I was excited to get up today, certain that I would be home within the week. There were a few minor things I needed to do before I could get on the road. Chief among them was laundry. I hadn't done laundry since Fort Wayne, and a weekend spent in a pannier in a torching hot metal storage unit didn't help. When the clothes were in the machine, I rode down to one of the gas stations for gatorade and a map of Pennsylvania. For the first time on the trip, I would enter a state with the appropriate highway map. As the laundry was in the dryer, I walked down the block and had breakfast at the Cracker Barrel. The food was tasty but the dining room crowded and I was glad to soon be back on my own.
Before Pennsylvania though, I first needed to get out of Ohio. The state line was about 60 miles away and the hills were starting to get harder. Taking the weekend off didn't help. It was also hot, getting well up into the 90's.
I got out of the suburban traffic around Canton and onto a couple longer stretches of state highway. In Deerfield, I stopped at a farmers' market to buy some cherries. Mmm, cherries. Crossing the narrow part of Lake Berlin, I was tempted to join the people in the water, but, of course, the road compelled me onward. Coming into Boardman, the highway was suddenly lined with department stores and strip malls. I took a break for lunch, then ten minutes further down the road, a stop for ice cream. At a red light at one intersection, I spent two light cycles talking with a guy in a yellow dog suit about the trip. I never took notice of what he was advertising, standing out in a sweltering heat of an animal suit. But he told me he was a cyclist and thought it was great that I was going cross country.
A short way down the road later, I had one of my worst interactions with infrastructure. Along this part of the road, there was a turn lane width shoulder for me to ride in, I just had to dodge car going into and out of the store parking lots. The shoulder suddenly shrank down to a white line and the curb for a couple hundred feet. Right as I was about to get back to the wider part, there was a storm drain that was set 3-4 inches below the rest of the curb. There was a wall of traffic next to me that I couldn't swerve into, so I hit the deep concrete border around 16 miles an hour. The bike jumped and all four of my panniers went flying. Somehow, thankfully, none of them flew under a car when they scattered. I gathered up my luggage and saw that there was a nice quarter-sized hole now in my food pannier. Joy. I would like whoever designed that drain to ride a bike over it and see how it feels.
10 miles further down the road, I came to the Pennsylvania Line. I took a quick shot of the Welcome to PA sign, but didn't check it or take a second shot, and as it turned out the picture was out of focus. Bleh. Oh well, I was in PA.
Not far down he road I saw a pair of Amish girls walking down the side of the road. Within a few more miles, I had seen a number of carriages for two riders and the more family friendly four.
Coming into New Wilmington, It was getting to be around 7:00 and I was ready to be done. The hills and the heat were plenty. I found a rustic looking motel/restaurant, but was informed that the owners were out and probably wouldn't be back for a couple hours. So, the man sitting on the bench on the porch told me, I couldn't stay there. He was older than my parents, though not yet my grandmother's age and wore khaki colored slacks and a light blue button down shirt, long sleeved, even in the heat. He asked which direction I was going and I told him I was headed up toward Mercer. He told me about the three places to spend a night in mercer, the two by the interstate were more pricey, but the one further along my path would be less expensive.
Going up and down these hills, I saw several more horse drawn carriages, an older couple sitting on well-crafted rocking chairs in front of a modest house, and a bridge that was out and being rebuilt. I climbed a long hill and came into the range of the noise from the interstate. I stopped on the overpass and took a picture of the final time that I would cross paths with US 80. I crossed over or under 80 in California, Utah, and Illinois, as well as having to ride on it for 11 miles in Wyoming. Now, the road I had encountered more than any other on this trip was passing under me in Pennsylvania. In college I drove from San Francisco to Chicago on I-80, what a different view I have of it now.
Then I climbed the longest hill I've found since leaving the Black Hills way back in western South Dakota. I slowly cranked my way up without benefit of shade and running low on water. I took a moment at the top to rest and watch the sun start to sink below the wooded hills to my west. There was still plenty of daylight, but I would be out of the direct sun for the rest of the day. Then I started downhill and just missed hitting 40 mph for the first time since South Dakota too. Maybe if I hadn't come to a full stop on top of the hill.
I came into Mercer and found the motel I had been told about. The woman inside seemed intrigued and gave me a good deal on the room. I showered and tried to get a pizza, but apparently at 9:00 they don't deliver anymore. I walked around and found some Chinese food instead. I was in Pennsylvania, but I still had a lot ahead of me.
Day 67, Canton, OH - Mercer, Pa
81.8 miles in 6:12:31 for 3951.1 in 298:30:09 and a high speed of 39.8 mph
Showing posts with label Ohio. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ohio. Show all posts
Monday, July 5, 2010
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Mile 3869.3 - A wedding in beautiful, tropical Boston
Friday morning, I woke early and showered. I called the number of the car service that I got from the motel desk again. Yesterday they had disappointed me with a 45 minute wait time, perhaps this time would be better. I needed to be at the airport at 6:30, but I was the next exit down the interstate from the airport, so it shouldn't take long to get there. I called and was told that a car could come get me around 8:00. Fail. Fail fail fail and his cousin fail. I went back to the desk and said that the car company was useless and explained that I needed to be at the airport in 30 minutes. The guy at the desk told me not to worry and called a different company that he knew. The car was there in 4 minutes. Sure, the driver didn't really talk much and just played right wing hate talk radio, but I wasn't in his car for very long.
I got to the airport, got on my plane and flew to Boston. As I was walking through the baggage claim towards the exit, I saw, for the first time in 2 months, Emily. Yay! I like to pretend I have a girlfriend, I talk about her quite a bit, but this was hard evidence that she existed as more than just a voice over the phone. She was also picking up another wedding guest that was coming in on a flight about 10 minutes behind mine.
Of the couple getting married, her family is mostly in Massachusetts, he is Bahamian. There were a couple times when I wondered why I was flying to Boston and not Nassau for this wedding, but I wasn't asked to plan it. When I am asked to help plan weddings, I always suggest the location in the Caribbean over the one in New England, but that's just a personal bias.
