Pictures:

1. Trail of Tear Sign: Apparently there is an audio story of the “Trail of Tears” you can get in your car driving down 60W.   Read about this sometime in the past and it certainly was a sad time.   I am glad that Americans learn from their mistakes rather than trying to hide and forget them.
2. Miracle Go in her rain gear.   Read on to get the inside scoop.
3. Federal Fish Hatchery in Neosho.   Would be fun to visit to see how fish are raised and are used to populate waterways.
4. Rick told me that there was an early Walmart that was small.   I think this is the one he was talking about and is only a grocery store.   The funny thing is within a couple of miles there is a regular full size Walmart.
5. Beautiful fountain found after I had reserved a place to stay (Neosho Fire Station #1) and was on my way to dinner.    Yes dinner at 3:30.   I was hungry

Today had a rough start.   I woke up about 4:00 a.m and saw heat lightening in the distance.   Heat lightening is nothing more than a thunderstorm that is too far away to hear the thunder but allows for clear view of the lightening.   I thought that the day could be interesting but went back to sleep since the storm was far away and I didn’t know which way it was going.

Woke back up at 5:00 a.m. when I heard thunder.    Well that meant that I was in imminent danger of getting wet.   I quickly got dressed and rolled up my sleeping bag and mat putting them both neatly in their bags.   That is about the time the first rain drops hit the tent.    I ran my pillow, sleeping bag, pad, and Miracle Go next door to the county’s 911 site which I thought was appropriate.   A guy came to the door and asked if he could help me and I explained that I just wanted to borrow his porch for a bit.   Ran back to my campsite in heavy rain and just picked up my tent and ground cloth and back to the porch I went.   Under cover I was able to pack up tent and ground cloth.   I rang the 911’s door bell and asked if they’d let me carry my stuff to the front porch where Miracle Go waited.    With passage secured Miracle Go and I were reunited with all travel items.   Packed Miracle Go and checked Weather Underground.   Looked like 40% change of rain immediately decreasing to 20% in an hour for the rest of the day.

No sense in waiting on the porch so head and tail lights were switched on for an immediate extraction.   I figured that I was riding where the storm came from so I would get through it quicker.   Our objective was Stafford 12 miles away.   For the next hour we went through medium to heavy rain showers.   The rain and lack of breakfast caused me to get a bit chilly.   My thoughts were all wishing for Stafford.   We got to Stafford and the McDonald’s was on the other side of I-44.   I could have gotten there but it was an extra couple of miles.   Instead I stopped at a gas station store for a pace of Chip’s Ahoy cookies and orange juice (the juice was for vitamins).   Stopping didn’t help my warmth issue.   Continued on into Springfield.   About an hour later it was my fortune to look left and see the Golden Arches.    A quick turn and a couple of frantic “pedal maneuvers” and the bacon and sausage sandwiches were mine.

Although it continued to rain off and on the rest of the morning it wasn’t bad and the roads didn’t even get wet.   The heavy overcast caused me to set my sights on getting to Neosho which would make today’s miles over hundred.   With soft target in mind we traveled the rest of the day.   The overcast kept the sun away and the wind was never a factor.    Making good time we did make it to Neosho.

Found City Hall who pointed me to the Emergency Disaster Office (which I never did find) and on the way I saw a police officer who pointed me to the fire station across the street which allowed me to find the fire chief who said I could stay if it was okay with the shift officer.   They graciously said I could spend the night in the station – HURRAY!

The Subway was 2 miles away.  In the early days I would have just not eaten.   Now 2 miles even after 100 miles doesn’t seem so bad.    My how times change.

Story #1 – Rain, since I rode 7 or so days before I encountered rain I figured that after I experienced rain I would have another 7 days before a downpour.   Remind me that “Mother” Nature has the right to change her mind any time she wants to.

Story #2 – Missouri is a beautiful state filled with the nicest people in the world.   I am about 15 miles from the Oklahoma border and just want to thank all the people that helped me get through the state.   People would talk to me in the McDonald’s, outside gas station stores and wave at me from their cars.    The friendliest people in the world.  Missouri also has lots to see and has been a central point in some of America’s early history (Louisiana Purchase, Lewis and Clark, Trail of Tears and Route 66).   If you have time drop on by!

