Left the shores of Lake Erie and the Coastal Ohio Trail early Monday. Did my first “century” (100 miles!) of the tour given blue skies over the Ohio flatlands. The ride included a “police escort” for 10 miles, drafting behind off-duty policeman Jim pictured on bike in front of me. Passed a drive-in live bait store, didn’t know that was a thing? Made my way through idyllic farmlands, stopping at a roadside honeybee farm for refreshment and landed on canopied bike trails connecting small towns.
Before finishing in Bowling Green, the day’s highlight was the pit stop at The Prairie Market in Fremont. I was welcomed by locals getting the famous Polish sausage from the meat counter. Turns out one of the patrons was friendly Brenda (pictured), whose brother runs Prairie, the oldest family-owned business in Sandusky County. The Chudzinskis emigrated from Poland in 1883 and founded a thriving livestock/butcher business. During Prohibition, they also had the White House Tavern next door. As the story goes from Brenda, the butchers doubled as bar bouncers. When a bar fight broke out, the bartender would ring a loud bell to signal the butchers to head over and break it up. Imagine the bloody aprons on large men might put a scare into the offenders! A little slice of Americana.
______________________
