For the past several riding seasons, I’ve done a ride from my home in South Euclid, Ohio, to Gio’s BBQ in Woodland, Pa., for a cheesesteak lunch. Each year before 2024, I completed the ride to the restaurant that I have a short-but-long history with over interstate highways. When I realized a U.S. highway that passes just north of where I live also is the route Gio’s is located on, I decided to take that back roads ride to Gio’s for 2024. It took two attempts to complete the ride due to nasty weather during the first ride, but those experiences renewed my awareness of how different a ride is when you avoid expressways.
I didn’t make my first stop at Gio’s until 2022, but I first learned about the place when I was living near Allentown, Pa., in 2013-2014. The toll-free route from Allentown to central Ohio (where Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course is located) is Pennsylvania State Route 33 to Interstate 80, and those trips took me past I-80’s Exit 123 for Woodland, Pa. Gio’s had their logo on one of the blue-background “This Exit” signs on I-80. My recollection of the former sign – with its brown and green color scheme – for some reason made me think it was a Mexican restaurant. I was very surprised to learn it was a BBQ joint when I researched it online in 2022. I always wanted to stop and check it out, but each time I rode through I was short on time and chose to not stop.
After my girlfriend and I moved to Cleveland in 2021, I realized that I-80 exit 123 isn’t all that far from Cleveland, and decided to make a fall colors ride out of my first venture there in Nov. 2022. For 2022 and 2023, the rides were basic slugs on I-80. There’s a few OK scenic views along 1-80, but, despite traversing mountainous terrain, it’s not a very interesting ride. The route’s redeeming quality for me is the nostalgia of remembering a simpler time in my life when I used to travel almost its full routing through Pennsylvania. Yet, the ride to Gio’s has now become one of my annuals, alongside the likes of my Ohio State Routes 83 and 339 loop, Ohio State Route 78 loop, and Ohio State Routes 164 and 212 loop.
I realized in 2023 that the U.S. Highway 322 that Gio’s is located along is the same route that passes north of my neighborhood in South Euclid, Ohio. I resolved to follow that route for my Gio’s ride in 2024. Unlike my traditional interstate route, which heads southeast from South Euclid along Interstates 271 and 480 to the Ohio Turnpike and continues east to I-80 Exit 123 in Pennsylvania, the U.S. 322 stays farther north before slanting southeast to Woodland, Pa. The early stages of the route are nowhere near I-80 and include a trek across the northeast Ohio glaciated plateau before crossing northwest and central Pennsylvania hill country.
My non-interstate route begins with a slow trek along Mayfield Road in Cleveland’s eastern suburbs. After a few miles, U.S. 322 takes a long, steep descent and rise through the Chagrin River Valley near Gates Mills before passing through Chesterland, Orwell, Williamsfield and several other small country villages before reaching the Pennsylvania border. Shortly after crossing the state line, the route turns from heading east-west to southeast-northwest as it works its way around the man-made Pymatuning Lake. Historically, the road continued due east toward Hartstown, Pa., but modern-day U.S. 322 takes a southeast-northwest alignment to the south end of the lake at Jamestown, Pa., before turning north toward Hartstown and Conneaut Lake.
After passing through downtown Conneaut Lake, the route continues east and reaches the southern outskirts of Meadville, Pa., before turning southeast toward the Interstate 80 alignment. After bypassing Cochranton and heading through the heart of Franklin and Clarion, U.S. 322 passes above I-80 and switches from being north to south of the interstate alignment. The route continues through downtown Brookville, runs south of DuBois and through Clearfield before the final approach to Gio’s at the intersection of U.S. 322 and Pennsylvania State Route 970.
My first attempt at completing my Backroads to Gio’s ride took place May 25 and went smoothly for the Ohio portion of the ride. The forecast had called for heavy rain during the afternoon, but I was hoping to beat the incoming weather. I stopped for a quick brunch when I got fuel at the Sheetz in Conneaut Lake, and it was starting to drizzle when I left. It was off-and-on light rain thereafter until I reached Shippenville, Pa. The band of dark clouds and forecast on my phone calling for thunderstorms in the following hour made me reconsider continuing to push to Gio’s.
I tried taking Pennsylvania Route 66 south to I-80 in a last-ditch attempt to make it to the establishment and wait out the storm there. Unbeknownst to me, that road ends at I-80 and the ramp to the eastbound lanes was closed and it was too late to slow down and turn around. I ended up taking the ramp to the westbound lanes, got off at the next exit and tried to continue my trek east to Gio’s. With the winds picking up and the band of clouds growing darker and more ominous, I got off a couple exits later – no less at exit 70 for U.S. 322 – and began riding home. It was on-and-off rain until I got to the Pennsylvania/Ohio border and a smooth ride thereafter.
The second attempt took place Aug. 10 under sunny skies and warm temperatures. Though the majority of the ride was a repeat of the first, it was the end of the ride that made me realize just how different of an experience the backroads riding was from my usual interstate travel. At times, getting stuck in traffic in each of the larger village main streets became tedious, but getting to see the mostly preserved architecture – and the uniqueness of each such presentation – in those village centers made up for a lot of the slow-going. The biggest difference I noticed was as I ascended the hill just before Gio’s parking lot entrance at how much more of an accomplishment arriving at my destination felt like. My usual expressway route featured a sense of happiness upon arriving at the restaurant, but that feeling was stronger and supplemented with sentiments of relief and fulfillment. The ride had been more than an hour longer than the interstate option, but riding roadways that more closely followed the natural terrain and getting to experience new rural downtown spaces along the way made the riding experience somewhat more frustrating – but overall more enjoyable.