It was a lovely ceremony, held outside in a garden, and the food was even reasonably good for wedding reception food. I got to spend much of the weekend talking about cycling, so that was good. But there was the voice in the back of my head that said that if I hadn't stopped for three days for the wedding, I could be back in Brooklyn by Wednesday.
On Sunday, Emily had to get back to New York and I had to get back to Canton. Sadly, the order of this happening wasn't how I would have preferred it, so I ended up at the airport a good 4 hours before the flight. I sat at a bar where I could plug in my laptop and watched the red sox game as I worked on the journal some more. There may have been a hot dog covered in mac and cheese involved.
When I got back into Canton, it was just about sunset on July 4th. I could see fireworks from at least four different displays. I went to the cars queued up outside and tried to get one to take me to the storage space around the backside of the airport so I could retrieve Penny and ride back to the motel. I was informed that it was a $20 minimum to leave the airport. I argued that they would drop me off and be back before the luggage from the rest of my flight got off the plane. They didn't move on the $20, and I'm not willing to pay a car $20 to take me about two and a half miles, so I walked it.
On the walk, I could see over a dozen different sets of fireworks going off on various horizons. One thing I also noticed, fireworks freak out the fireflies. They were flying higher and blinking more rapidly than any other group of fireflies I had seen in the last few weeks. I made it back to Penny and was glad to see her. I popped on the pannier I was using as my carry on, and switched on my lights. Reunited at last. I know it had only been three days, but getting back to my bike, I knew that the only real obstacle now between me and getting home was the state of Pennsylvania. Sure, it's the most difficult state to traverse east of the Mississippi between the length and the mountains, but I was going to be home soon.
On the short ride back to the motel, a passenger in an SUV rolled down the window and yelled out at me 'Get a car!'. I called back 'Why?', but they took off without giving me an answer. Really, I'd like to have a discussion about this, because I have a pretty strong view. But they weren't looking for a discussion, they were just some jerks in an SUV.
Days 64-66, Canton, OH - (Boston, MA) - Canton OH
3.7 miles in 17:23 for a total of 3869.3 in 292:17:38 and a high speed of 27.1
I got to the airport, got on my plane and flew to Boston. As I was walking through the baggage claim towards the exit, I saw, for the first time in 2 months, Emily. Yay! I like to pretend I have a girlfriend, I talk about her quite a bit, but this was hard evidence that she existed as more than just a voice over the phone. She was also picking up another wedding guest that was coming in on a flight about 10 minutes behind mine.
Of the couple getting married, her family is mostly in Massachusetts, he is Bahamian. There were a couple times when I wondered why I was flying to Boston and not Nassau for this wedding, but I wasn't asked to plan it. When I am asked to help plan weddings, I always suggest the location in the Caribbean over the one in New England, but that's just a personal bias.
It was a lovely ceremony, held outside in a garden, and the food was even reasonably good for wedding reception food. I got to spend much of the weekend talking about cycling, so that was good. But there was the voice in the back of my head that said that if I hadn't stopped for three days for the wedding, I could be back in Brooklyn by Wednesday.
On Sunday, Emily had to get back to New York and I had to get back to Canton. Sadly, the order of this happening wasn't how I would have preferred it, so I ended up at the airport a good 4 hours before the flight. I sat at a bar where I could plug in my laptop and watched the red sox game as I worked on the journal some more. There may have been a hot dog covered in mac and cheese involved.
When I got back into Canton, it was just about sunset on July 4th. I could see fireworks from at least four different displays. I went to the cars queued up outside and tried to get one to take me to the storage space around the backside of the airport so I could retrieve Penny and ride back to the motel. I was informed that it was a $20 minimum to leave the airport. I argued that they would drop me off and be back before the luggage from the rest of my flight got off the plane. They didn't move on the $20, and I'm not willing to pay a car $20 to take me about two and a half miles, so I walked it.
On the walk, I could see over a dozen different sets of fireworks going off on various horizons. One thing I also noticed, fireworks freak out the fireflies. They were flying higher and blinking more rapidly than any other group of fireflies I had seen in the last few weeks. I made it back to Penny and was glad to see her. I popped on the pannier I was using as my carry on, and switched on my lights. Reunited at last. I know it had only been three days, but getting back to my bike, I knew that the only real obstacle now between me and getting home was the state of Pennsylvania. Sure, it's the most difficult state to traverse east of the Mississippi between the length and the mountains, but I was going to be home soon.
On the short ride back to the motel, a passenger in an SUV rolled down the window and yelled out at me 'Get a car!'. I called back 'Why?', but they took off without giving me an answer. Really, I'd like to have a discussion about this, because I have a pretty strong view. But they weren't looking for a discussion, they were just some jerks in an SUV.
Days 64-66, Canton, OH - (Boston, MA) - Canton OH
3.7 miles in 17:23 for a total of 3869.3 in 292:17:38 and a high speed of 27.1
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Mile 3865.6 - A day spent going nowhere
In the morning, Brett and I both started a little later than expected. On the way to find both a bathroom and a dumpster Brett ran into a couple of kids on bikes riding around the campground. After breakfast, I went to use both the bathroom and dumpster myself and the same pack of kids found me. They didn't believe that we were not the same person. 'But he has a beard and glasses', I told them. Clearly that was a disguise. So I rode back to our site with them in tow to prove that Brett and I were not the same person. 'Are you brothers?' the lone boy in the pack asked. 'No,' Brett told them, 'just a couple guys who are both riding our bikes. 'Are you scientists?' the boy asked. 'Yes, we are scientists' 'Wow!'
I was then convinced to chase them around the park on their bikes. I gave them a head start and sure enough caught up to them. The boy shot out into paths between different campsites in the woods. They had been there for several days and he knew all the shortcuts. I eventually got the two older kids names, Mason and Angelina, after several bouts of chasing them around. At one point, I caught up to them with only my right foot clipped in and my left foot resting on Penny's top tube. So yes, I'm faster with one foot than a couple of pre-teens. I should be. I also liked to turn around and speed around the outer loop of the camp drive to suddenly appear in front of them.
