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