Catching Up

Friday, July 7, Bowling Green to Defiance, OH.

Saturday, July 8, Defiance, OH to Monroeville, IN.

Sunday, July 9, Monroeville, IN to Salamonie River State Forest near Lagro, IN..

Monday, July 9, Lagro, IN to Logansport, IN.

We haven't had a chance to send many updates over the weekend--been busy socializing! Our route continues through rural Indiana, which apparently supplies the entire country with corn and radishes. We have been riding past acres and acres of both crops, along roads that are pretty flat. At a lunch stop in Paulding, OH, a customer at Bubba J's Buckeye Cafe told us that these farmlands had been swampland as recently as 150 years ago. Drainage ditches were dug to convert the land to productive farms, forming, if not the nation's breadbasket, then at least it's radish bowl and corn bin.

Anyway, shortly after we passed Independence, OH, we arrived in Defiance, OH (sounds very historic, dontcha think?) and after climbing the only hill of the day, had our choice of three hotels. Our plan was to see Dead Man's Chest, the newest Pirates of the Carribean movie. We give it two thumbs up. Just enough humor so that we all remember this is still just a Disney park ride, eh?

In between the movie, uploading pix and scoping out a new route to the Katy Trail, we had no time to update the blog on Friday night. We'd checked our e-mail at the hotel, and were chasing two touring stories, as well.

Marin, one of the women we'd met in NC and cycled with to Surf City had let me know that she and her sister were planning to cycle the West Coast in June/July. I was trying to connect Marin and her sister with Jim and Suzi, Matthew's parents, who live on the coast. A flurry of e-mails and phone calls ensued after I realized that Marin would be in Lincoln City perhaps that very day. The other story was our proximity to the sister of a colleague. Ceely and Greg, sister and bro-in-law of Teresa, live in Ft. Wayne, IN, not too far from Monroeville. Again, a flurry of e-mails and phone numbers were exchanged, and we were looking forward to meeting Ceely and Greg once we got in to Monroeville on Saturday.

Not far out of Defiance, we met Dale, a cyclist with a BOB trailer. He was 3 days into his ride from Peoria to Bar Harbor, Maine. He explained that he and his family had attempted to do a cross-country tour in 2001, but had only made it to Chicago. He saw this opportunity to finish the tour, and decided to do it solo. Dale is from CT; a very fit cyclist in his mid 40's. We talked about what each of us knew about the road ahead for the other. Dale bemoaned the lack of fresh fruit and vegetables on the route--and then inquired if we'd found donuts. That night, we heard in town that Dale had been seen with a large ice cream cone. Dale is doing 120+ miles each day--one ice cream cone and a couple of donuts aren't going to hurt.

Later that day, after crossing into Indiana, we also met 2 more cyclists, Bob and Ron, both heading in the opposite direction that we are. They'd started in Anacortes, WA, with Bob's wife and stepson providing SAG support. The day before we met them, though, their SAG wagon left them to return home to Ashtabula, OH. Bob and Ron were only a few days from Ashtabula, where they planned to rest a few days before continuing on to Bar Harbor, ME. They told us they'd crossed the Cascade mountain range within days of it being opened for traffic; they saw 6-foot high snow drifts on the side of the roads. They ride a lot in OH, but this is their first long-distance tour. Bob had a BOB trailer; Ron had a full set of front and rear panniers, including a handlebar bag. They are chronicaling their trip at: www.crazyguyonabike.com/journal/ronbob2006.

At our lunch stop in Paulding, we met at least half the town at Bubba J's cafe. We had a nice conversation with two different tables, and then met Bill and Kathy outside the cafe. They're from Kentucky, touring on a Harley and pulling a Harley trailer. We exchanged the usual: where're ya going, how long have you been out, etc. They were on their way to Battle Creek, and then up to Toronto. Seemed like an interesting couple.

Along the way today, we passed the 3000-mile mark!

The shelter that we were staying at in Monroeville is legendary in the annals of cross-country cycling. Since 1976, the community park board has allowed cyclists to stay in the town's community center for free. Not only that, but they've installed a bathroom with full shower and laundry room just for cyclists. Combine that with a full kitchen, cots and air-conditioning and you've got a real haven for cyclists.