Angelina didn't believe me that I was going from California to New York. 'You don't know how to get there', she explained. I showed her a picture of me in front of the golden gate bridge. 'Ok, you've been there', she told me. 'That doesn't mean you rode all the way here. Another Sacramento conspirator (there's a joke that I haven't really been going around the country, that I've spent this whole time in Sacramento photoshopping my bike into other people's pictures). I then chased them around some more. They showed me a tree with poisonous berries and they were shocked when I responded by popping one into my mouth and not dying. I showed them that mulberries were not only non-lethal, but tasty. You have to get the dark purple ones, the green and red ones are sour.
At some point in there, Brett had to get on the road. We invited each other to our respective cities of residence and he was off. Since he started the day later than he had expected, he had a lot of ground to cover before dark. Safe travels, my friend.
Eventually, I did need to get moving too, so went back to my site and started to pack up. Chasing the kids this morning was as much fun as anything else I've done on the trip. When I had Penny packed I rode back to their family's site, but didn't find anyone there. I left a note and my card. Thanks for the experience, guys! Keep biking!
I covered the couple hills between the park and the backside of the Canton-Akron airport. Since two of the city's storage spaces right behind the airport and I needed to store Penny somewhere for the weekend, I stopped in to the first one. The guy in the office seemed completely taken aback by the idea of riding a bike across the country, to the point where he didn't seem to comprehend what I only needed the space for the weekend, so didn't want to pay a full month rate. Since he didn't give me a better offer, I went to the other storage company a couple hundred yards down the road. I rode down the steep gravel drive to the office and found a sign saying back at 1:30. It was 12:45.
Fine, I'll go get a motel room for the night first. On the way around the airport into town, the battery in the gps died. This happens occasionally, though usually I replace them when it warns me they are down to 5%. I carry six pairs of rechargeable AAs and a pair usually lasts a day to a day and a half. But I had camped the last three nights, and while I've found places to recharge the phone, I haven't been so lucky with the batteries. All of my AAs were dead. I braved the increasingly heavy suburban traffic as I got closer to the interstate, stopping at the first gas station I found. Gatorade and batteries. I estimated the miles and time I covered and then pushed on down the hill to where the motels were. I eschewed the $110 room for the one less than half that across the street.
I unloaded and showered and decided what I needed to take with me for the weekend and to leave on the bike. I gave myself one of my front panniers as my carry on for the plane (the reason I did bring one shoulder strap). It was mostly my electronics, the book and food.
I rode back to the storage places and tried at the one that was closed. He told me that he wasn't going to be there Monday morning so I would need to have the code to open the gate. He didn't seem to understand that I was willing to pay him something to get the code. He suggested trying to leave it with the construction guys that took up the lot between the two storage spaces. 'They have dogs' he told me, reassuringly. Yeah, but 'hi construction crew that I don't know. Here's my bike and all my stuff, please don't go through it at your leisure in the three days I'll be gone'. Yeah, no.
I went back to the other place to see if perhaps someone else was in the office now. In fact, there was. There was a young lady named Dana behind the desk and her boyfriend wearing a Kent sweatshirt occupying a chair in the corner. I explained the whole bike tour + wedding in Boston situation to her and she was really excited to see what she could do for me. She called the owner and summarized the situation to them. Sure, she could charge me half price. With tax it came to $20 including a lock I could keep. That sounded great, and Dana was one of those random people I met whom I never would have otherwise and it was really cool to talk to her, especially since it saved me $20. It was strange suddenly not having the bike with me. Wherever I'd gone in the past two months, Penny was always there.
After that, I had some time to kill. At the battery gas station, I picked up a schedule for the Akron Areos, the local minor league baseball team. There was a home game tonight, so I could spend the night getting caught up on the journal, or I could go to a ball game. From the driveway of the storage space, I called the number of the car service that I got from the motel. A car could come and get me in about 45 minutes. Here was one of the times that I knew I was not in Brooklyn. I can call my car service from home and when they say they'll be there in 5 minutes, that's usually an overestimate. When I questioned the guy on the phone about his offer of 45 minutes, he told me 'Well, it's the first'. Oh yes, that explains it all. Learn this from my experience, people of the world. Don't try to call a cab in Canton on the first of the month.
I was, however, on the backside of an airport. Where there are airports, there are drivers waiting for fares, spending their idle time on fantasy baseball and telling their brothers in very scientific detail about the approaching weather patterns. It took about 35 minutes to walk the few miles around to the front of the airport. I approached a cab driver who was eating a sandwich. I asked how much it would be to take me to Akron, about 12 miles away. $40, she said. I countered with $30, to which she said I'd have to ask her guy. She pulled herself out of the door a little and called to the guy who was hanging out in the shade by the door. She explained that I wanted to get to the ballpark in Akron and pay $30. He thought about it a moment then assented.
We made it quickly down 77 to Akron and and exit and a left turn later were facing the ballpark. It didn't look like there was going to be a game in an hour. There was a parking lot attendant, so we pulled over to ask. No, not tonight. They're out of town till Tuesday. But the schedule! I didn't have it with me, so I couldn't wave it in anyone's face. I told the driver to take me then to my hotel in Canton. On the way I asked if he knew of any places around my hotel to get dinner. Not really, but he searched on his gps. I wanted a bar with good food so I could have a couple beers with my dinner. We pulled up to the place it had suggested and it was pretty obviously a topless bar. Not exactly what I had in mind. There was a pizza joint across the street, so I'd just grab a pizza and some beer on the walk back to the room.
The driver told me it would be $40 for the round trip. I gave him a $20 tip since he gave me a good price and I would have spent more than that getting back to Canton if there had been a game. He seemed shocked that someone would tip that much. It's true that I've never spent that much on not going to a baseball game. I went to bed pretty early because I needed to be at the airport by 6:30.
Day 63, Nimisila State Park - Castle Storage, Canton, OH
11.2 miles in 1:06:33 for a total of 3865.6 in 292:00:25 and a top speed of 31.7mph
I was then convinced to chase them around the park on their bikes. I gave them a head start and sure enough caught up to them. The boy shot out into paths between different campsites in the woods. They had been there for several days and he knew all the shortcuts. I eventually got the two older kids names, Mason and Angelina, after several bouts of chasing them around. At one point, I caught up to them with only my right foot clipped in and my left foot resting on Penny's top tube. So yes, I'm faster with one foot than a couple of pre-teens. I should be. I also liked to turn around and speed around the outer loop of the camp drive to suddenly appear in front of them.