Story #3 – It’s Day 11 in my trip.   I did 102 miles today not counting the time it will take to get back to the station.   I was able to get my average speed up from 10.5 miles an hour to 12.2 by the time the day was over.   This is largely due to the lack of wind but still huge as it allowed me to make it to Neosho without being exhausted.   Tomorrow will have two milestones: Entering Oklahoma and completing over 1000 miles since the journey’s start (51 miles to go).   I remember the first couple of days when I wasn’t sure I was going to get out of the front yard.

Story #4 – Started meeting some people riding their bikes East.    Two gentlemen were going from Oklahoma City to St. Louis.    What came to me mind when they said this was, “oh, you’re staying local”.   It sounds mean but that isn’t what I meant.   The 500 or so miles sounded literally “local” to me.

Story #5 – Today I went shopping.   All the travel goodies my wife bought for me are almost gone.   I try to eat breakfast and dinner with the snacks (beef jerky, trail mix, and almonds) covering lunch and to keep me going.   When I stop by a gas store I get Gatorade (two 32 ounce bottles for $3.50) and maybe some cookies.    I should be stocked up for another two weeks or so.   I take my food and liquids seriously.

Story #6 – Been through Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri (mostly).   The landscape for these states is largely the same.   Beautiful, trees, farms, lots of space, fast changing weather, and friendly people.   Oklahoma for me is a change of scenery.   I think this is considered the West.   Plan to take some pains to better understand the “gotchas” and to avoid them.

Heading back to get ready for tomorrow.

Wishing you a spectacular day!

 

Picture Recap:

1. Picture from the Route 66 Museum.
2. Clouds on the horizon
3. Yes Virginia, there is a Route 66 Museum housed in the local Library (forgot city)
4. The fence keeping people off the Route 66 bridge
5. The warning sign stating that the bridge is closed
6. The stop that has a Candy Factory and the Biggest Gift Store (and yes it is huge)
7. Tonight’s resting place: Marshfield, MO Fire Station

Today was quite the day with a little bit of everything.   First though, here is the retraction.   I was NOT in St. Robert last night.   I got the city from the telephone in my room and it was wrong.   I was two miles east of St. Robert and I find it interesting that while I thought I was in heaven apparently it was quite the opposite.

Today was a mixture of lots of things.   I have become accustomed to sleeping in a tent.   I was not real comfortable in the motel room and woke up several times looking to see if the promised rain had come.   At 5:00 I got up and got dressed to step outside.   When I did I felt drizzle and saw jagged bolts of lightening piece the sky to the South.  The thought that went through my mind was finally, some adversity!

Reviewing the weather report on the Weather Underground it appeared that there was a 20% chance of rain from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. so it didn’t appear that a reason existed to stay in quarters.   Miracle Go and I headed out to a McDonald’s two miles away in St Robert.   It got us started early since the restaurant that was close didn’t open until 6:00 a.m.

For the first two hours life was good with evil clouds all around us.   About 9:00 the drizzle started, followed by harder and harder rain.   The rain never reached fever pitch but it was enough to get our attention.   While I did hear thunder I saw no lightening.

An hour later the rain stopped and Miracle Go and I dried off.

The most interesting story of the day was the Route 66 bridge closure.   I was riding on Route 66 when I was met with a road closed sign.   I went back to a restaurant and asked about it.   The truckers said that the bridge was closed and I would have to get on I-44 for 5 miles to get around it.   The locals said that I could ride on the other side of I-44 where there was a sign that said the bridge was out but you could life your bike over the fences.   This was illegal too but sounded more fun and I had to see if I could get Miracle Go over the fences (one on each side of the bridge) since she is no lightweight.   We met the challenge and continued to follow Route 66 the rest of the day..

Route 66, for the most part parallels I-44.   This takes some of the magic and beauty of riding in the countryside but probably does ensure there are roads stops now and again.

