems and the worries of the real world behind. After a week of camping and of long lines for food, showers and porta-johns, tonight we go back to our beds, our kitchens, our showers and our beloved porcelain toilets.
We left Upper Sandusky to once again, face a head wind for most of the day, but that did not worry us so much anymore. We stopped at the lunch stop, which was the only stop of the day and last rest stop of the year. There we got a chance to find our friends and say most of our goodbyes. By the time we left that stop, plans were starting to be hatched for next year's GOBA. "Yes, we must see each other again next year, take care!"
We arrived back in Findlay around noon, to the mess of finding our our luggage, taking a quick shower and finding a handful of our friends who had not left yet. This time no tents were being erected and GOBAville had the feeling of a ghost town. A few of us gathered together and decided to finish GOBA the way we started it: By going to Bob Evans for a farewell lunch.
As we left Findlay behind, our road back home took us along the GOBA route, where some riders were still making their way into Findlay. We honked the horn, we waved at them, yelling "You are almost there!" We kept driving, looking for riders. And even as we hit the main highway, we looked deep into the fields, trying to spot that one lone rider along a country road for whom GOBA had not yet ended.
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