July 1, 2015.

We made plans last week to ride today to the Willow Metro Park with Alison and the kids. It's only 4 miles round trip from the Flat Rock dam, so Dianne and I rode out from home to meet them at 9:30. It took less time than we anticipated, giving us time to stop at a bike-friendly coffee shop in Flat Rock for coffee and a snack.

 

It started raining just as Alison got to the dam. The kids were extremely disappointed when we talked about not riding. So we waited for about a half hour until it cleared up enough to get on the bikes and go.

They did very well--Adam was on his bike with gears and was able to ride at 11-12 MPH with no trouble. Delia does not have a bike with gears, but she has the enthusiasm to make up for it! She rode her little bike (no training wheels) all the way there and back with no complaints. Zane rode in the child seat behind Alison.

A park policeman who was at Willow Park for a training exercise (with about 10 other park police officers, all on bikes) took our photo. We spent about an hour there, looking at the turtles, snakes and other local fauna.

Dianne and I said goodbye to Alison and the kids and got back on the bikes to ride home. We took the bike paths this time, a little bit longer route, but very enjoyable until we got to Gibraltar. They are STILL not done repaving North Gibraltar Rd. I spoke with a construction worker who told me it was going to be paved next week. I'm not sure why they built the Jefferson Ave. bike path so that you must ride through Gibraltar to get from that segment to the Lake Erie Metro Park. It's been impassable all summer.