Story #1 – Armadillos:  You may not know it but I am know for my diligence and analytical mind.   Here is an example.   Turtles and Armadillos both have:

1. Four legs
2. Armor
3. Stubby Tails
4. Hard
5. Ugly
6. Both end up lying in the road

Ergo they are in the same family.   Since I don’t know the Latin family name I came up with my own.   They are in the “Caricus Runoverus Extinctis” family

Story #2 – I have two compasses on my bike.   One is by the device that counts miles and since it has a magnet in it the compass correctly points at the device and only at the device – not very functional.   The second compass is on my front tray that runs between the bike bags.  At first this compass was under the handlebars.  It worked okay but a couple of cables blocked a little bit of the view.   In my infinite wisdom I decided that I could move the compass out to the end of the tray and see it better.   I pried it up (it was glued and I cut my hand twice prying it up) and glued it to the front.   It worked great and I could see it extremely well on my test rides.   Unfortunately my testing was done without my handlebar bag on.   With the handlebar bag on the only thing I can do is stand up in the pedals and look over the handlebar bag.   I am guessing that people behind me think I am mooning them and don’t know how to do it.

I realized that my body is a sundial.    When riding in the morning and the sun is coming up in the East then my shadow should be straight ahead of me if I am going West and to the right if I am going South.    I know the day is progressing as my shadow shortens.  Kinda’ cool and now I don’t have to moon anyone.

Story #3 – When I was packing up to leave New Haven a couple of mornings ago I couldn’t find my bungee cord that is needed to tie my tent and ground cloth down.   Not finding it anywhere, I went to my storehouse, cut a little piece of nylon cord off the roll and tied everything to the bike thinking how irresponsible I was to lose the bungee cord.   As I got on my bike to leave there was the bungee cord across my handle bars where I couldn’t possibly lose it.    Fun being able to fix something and even more fun not losing the bungee cord.

Story #4 – Other bike riders have started to pop up all coming from the West.   Briefly talked to two gentlemen out of Oklahoma City.   They are riding to St. Louis.   Kinda’ fun comparing notes to see if we can save people time and adjust perceptions.    They now know about the bridge out and options.

Story #5 – Just can’t seem to get Goggle Maps to work for me.   They have so much detail that you can’t possibly follow their directions without the phone being in front of you.   I copied 60 steps for today’s jaunt and didn’t find one common land point.    Tomorrow’s map is listed as a “car” route off the interstate with no tolls.   That had three steps.   Curious to see how this thought works.

I am 22 miles outside of Springfield, MO.   I wanted to get closer but the Marshfield fire station was open and willing to let me pitch a tent.   I can’t resist having a place to stay.    Will get to Springfield tomorrow, do some shopping and figure out how to go West.

PIZZA TONIGHT – I am very excited.

Starting with the Picture description (Top to Bottom, Left to Right):

1. Tent and Missouri: Jill (my wife) kept warning me that if I didn’t eat right I would be a shadow of my former self.   If you look at the bottom right hand corner you will see her warning came true.   (Again bad joke attributable to Dave Wagoner’s bad influence on me for extended period.
2. Historic 66: I have been seeing Route 66 signs for two days.   The route stops, starts, and avoid notifying the “viewer” regarding any turns.   There was one sign in Rolla (if memory serves) that states that Rt 66 starts there.   That is after seeing signs 100 miles prior.   I can’t explain.
3. Tent and barge: How would you like to go to bed and wake up with a view over the Missouri River.   I did it once and it was pretty cool.
4. Miracle Go was able to acquire indoor lodging at the John Colter memorial.   John Colter was a mountain man, on the Lewis and Clark expedition and famous around New Haven.
5. Lewis and Clark surveyed a route to the West Coast.   They are honored in the John Colter exhibit.   What I didn’t know was how big the Louisiana Purchase was.  It basically added a third to the continental US.   This picture shows this in the upper right hand corner.

Summary: By definition this can only be a good day since I averaged 11.7 mph.   Honestly the morning was great, the afternoon difficult as the wind shifted from West to South (you guessed it) which is the direction I was traveling.   Then the afternoon got hard as I was trapped in a Natural Forest that went on and on and on.   I plan to do 80 miles a day.   Today I did 98.9 miles not because I wanted to but because there were no towns – none.   Luckily I stock up on liquids so it wasn’t a big problem but you never know.   I travel by towns.   Don’t leave me hanging!

Now for the shameful confession.   Since I hadn’t seen a town for quite some time when I saw and interstate stop with a motel I checked in.   My fear was if I passed up this oasis, there might not be another for lots of miles.   If I stopped ate, and went on then there again was a chance that nothing was ahead.   While I feel comfortable I could have found a place to camp.   I was not sure I would have a breakfast available.   So I stopped at a Motel 6 (they left a light on) where I ate at a Subway and will eat PANCAKES at a restaurant in the morning.  The restaurant doesn’t open till 6:00 a.m. so I will get a late start.