Angelina didn't believe me that I was going from California to New York. 'You don't know how to get there', she explained. I showed her a picture of me in front of the golden gate bridge. 'Ok, you've been there', she told me. 'That doesn't mean you rode all the way here. Another Sacramento conspirator (there's a joke that I haven't really been going around the country, that I've spent this whole time in Sacramento photoshopping my bike into other people's pictures). I then chased them around some more. They showed me a tree with poisonous berries and they were shocked when I responded by popping one into my mouth and not dying. I showed them that mulberries were not only non-lethal, but tasty. You have to get the dark purple ones, the green and red ones are sour.
At some point in there, Brett had to get on the road. We invited each other to our respective cities of residence and he was off. Since he started the day later than he had expected, he had a lot of ground to cover before dark. Safe travels, my friend.
Eventually, I did need to get moving too, so went back to my site and started to pack up. Chasing the kids this morning was as much fun as anything else I've done on the trip. When I had Penny packed I rode back to their family's site, but didn't find anyone there. I left a note and my card. Thanks for the experience, guys! Keep biking!
I covered the couple hills between the park and the backside of the Canton-Akron airport. Since two of the city's storage spaces right behind the airport and I needed to store Penny somewhere for the weekend, I stopped in to the first one. The guy in the office seemed completely taken aback by the idea of riding a bike across the country, to the point where he didn't seem to comprehend what I only needed the space for the weekend, so didn't want to pay a full month rate. Since he didn't give me a better offer, I went to the other storage company a couple hundred yards down the road. I rode down the steep gravel drive to the office and found a sign saying back at 1:30. It was 12:45.
Fine, I'll go get a motel room for the night first. On the way around the airport into town, the battery in the gps died. This happens occasionally, though usually I replace them when it warns me they are down to 5%. I carry six pairs of rechargeable AAs and a pair usually lasts a day to a day and a half. But I had camped the last three nights, and while I've found places to recharge the phone, I haven't been so lucky with the batteries. All of my AAs were dead. I braved the increasingly heavy suburban traffic as I got closer to the interstate, stopping at the first gas station I found. Gatorade and batteries. I estimated the miles and time I covered and then pushed on down the hill to where the motels were. I eschewed the $110 room for the one less than half that across the street.
I unloaded and showered and decided what I needed to take with me for the weekend and to leave on the bike. I gave myself one of my front panniers as my carry on for the plane (the reason I did bring one shoulder strap). It was mostly my electronics, the book and food.
I rode back to the storage places and tried at the one that was closed. He told me that he wasn't going to be there Monday morning so I would need to have the code to open the gate. He didn't seem to understand that I was willing to pay him something to get the code. He suggested trying to leave it with the construction guys that took up the lot between the two storage spaces. 'They have dogs' he told me, reassuringly. Yeah, but 'hi construction crew that I don't know. Here's my bike and all my stuff, please don't go through it at your leisure in the three days I'll be gone'. Yeah, no.
I went back to the other place to see if perhaps someone else was in the office now. In fact, there was. There was a young lady named Dana behind the desk and her boyfriend wearing a Kent sweatshirt occupying a chair in the corner. I explained the whole bike tour + wedding in Boston situation to her and she was really excited to see what she could do for me. She called the owner and summarized the situation to them. Sure, she could charge me half price. With tax it came to $20 including a lock I could keep. That sounded great, and Dana was one of those random people I met whom I never would have otherwise and it was really cool to talk to her, especially since it saved me $20. It was strange suddenly not having the bike with me. Wherever I'd gone in the past two months, Penny was always there.
After that, I had some time to kill. At the battery gas station, I picked up a schedule for the Akron Areos, the local minor league baseball team. There was a home game tonight, so I could spend the night getting caught up on the journal, or I could go to a ball game. From the driveway of the storage space, I called the number of the car service that I got from the motel. A car could come and get me in about 45 minutes. Here was one of the times that I knew I was not in Brooklyn. I can call my car service from home and when they say they'll be there in 5 minutes, that's usually an overestimate. When I questioned the guy on the phone about his offer of 45 minutes, he told me 'Well, it's the first'. Oh yes, that explains it all. Learn this from my experience, people of the world. Don't try to call a cab in Canton on the first of the month.
I was, however, on the backside of an airport. Where there are airports, there are drivers waiting for fares, spending their idle time on fantasy baseball and telling their brothers in very scientific detail about the approaching weather patterns. It took about 35 minutes to walk the few miles around to the front of the airport. I approached a cab driver who was eating a sandwich. I asked how much it would be to take me to Akron, about 12 miles away. $40, she said. I countered with $30, to which she said I'd have to ask her guy. She pulled herself out of the door a little and called to the guy who was hanging out in the shade by the door. She explained that I wanted to get to the ballpark in Akron and pay $30. He thought about it a moment then assented.
We made it quickly down 77 to Akron and and exit and a left turn later were facing the ballpark. It didn't look like there was going to be a game in an hour. There was a parking lot attendant, so we pulled over to ask. No, not tonight. They're out of town till Tuesday. But the schedule! I didn't have it with me, so I couldn't wave it in anyone's face. I told the driver to take me then to my hotel in Canton. On the way I asked if he knew of any places around my hotel to get dinner. Not really, but he searched on his gps. I wanted a bar with good food so I could have a couple beers with my dinner. We pulled up to the place it had suggested and it was pretty obviously a topless bar. Not exactly what I had in mind. There was a pizza joint across the street, so I'd just grab a pizza and some beer on the walk back to the room.
The driver told me it would be $40 for the round trip. I gave him a $20 tip since he gave me a good price and I would have spent more than that getting back to Canton if there had been a game. He seemed shocked that someone would tip that much. It's true that I've never spent that much on not going to a baseball game. I went to bed pretty early because I needed to be at the airport by 6:30.
