I was up at 4:00 this morning, loading the car at 5L00, and we were on the road by 5:30. A few minutes after 3:00 we were here in Erie, zeroing in on the address where we were to leave the car parked for the next two weeks or so.

We drove through a couple of storms on the way here, and when we got here it was wickedly hot and humid. The local forecast says the heat index is over 100. While we were getting the bikes down off the roof of the car, mounting the panniers, and making sure everything was squared away, thunder was rumbling nearby and a few big fat drops of rain were plopping around us. We decided not to try to camp tonight, but to get s motel room instead. The campground is likely full anyway, but with the heat, the impending storms, and the fact that there are tornado watches up in some of the surrounding counties, it just doesn’t seem like a good night to sleep outside. Besides, we never did get those hurricane stakes for our tent. 😉

Being Saturday, and being a bit of a tourist area, all the decent motels are full, so we have a room in a typical flea-bag motel. The TV doesn’t work, there is an ashtray on the night stand, even though the clerk claimed this is a non-smoking room, there is an open electrical junction box in the wall next to the door, the bathroom door doesn’t close, and oh, the clerk also claims this room was “recently renovated.” Yeah right, just about 1976, I think.

But the AC works, the bed is reasonably comfortable, I haven’t seen any wildlife scooting across the floor or up the walls, and the water in the shower is hot, so we should get a decent night’s sleep, and in the morning we will be off.

Driving into Erie along 12th Street (I think) we passed block after block of old factories and other industrial plants. This must have been a humming working town in years gone by.

Good night from Erie, PA.