I am about 96.1 miles from Springfield, MO.   This is my next target.   Usually by big cities there are lots of towns.   I expect to stop short of Springfield to bed down unless the wind is scarce and I make better time than usually.

Story #1: My Daily routine

1. Wake up 2 or 3 times a night checking on time.
2. Wake up and stay up around 5:00.   Time varies depending on when the sun comes up and where I and going to eat.
3. Takes about 30 minutes to pack up “stuff” and load bike.
4. Eat breakfast.  Usually McDonalds since they have two sandwiches for 4 dollars.   I have two cartons of chocolate milk.
5. Get 30 miles by 9:00 a.m
6. Get 60 miles by noon.   Typically gone through about 4 bottles of water/Gatorade by this time.   I will have stopped by a fast food store to get two bottles of Gatorade.   I will drink one immediately and have the second in reserve.   The reserve bottle has saved me twice.
7. Finish up with 80 or 90 miles by 2:30 and look for a place to stay.
8. I will have watched road signs and targeted the town.
9. When I reach the town I will talk to a policeman, fireman, or town administrator to see what accommodations are there or not.
10. Set up tent and take shower.
11. Post my message.
12. Respond to email
13. Call my wife
14. FREE TIME! (Usually I try to memorize part of a poem or walk around).   No excitement.

That’s it for now.    May each of you be blessed many times over!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today I would have to declare my first great day after a pretty awful night.   Don’t get ahead of me all will be explained shortly.

If you declare a day “great” you should be prepared to define what great means.   To me it includes:

• Getting an early start
• Having weather that is neither too hot or too cold.
• Having the West Wind on vacation
• Getting on you bike first thing in the morning and not saying ouch.
• Finding a bike and sporting goods store easily.
• Having a “goof off, errand day” and still turning in a good total of miles.
• Achieve some milestones
  • Crossed from Illinois to Missouri
  • Saw the Arch in St. Louis
  • Road on Route 66 three days prior to expecting the same (lost it though)
  • Have Miracle Go checked out and she is good

So let me give you a summary and add some stories to complete today’s post.   Today I traveled 84 miles with a 12.4 MPH.    That doesn’t seem like much but remember I stopped by a bike store (had to wait 20 minutes for him to open) and the sporting goods store.   If I hadn’t stopped at these locations there is a chance that I would have broken 14 MPH.    The sun was out (not always good given sun burn) and the sky was blue and life was good.   Today was great.

Story #1: Weather: I meant to comment on the great weather I’ve experienced since I’ve left Columbus.  The days have been cloudy but the temperature has been great.   Should have thanked Mother Nature and kept forgetting.   She paid me back in spades last night.  I was fortunate enough to be able to set up my tent outside the Belleville Fire Station.   I set the tent up early so I could figure out the next day’s route.   While I would working with the Battalion Chief, he said, do you hear rain?   I didn’t and didn’t give it a moment’s thought.   Two hours later I went outside.  It had rained and the wind must have blown pretty hard.   My tent was over on its side.   Since I hadn’t closed the door the screen was face up to the rain.   My sleeping bag, clothes and shoes were also wet.   So last night’s sleeping was in a wet tent, sitting on a wet ground cloth, in a wet sleeping bag.   Through the night I was able to dry the upper part of the tent with my body heat but hated to put my feet more than halfway down in the sleeping bag due to the dampness.  Remember to thank mother nature!

Story #2: Friends: I am a firm believer that the friends you’ve had for years are your “best” friends.   This is because they’ve known some of your struggles, helped with some of them and remained your friends in spite of them.  What I didn’t realize until I undertook my bike journey is that new friends are very special as well.   I wanted to cut today’s ride off early so I could dry tent, sleeping bag, et. al. and happened upon New Haven.   I had to get off my route to go a couple of miles to the Historic part of the city.   There I found Kathleen Trentmann, City Administrator.   A more than slightly scruffy bike rider pulls up and asks if it is possible to get a camp site, shower, and dinner.   Without a second’s thought she gave me the information I needed.  An hour later everything is being dried and I am working on my post.   This is not unusual.   Last night the Battalion Chief spent about 2 hours working with me on a route.    The Belleville firemen shared their evening meal with me.   I have been blessed with meeting these types of people everywhere I’ve traveled.   While these may never be “best” friends they certainly are “blessed” friends.   They will be in my prayers every night.   Not to be redundant but America is filled with spectacular people that rise to the occasion on many occasions.