Day 63, Nimisila State Park - Castle Storage, Canton, OH
11.2 miles in 1:06:33 for a total of 3865.6 in 292:00:25 and a top speed of 31.7mph
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Mile 3854.4 - A completely unstressful day
I started the day needing to recharge my phone. For a good 45 minutes I sat reading under a tree near the laundry room on the campground while the phone was plugged in. A sticky patch of tree sap I didn't notice sitting down made it harder to stand up.
I had breakfast, and as I was cleaning up a gray-haired woman walked up and asked if I had ridden my bike in. Thus I met Kathy, a hiker who had plenty of cycling experience. We talked about my trip and hers, comparing war stories of rain and wind, and we looked at the map to get the local roads recommendation. We ended up talking until early afternoon, but as I did not have very far to go today, I was glad for the company. We had walked to her campsite then came back to mine; I found that a squirrel had ripped up/apart/through the bag of trash I had left on the picnic table. It didn't touch the pannier full of food that lay open five feet away from the table, but it sure did destroy the bag of trash. I gathered it up and deposited the mess in the dumpster. As I was getting ready to leave Kathy offered me some cash, the first time that's happened on this trip. It was not expected, but certainly appreciated.
My goal for the day was another state park that I could camp in just outside of Canton. From there, tomorrow I would get into Canton, find a motel and a storage space for Penny, so Friday morning I could fly to the wedding in Boston. I had just over 50 miles to go, not a taxing day at all.
Not far out of camp, I got to mile 3800, about 700 miles left to go to get back to Brooklyn. The first town I came to, I stopped for lunch. I found the Farmer Boy Restaurant, sat down and ordered and again plugged in the phone. It can go through a lot of battery in one day. I had my lunch and getting up to leave, one of the three seniors sitting at the table behind me asked if I was a cyclist of just dressed like one. I had the attention of every diner in the smallish room as I told them about my journey. The old man laughed and said he was impressed that young people still challenge themselves like that. He wished me luck as I left.
The day was a bit warmer than yesterday, on the humid side with only a half-hearted breeze. The hills were starting to get more serious, the warnings about what awaited me across the next state line. This was emphasized when I got up almost to 40mph for the first time since the black hills.
Traffic was getting more suburban and in a couple of spots, the shoulder was less ample than I would have liked. I made it down to Portage State Park and started to ride around looking for the camping area. I found the boat ramp, the picnic area, the playground, the beach. No camping area. Finally I asked an old man who I believe was dumpster diving if he knew where I could camp. He gave me directions to the park with the campground, about 7 miles around on the other side of the lake. The hills here seemed steeper and longer than most of the ones before, but at least I found bike lanes around the northern end of the lake.
Here it was pretty obvious where the campsites were. But I wouldn't have gone to the western side of the lake if I had known the campground was on the east. Anyway, I found a site and was soon encamped and making myself dinner. Across from my site was one of two tall tepees that one could rent. There was no way to get Penny inside the door, so I didn't even consider it. But I did go back later and check it out. Surprisingly roomy.
Dinner was some polska kielbsa I had picked up at a gas station an hour earlier. I should have grabbed some bread too, because all that good grease was just going to go to waste. I soaked it all up with a piece of paper towel which I threw into the firepit. That gave me an idea. I gathered some of the dryer sticks laying around and set them up with the paper towel in the center. It was really surprising how well a single oil laden piece of paper towel keeps a flame. Next time I'll try it with newspaper and used cooking grease.
I sat at the table back at my site and was reading as the light started to fade. I looked up and saw a guy on a bike roll by clearly looking for a spot. I jumped onto Penny and was just getting to the roadway when he turned around. He said he had noticed that there wasn't a car at my site and wanted to know if I wanted to split the site with him. Sure! This site was $20 as it was, so I wouldn't mind making back half of that and getting to hang out with a cyclist.
Brett is a resident of Austin, TX, but was currently riding his bike from Rochester NY to Bloomington, IN. He told me about his various long-distance trips he had taken, and I told him about the joys and struggles of my journey. He slung up what was basically a covered hammock among some trees. I wondered how this piece of camping equipment would work in the plains. We ended up talking long after darkness had settled. The next day was going to be the easiest scheduled of my trip and I settled into a comfortable night's sleep.
Day 62, Findley SP, OH - Nimisila Campground, OH
56.4 miles in 4:17:11 for a total of 3854.4 in 290:53:52 and a high speed of 38.1
I had breakfast, and as I was cleaning up a gray-haired woman walked up and asked if I had ridden my bike in. Thus I met Kathy, a hiker who had plenty of cycling experience. We talked about my trip and hers, comparing war stories of rain and wind, and we looked at the map to get the local roads recommendation. We ended up talking until early afternoon, but as I did not have very far to go today, I was glad for the company. We had walked to her campsite then came back to mine; I found that a squirrel had ripped up/apart/through the bag of trash I had left on the picnic table. It didn't touch the pannier full of food that lay open five feet away from the table, but it sure did destroy the bag of trash. I gathered it up and deposited the mess in the dumpster. As I was getting ready to leave Kathy offered me some cash, the first time that's happened on this trip. It was not expected, but certainly appreciated.
My goal for the day was another state park that I could camp in just outside of Canton. From there, tomorrow I would get into Canton, find a motel and a storage space for Penny, so Friday morning I could fly to the wedding in Boston. I had just over 50 miles to go, not a taxing day at all.
Not far out of camp, I got to mile 3800, about 700 miles left to go to get back to Brooklyn. The first town I came to, I stopped for lunch. I found the Farmer Boy Restaurant, sat down and ordered and again plugged in the phone. It can go through a lot of battery in one day. I had my lunch and getting up to leave, one of the three seniors sitting at the table behind me asked if I was a cyclist of just dressed like one. I had the attention of every diner in the smallish room as I told them about my journey. The old man laughed and said he was impressed that young people still challenge themselves like that. He wished me luck as I left.
The day was a bit warmer than yesterday, on the humid side with only a half-hearted breeze. The hills were starting to get more serious, the warnings about what awaited me across the next state line. This was emphasized when I got up almost to 40mph for the first time since the black hills.