We knew that we needed to call Wayne to let him know that we wanted to stay at the shelter, but we'd been unable to reach him throughout the day. So just before we pulled into town, we pulled off the road to try one more time. I hadn't even gotten the phone turned on when a passing motorist slowed down, rolled down her window and exclaimed "The park's just ahead. I'll call Wayne and let him know you're coming". Then she drove off.

Well, the park wasn't in sight as we pulled into town, and we couldn't see any directional signs, so we stopped at a little gas/grocery store in town. The woman there also volunteered to call Wayne, and gave us exact directions to the park. "Right at the Whippy Dip, then all the way to the end of the street. You can't miss it, hon".

We got to the Whippy Dip (mental note: shower, then ice cream) and turned right, and were soon met by Lisa, Wayne's sub. Lisa was on her bike, a comfortable-looking, around-town cruiser. She showed us everything in the community center, gave us the keys and also showed us the cyclists' log book with entries from 1990 to today. This is a real interesting read. Riders enter their name, home address, starting and ending points of their trip, and age. Riders are also encouraged to leave comments. Reading the comments was like getting a snapshot of hundreds of tours. Many thanks were given for the A/C, with comments about 95-degree temps and high humidity. A lot of riders stayed more than one day in Monroeville, grateful for such an accommodating and comfortable rest day. Once again I felt a little guilty because we have had such a fantastic tour. We've only had to deal with rain and headwinds, neither of which have dampened our enthusiasm for the journey. One rider cautioned others heading west that the dogs in Indiana are the meanest he'd seen. Since so many cyclists use this route, maybe they've just had more practice . . .

When I mentioned that the community should get an award for this service, Lisa showed me the Trail Angel award that Adventure Cycling had given them in 2005. That award prompted the Indiana State Legistlature to pass a resolution acknowledging the town's contribution, as well.

We had the place to ourselves on Saturday night; no other cyclists showed up, and no other events were on the calendar for the center. So we sprawled out, took long showers, did laundry and ate our camp dinner. We had made contact with Ceely and Greg, and they were going to drive from Ft. Wayne to meet us for ice cream at the Whippy Dip (it's just fun to say it, right?) Well, ice cream progressed to drinks at Sportster's Bar (Greg drives a beer truck and knows all the best spots), and though we didn't close down the bar, it was close. Greg and Ceely are a warm, friendly couple, both with quick wits and great humor. After leaving the bar, we showed them our plush digs and they offered to meet us at Sunday's campsite near the Salamonie Reservoir! I think that they just couldn't quite believe us--we don't look crazy--maybe this is some kind of Candid Camera gag.

What with the comfy accomodations, we were able to finally drag ourselves out of cot around 8:30am. Good thing, too. At around 9:30, a group showed up to start prepping the center for a family reunion. We got ourselves packed up and on the road toward Lagro, IN.

Once again we found ourselves spinning through rural fields planted with corn and radishes. The whole countryside around here is set out in a grid pattern, and since the corn isn't too high yet, you can see cars and trucks moving along the grid from a loooonnng way off. Noises seem to be dampened here, too, so although you can see the vehicles, you don't hear them. It makes for a somewhat surreal landscape. My legs were pedalling along, not needing much supervision from my brain. We were still fighting a significant headwind, but today was our first day with temps over 80 degrees, so the wind at least kept us cool. It was baking the road, though. As we rode over the blacktop roads, we heard the tar bubbles pop under our tires. These are the sort of conditions that caused Joseba Beloki to skid, lose his wheel, and then crash, ending his 2004 Tour de France prematurely. Of course, he was on a downhill in the Pyrenees doing about 45mph with Lance on his rear tire, but it was thriling to think about the possibility. (I guess this is what endless cornfields does to me)

But the wind was slowing us down, so we didn't make it to the campsite until nearly 6pm. Turns out that this campsite features "prmitive camping", a term that has a number of interpretations. None of them make Matthew very happy. This site did have running water (you could run to the water pump any time you needed it), and outhouse toilets. So, for the second time in 12 weeks, we didn't get showers (gasp!). We could wash up, of course, but it would have been nice to have the heat and grime of the day washed away with a real shower. Sigh.

