We are now in Lakewood, Ohio (just West of Cleveland). We rode about 54 miles today. Our half way point was Lakeview Park in Lorain. The park was great!! So great, that we decided to stay about 5 hours playing beach volleyball, football, and swimming in Lake Erie. There was nothing planned in Lakewood, so the extra long stay over worked out very well.

In the morning, I (Mr. Kilmer) ran over a dead possum. It was completely disgusting!! My bike smelled terrible. At Lakeview Park, I spent 2 hours cleaning it and it still smelled. Finally a can of Lysol helped to remove the odor.

Around 5:00 pm, we continued on to Lakewood. All 3 crews rode to the Kilmer’s old house in Avon Lake and took a picture in front of it. Beyond that the bike ride was uneventful.

After taking the last couple days off, the boys were very strong riders today averaging close to 16 miles per hour. All crews completed the ride within 15 minutes of each other.

The church in Lakewood is wonderful. They just finished painting it, the fellowship is huge, and they are letting us use their kitchen. We arrived by 7:00pm. The boys cooked dinner, ate and quickly fell asleep. We did treat them to Dilly Bars from DQ.

The ride is starting to wear on the scouts. They are tired and physiologically they are starting another week of riding. This is the time they will get on each other’s nerves and need to learn to work together. This is what the high adventure program is about. The crews are working together great; they are definitely past the storming part of forming into a team. Now the physical and emotional elements will come into play.

Tomorrow morning we have a scout’s own church service which we will do at a park near the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and then we will visit the Hall of Fame for most of the day.