Traffic was getting more suburban and in a couple of spots, the shoulder was less ample than I would have liked. I made it down to Portage State Park and started to ride around looking for the camping area. I found the boat ramp, the picnic area, the playground, the beach. No camping area. Finally I asked an old man who I believe was dumpster diving if he knew where I could camp. He gave me directions to the park with the campground, about 7 miles around on the other side of the lake. The hills here seemed steeper and longer than most of the ones before, but at least I found bike lanes around the northern end of the lake.
Here it was pretty obvious where the campsites were. But I wouldn't have gone to the western side of the lake if I had known the campground was on the east. Anyway, I found a site and was soon encamped and making myself dinner. Across from my site was one of two tall tepees that one could rent. There was no way to get Penny inside the door, so I didn't even consider it. But I did go back later and check it out. Surprisingly roomy.
Dinner was some polska kielbsa I had picked up at a gas station an hour earlier. I should have grabbed some bread too, because all that good grease was just going to go to waste. I soaked it all up with a piece of paper towel which I threw into the firepit. That gave me an idea. I gathered some of the dryer sticks laying around and set them up with the paper towel in the center. It was really surprising how well a single oil laden piece of paper towel keeps a flame. Next time I'll try it with newspaper and used cooking grease.
I sat at the table back at my site and was reading as the light started to fade. I looked up and saw a guy on a bike roll by clearly looking for a spot. I jumped onto Penny and was just getting to the roadway when he turned around. He said he had noticed that there wasn't a car at my site and wanted to know if I wanted to split the site with him. Sure! This site was $20 as it was, so I wouldn't mind making back half of that and getting to hang out with a cyclist.
Brett is a resident of Austin, TX, but was currently riding his bike from Rochester NY to Bloomington, IN. He told me about his various long-distance trips he had taken, and I told him about the joys and struggles of my journey. He slung up what was basically a covered hammock among some trees. I wondered how this piece of camping equipment would work in the plains. We ended up talking long after darkness had settled. The next day was going to be the easiest scheduled of my trip and I settled into a comfortable night's sleep.
Day 62, Findley SP, OH - Nimisila Campground, OH
56.4 miles in 4:17:11 for a total of 3854.4 in 290:53:52 and a high speed of 38.1
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Mile 3798.1 - The flat starts to unflatten
I woke up to the sound of farm equipment plodding along in the distance. My tent hidden by sturdy green stalks of corn, somebody would have to be going no more than 10 miles an hour to see me from the road. I ate a quick breakfast from the bag because my goal for the day was over 100 miles away. I wanted to make it to Fidley State Park where I could camp for the night.
After half an hour's ride, I hit mile 3700, 288 hours and 16 minutes worth of saddle time since California. But there's still most of Ohio and all of Pennsylvania ahead of me. A few miles later I came into McComb which is best known for its largest employer, Consolidated Biscuit. The complex stretched along the western end of town and contained buildings capable of everything from processing the whole grain to packaging and shipping the finished products. They make all sorts of packaged cookies and crackers that you quite likely have one of their products in your pantry.
Further down the road I passed through the larger towns of Fostoria and Tiffin. It was soon early afternoon, so I took a longer break at the city park in Republic, watching a tee-ball team practice in a nearby diamond. Passing through small towns and fields, the land began to change. No longer was everything flat and straight, but there were now curves and angles involved too. At highway 61, I came to the first warning that there were mountains in my future. The hill climbed at a 8% pitch for most of a mile. As I took a break at the top, a guy in his car at the stop sign called over to me. He and a buddy had climbed the hill earlier that morning and had a hard time on their lightweight racing bikes. He wanted to know how I got up. I laughed and we talked about the trip for a couple minutes until another car came to a stop behind him.
Going through the town of Greenwich, I saw a truck loaded with furniture that had been backed up to a house. Two men on the back of the truck were handing chairs up to a teenage boy on the second floor balcony. I wanted to take a picture and stop to see how they dealt with the couch, but I didn't.
The hills were starting to get more frequent and there were starting to be more trees on the landscape again. As I was just coming into the foothills of the mountains ahead, the climbs were generally longer than the descents. After spending the warm day heading east I turned north for the last few miles, getting into the shade of the Findley State Park. I wound around to the campground and found a spot among the trees away from the campers and cars.
As dusk fell the trees lit up with dozens of fireflies. Assuming it's not the same group following me, I've probably seen 600-700 fireflies since Minnesota.
Day 61, Leipsic, OH - Findley State Park, OH
105.1 miles in 7:59:10. Now 3798.1 miles in 294:36:41 and a top speed of 28.2
After half an hour's ride, I hit mile 3700, 288 hours and 16 minutes worth of saddle time since California. But there's still most of Ohio and all of Pennsylvania ahead of me. A few miles later I came into McComb which is best known for its largest employer, Consolidated Biscuit. The complex stretched along the western end of town and contained buildings capable of everything from processing the whole grain to packaging and shipping the finished products. They make all sorts of packaged cookies and crackers that you quite likely have one of their products in your pantry.
Further down the road I passed through the larger towns of Fostoria and Tiffin. It was soon early afternoon, so I took a longer break at the city park in Republic, watching a tee-ball team practice in a nearby diamond. Passing through small towns and fields, the land began to change. No longer was everything flat and straight, but there were now curves and angles involved too. At highway 61, I came to the first warning that there were mountains in my future. The hill climbed at a 8% pitch for most of a mile. As I took a break at the top, a guy in his car at the stop sign called over to me. He and a buddy had climbed the hill earlier that morning and had a hard time on their lightweight racing bikes. He wanted to know how I got up. I laughed and we talked about the trip for a couple minutes until another car came to a stop behind him.
Going through the town of Greenwich, I saw a truck loaded with furniture that had been backed up to a house. Two men on the back of the truck were handing chairs up to a teenage boy on the second floor balcony. I wanted to take a picture and stop to see how they dealt with the couch, but I didn't.
The hills were starting to get more frequent and there were starting to be more trees on the landscape again. As I was just coming into the foothills of the mountains ahead, the climbs were generally longer than the descents. After spending the warm day heading east I turned north for the last few miles, getting into the shade of the Findley State Park. I wound around to the campground and found a spot among the trees away from the campers and cars.
