Good morning all,

I've found recently that I enjoy wrenching on bikes in my spare time. I made the mistake of setting foot in the one LBS around that sells used bikes a few weekends ago and found this:



There's a lot of rust on the frame and I'm having a lot of trouble removing the crankset (which has me worried about the state of the inside of the tubing). I've gone as far as removing the fork and cleaning the surface rust off, but I'd like some opinions for the plan I have for this frame before I spend any more time on it.
I'm thinking about stripping the frame, repainting, and turning this into a singlespeed touring bike as there aren't a lot of hills in my neck of the woods.
The serial # on the BB is T0JW66526, which according to the Trek Vintage site I believe means this is an early '90s low-end steel frame?
Here are some more pics:



(I'm not in Ohio, but I am going to try to save this sticker. It makes me wonder about this bike's story )






Thanks for your time!