Ceely and Greg called to let us know they were on their way, but our cell signal was so weak that we couldn't call them back to tell them where our campsite was.

Right in the middle of all this, another cyclist pulled in. Josh is riding solo from Anacortes, WA to Bar Harbor, ME. He's just finishing up his master's program in California, and will head to Chicago after his tour to start law school. Josh is a very outgoing man with an easy laugh. This is his first tour, but he's raced road and mountain bikes for years and enjoys backpacking, too. He'd been on the same route as Bob and Ron, and rode through the Cascades about the same time as they did. He's taken a couple of route detours, so he hadn't met up with them, but the odds are pretty good that he will soon meet them.

By the time we got our campsite set up and dinner ready, Ceely and Greg had found us. They arrived like the Magi, bearing gifts from afar. One cooler stocked with water and Gatorade for the next day, and a second cooler with ice-cold beer, Bacardi coolers and sodas. They brought cheese, crackers and chips for appetizers, apples, bananas and (!) Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast. Josh joined us, and Matthew and I spent the evening in great company. Ceely, Greg, thanks again for your hospitality and generosity. We would love to be able to return the favor some day.

We make a habit of cleaning up our campsite before we go to sleep, and this habit has served us well when an unexpected rain shower develops in the middle of the night. But we were awakened around 4am by some racoons who were interested in the garbage bag that Matthew had tied up in a tree, and enticed by the smell of the Dunkin Donuts that I'd stashed in the hard-sided BOB. I got up and put the donuts in an odor-proof bag, and that ended the racoon's interest in our campsite. In the morning we found the BOB had little paw prints on it, but we had scared them off before they could do any damage. I talked with a young woman from another campsite who hadn't been so lucky. Their dogs had seen the 'coons and set off an alarm, but their coolers were raided by the little varmints, anyway.

Today's (Monday) ride was going to be a short one--40 miles. We stopped for lunch in Denver, IN, at about 25 miles and tried to call the campground at our intended stopping point. The number was disconnected, so we made plans to continue into Logansport--off the route and probably an additional 12 miles. Today was another hot ride, with temps in the upper 80's. But as we rode, the winds seemed to pick up and become gustier. For the first time since leaving Georgia, we loaded our water pistols and fired at each other at will. My water pistol is ia whate; Matthew's is a seahorse. At one point, the whale jumped out of my handlebar bag and hit the tar. He might have survived the crash, since the tar was so soft, but then I ran over it, cracking his head. (It's true--you just cannot take a whale out of the ocean and expect it to survive). Well, as we were stopped, collecting the whale and assessing the damage, Matthew suddenly realized that we were standing in the tar-equivalent of quicksand. I stashed the whale in my jersey pocket and had to pull my foot loose from the melted tar that was already sucking up my sandal!

Once we turned onto Rt 25, we realized that Logansport was only a few miles away. We stopped for a few minutes under a tree, and then continued the last 5 miles or so into town. The hotels are on the opposite side of town, so we pretty much got the whole city tour before checking in for the night.

At dinner, Matthew re-calculated our route and riding days from here to Pueblo, CO. Matthew's parents are meeting us there on August 4, and we want to make sure that we'll be there in time. So we're going off the planned route once we reach Ashkum, IL, in a couple of days, and hope to make it to the Katy Trail within 5 days of leaving Ashkum. It will mean a couple of longer days for us, probably a couple of 65-mile days. Certainly no 100-mile days, unless there's both ice cream AND donuts for lunch. Looks like it will rain tomorrow, so we're going to hit the road early in case we encounter any major delays. Hopefully no flooding, although if you believe the weather channel, the odds seem pretty good that we'll be seeing flooding at some point on our trip.

Will try to post some pictures tonight or tomorrow night. Thanks again to all of our "Trail Angels", family and friends. We miss you all and think of you often.