As dusk fell the trees lit up with dozens of fireflies. Assuming it's not the same group following me, I've probably seen 600-700 fireflies since Minnesota.
Day 61, Leipsic, OH - Findley State Park, OH
105.1 miles in 7:59:10. Now 3798.1 miles in 294:36:41 and a top speed of 28.2
Monday, June 28, 2010
Mile 3693.0 - The easiest day
On the morning of day 60, I got to see the segment about my trip that had aired on the local Fort Wayne news the night before. The text of the segment can be found here:
http://www.indianasnewscenter.com/home/97272464.html
I had spent about 8 minutes talking into the camera and a few more just talking to the reporter. It was pared down to a minute and the one quotation they used is not the one I would have ran with. But, I'm pleased whenever cycling makes the evening news and if it happens to be about me that's fine too.
I hung out with Ben, his stepson and infant daughter and their nanny long enough to get Chik-Fil-A with them. In retrospect, I probably should have gotten Jimmy Johns instead. Oh well. I ended up getting starting a little later than planned, but still early enough to get some serious miles in.
Ben lives just down the street from a golf course that Fort Wayne's River Greenway runs along. Apparently, they had just finished connecting the two long segments of it, and I was impressed. It was smooth and even, connected several parks and was being used. Cyclists, pedestrians with and without strollers and even a couple rollerbladers. I rode it all the way to the end, wishing it continued further. Monroesville? Decatur? You should consider it. Heck, you could follow the river all the way down to St. Marys, OH.
I swung north a few blocks then turned east again on Paulding St. Paulding is a big, important street for it's run through Fort Wayne. But then it crosses over US496 and it becomes less significant. Unpaved for a couple stretches even. I did hit my high speed of 27.1 coming down the 496 overpass. But the road is at least flat and straight without much traffic and I was enjoying a solid tailwind, so I kept up a constant speed around 19 mph on the paved portions. The wheat and corn fields suddenly gave way to a vast private collection of half buried pipes behind a barbed wire fence.
Curving a bit through this complex, I came suddenly to State Line Road. I pulled out my camera for the shot of the Welcome to Ohio sign. As I was lining it up, two cyclists came around the line of trees along the angle of Ohio 500 heading northeast towards Payne. The bikes were loaded, large panniers on front and back wheel under neon yellow rain covers and handlebar bags perched on the front. I held my ground in the entrance of the intersection (though out of the way of the couple cars that came along) and let them come to me. I found out that these were the lead cyclists from a group of 15 going from Maryland to Seattle. They were raising money for the UNC Lineburger Cancer Center and much of the group was 16 year old boys looking to become Eagle Scouts. Their website is www.Cycle20Ten.com and I suggest you check them out and support them if you can.
They were telling me that they were all riding the same model bike and everyone carrying different parts, so that if anything were to go awry on the road, they have the means to fix it. Other than the frame, they could basically assemble a full bike, which is kinda cool. But they confessed that maybe they should have chosen a better model as already they had had some mechanical issues. I bragged about how beastly Penny is. For a steel frame bike that was designed before I was born, she was comfortable and gives me very little trouble.
As I was talking with the front two, three more came around the corner. We talked for some time about the road ahead of them. I was impressed that they were going in such a large group, they were impressed that I was flying solo. Since they were only a couple weeks into it and I was a couple from the end, I told them what to expect from the states I had passed through as far as I could. As I write this from New York, they are just entering Minnesota. Good luck guys!
Standing there talking, the sun seemed to get hotter. They told me that I'd probably run into more of them as I got into Payne, and sure enough as I was coming out of a gas station with my 2 quarts of gatorade, four more of the group pulled up. We talked a few minutes and they complained about their headwind. Their headwind was my tailwind, and I wanted to get back into it before it decided to calm down.
I cruised along this land of straight lines and flat planes. Unlike the vast spaces between places in the west, the towns here are two to six miles apart, though really that's not a quite accurate picture. The towns were where the houses clumped closer together and there was a hardware shop/liquor store. But houses lined much of the road between the towns, and for a long while I felt like I was riding through the remaining farmland outside suburban Chicago. I had to remind myself that Bolingbrook was a couple hundred miles behind me, not three miles ahead.
I took a break at a closed down restaurant/ice cream parlor in Melrose. It at least offered me a bench out of the sun. I took the time to call my parents and tell them about my appearance on tv the night before. Getting up, I rode onward until Leipsic, where it was time for dinner. I came to the three block strip of downtown Leipsic and stopped to ask a larger, older man where in town to eat. 'Nowhere', he replied then pointed to the pizza place in front of us. 'But I'm going in here, it's the best of the lot'.
The pizza place was also a drive through liquor store. After I ordered I found my way to the bar in the back. The bartender had Pawn Stars on the tv and, after serving me, grabbed her dinner that had just come out of the oven and sat by me at the bar to eat. I told her about my trip and she talked about having owned her own pizza place for 12 years before walking away from it. Round turned into round, my pizza having appeared and disappeared, and soon the boys were coming in to watch wrestling on the big screen in the back. The bartender gave me advice on which road to pull down to camp, as that was my plan for the night. County road 5 was full of trucks, even throughout the night, but the next one down, county road 4 had only a few people living on it. Good to know.
The sun was starting to set, so I got back out onto highway 613. I stopped at the gas station at county road 5 to grab more water and gatorade for the morning. The cashier saw my helmet and asked how far I was going. Upon hearing about my trek, he asked if I was hungry and offered to make me a free sandwich. Sure, I'll take a free sandwich. Thanking him, I rode on to the next intersection, county road 4, and turned north along it. I went in maybe 2/3rds of a mile, passing two houses, but not yet coming to the next and I found the perfect spot.
There was a space where clearly two different fields lined up next to each other, though both were planted with corn. Across the street along the same line, a wheat and corn field met up. There was an unplanted gap that extended maybe 80 feet back into the rows of corn and was about 10 feet wide. The corn was tall enough to come over the top of the tent, so when it was pitched and the sun had set, there was no way that the few cars going along would see me. Even as I ate my free sandwich in the brightness of the full moon, I was hidden from the road.
Day 60, Fort Wayne, IN - Cornfield camp east of Leipsic, OH
72.3 miles in 4:21:18 for a total of 3693.0 in 282:45:31 and a top speed of 27.1 mph
http://www.indianasnewscenter.com/home/97272464.html
I had spent about 8 minutes talking into the camera and a few more just talking to the reporter. It was pared down to a minute and the one quotation they used is not the one I would have ran with. But, I'm pleased whenever cycling makes the evening news and if it happens to be about me that's fine too.
I hung out with Ben, his stepson and infant daughter and their nanny long enough to get Chik-Fil-A with them. In retrospect, I probably should have gotten Jimmy Johns instead. Oh well. I ended up getting starting a little later than planned, but still early enough to get some serious miles in.
Ben lives just down the street from a golf course that Fort Wayne's River Greenway runs along. Apparently, they had just finished connecting the two long segments of it, and I was impressed. It was smooth and even, connected several parks and was being used. Cyclists, pedestrians with and without strollers and even a couple rollerbladers. I rode it all the way to the end, wishing it continued further. Monroesville? Decatur? You should consider it. Heck, you could follow the river all the way down to St. Marys, OH.
I swung north a few blocks then turned east again on Paulding St. Paulding is a big, important street for it's run through Fort Wayne. But then it crosses over US496 and it becomes less significant. Unpaved for a couple stretches even. I did hit my high speed of 27.1 coming down the 496 overpass. But the road is at least flat and straight without much traffic and I was enjoying a solid tailwind, so I kept up a constant speed around 19 mph on the paved portions. The wheat and corn fields suddenly gave way to a vast private collection of half buried pipes behind a barbed wire fence.
Curving a bit through this complex, I came suddenly to State Line Road. I pulled out my camera for the shot of the Welcome to Ohio sign. As I was lining it up, two cyclists came around the line of trees along the angle of Ohio 500 heading northeast towards Payne. The bikes were loaded, large panniers on front and back wheel under neon yellow rain covers and handlebar bags perched on the front. I held my ground in the entrance of the intersection (though out of the way of the couple cars that came along) and let them come to me. I found out that these were the lead cyclists from a group of 15 going from Maryland to Seattle. They were raising money for the UNC Lineburger Cancer Center and much of the group was 16 year old boys looking to become Eagle Scouts. Their website is www.Cycle20Ten.com and I suggest you check them out and support them if you can.
They were telling me that they were all riding the same model bike and everyone carrying different parts, so that if anything were to go awry on the road, they have the means to fix it. Other than the frame, they could basically assemble a full bike, which is kinda cool. But they confessed that maybe they should have chosen a better model as already they had had some mechanical issues. I bragged about how beastly Penny is. For a steel frame bike that was designed before I was born, she was comfortable and gives me very little trouble.
As I was talking with the front two, three more came around the corner. We talked for some time about the road ahead of them. I was impressed that they were going in such a large group, they were impressed that I was flying solo. Since they were only a couple weeks into it and I was a couple from the end, I told them what to expect from the states I had passed through as far as I could. As I write this from New York, they are just entering Minnesota. Good luck guys!
Standing there talking, the sun seemed to get hotter. They told me that I'd probably run into more of them as I got into Payne, and sure enough as I was coming out of a gas station with my 2 quarts of gatorade, four more of the group pulled up. We talked a few minutes and they complained about their headwind. Their headwind was my tailwind, and I wanted to get back into it before it decided to calm down.
I cruised along this land of straight lines and flat planes. Unlike the vast spaces between places in the west, the towns here are two to six miles apart, though really that's not a quite accurate picture. The towns were where the houses clumped closer together and there was a hardware shop/liquor store. But houses lined much of the road between the towns, and for a long while I felt like I was riding through the remaining farmland outside suburban Chicago. I had to remind myself that Bolingbrook was a couple hundred miles behind me, not three miles ahead.
I took a break at a closed down restaurant/ice cream parlor in Melrose. It at least offered me a bench out of the sun. I took the time to call my parents and tell them about my appearance on tv the night before. Getting up, I rode onward until Leipsic, where it was time for dinner. I came to the three block strip of downtown Leipsic and stopped to ask a larger, older man where in town to eat. 'Nowhere', he replied then pointed to the pizza place in front of us. 'But I'm going in here, it's the best of the lot'.
The pizza place was also a drive through liquor store. After I ordered I found my way to the bar in the back. The bartender had Pawn Stars on the tv and, after serving me, grabbed her dinner that had just come out of the oven and sat by me at the bar to eat. I told her about my trip and she talked about having owned her own pizza place for 12 years before walking away from it. Round turned into round, my pizza having appeared and disappeared, and soon the boys were coming in to watch wrestling on the big screen in the back. The bartender gave me advice on which road to pull down to camp, as that was my plan for the night. County road 5 was full of trucks, even throughout the night, but the next one down, county road 4 had only a few people living on it. Good to know.
The sun was starting to set, so I got back out onto highway 613. I stopped at the gas station at county road 5 to grab more water and gatorade for the morning. The cashier saw my helmet and asked how far I was going. Upon hearing about my trek, he asked if I was hungry and offered to make me a free sandwich. Sure, I'll take a free sandwich. Thanking him, I rode on to the next intersection, county road 4, and turned north along it. I went in maybe 2/3rds of a mile, passing two houses, but not yet coming to the next and I found the perfect spot.
There was a space where clearly two different fields lined up next to each other, though both were planted with corn. Across the street along the same line, a wheat and corn field met up. There was an unplanted gap that extended maybe 80 feet back into the rows of corn and was about 10 feet wide. The corn was tall enough to come over the top of the tent, so when it was pitched and the sun had set, there was no way that the few cars going along would see me. Even as I ate my free sandwich in the brightness of the full moon, I was hidden from the road.
Day 60, Fort Wayne, IN - Cornfield camp east of Leipsic, OH
72.3 miles in 4:21:18 for a total of 3693.0 in 282:45:31 and a top speed of 27.1 mph
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