Story #3: Bad Jokes: I have a friend named Dave Wagoner who sat next to me at Scotts Miracle Gro.   Not sure where he got his jokes but they were real groans.   This story is dedicated to him!   First the set up.    Question: How do you know a motorcycle rider is happy?   Answer: You can tell by the bugs on his teeth.    Now I can tell you that yesterday I was a happy bike rider.   However the bug missed my teeth and went straight down my throat and I gained a little protein that I wasn’t expecting.   Recommendation?   Neither bike or motorcycle riders should every be happy.

Story #4: Miracle Go: Told you that Miracle Go was slipping some gears.   Had her checked out and the bike repairman said whatever the problem was in now fixed (that makes me nervous).    He did say that she lost 30 pounds in her back wheel which was expected since she has been working so hard.   She wasn’t happy when I re-added the weight.   It was for her own good!

Story #5: I am still losing roads.   We spend a lot of time figuring out a route to route 66 and Springfield, MO.   We agreed that Route 100 W was the road to be on.   The problem occurred when I needed to decide whether to go on the old or new 100 W.  I choose the new Route 100 and yes we all know that I should have gone on the old route.   I think I will have back track less than 5 miles to get on 185 South to resync’d with my intended route.   Let me guess, you are not surprised?

Pictures (Left to Right):

1. New Haven Sign: Always like seeing a sign that means I am going to soon be off the bike.
2. Train Car: This was in a park close to where I will be sleeping tonight.   Wouldn’t have included it but as I am sitting in the City Administrator’s Office typing out my post, a train went by literally (my grand son’s favorite word) 40 feet from the front door.
3. Missouri River: While I was doing my post, the owner of the local pizza place introduced himself (closed today and tomorrow and I so wanted a pizza).   He and a buddy took kayaks down most of the Missouri some years back.   He had to carry all food and water that would be needed for 5 weeks on his kayak.   There are people called River Angels that help events like this.   He always gives them pizza.  People do neat things.
4. St. Louis Arch:  Think this is a great picture in that you have the Arch, a tree, and the moon in the middle of the arch legs.   I thought it was cool.

Will start tonight by going through the pictures:

1. After 87 miles I ended up in Freeburg, IL where I planned to spend the night.   The Freeburg fireman recommended that I go another 10 miles to Belleville where the accommodations might be a bit better.
2. Flight 93 (upper right): Made it to  Belleville Firestation where the firemen are super nice.   They have a memorial to Twin Tower Disaster and Flight 93.   This is one of the many markers and plagues that explain the story.
3. Twin Towers: The fire station has an entire girder from the twin towers.   They think they got a large piece because they are a fire station, at a major highway crossroads, and equidistant between New York and PA.   Really is awe inspiring.
4. Really old fire truck at Fairfield Fire Station.
5. A not quite so old fire truck at the Fairfield Fire Station.
6. Since Belleville is an active fire station I would have to leave the station should they get a call.   To make it easy on everyone I just set up my tent outside.

Today I did a little over 97 miles which makes my first week total 590 miles which isn’t bad since I only rode six days.   Didn’t want to go 97 miles today but Belleville was a little closer to St. Louis and I want to cross into MO tomorrow and start officially for Springfield MO.    Luckily when I made the switch from Freeburg to Belleview I had a full bottle of Gatorade that I was going to use in the morning to power me through.  For grins I calculated how many times I pumped the pedals.   I figured (admittedly a rough approximation) I did 26,880 revolutions.

Had my first potential mechanical problem.   Miracle Go keep slipping out of gears.   Before this occurred irregularly at a particular gear ring.    This morning all the gears were slipping and I was afraid I would have to try to fix it myself (really leery about doing anything with the gears since if you don’t do it right they really get weird).  Luckily Miracle Go fixed herself so we were good for the next 50 miles.   Will take her in for a check up if I can find a bike shop.

Some of today’s factoids (in the world according to Rob):

• I figured out why there were so many turtles lying in the road.   I watched a medium sized turtle walk out on the road close to where every passenger side tire would go if they passed that point on the road.   Hopefully the turtle listened to me when I recommended a different place to sun.    Snakes are just as bad.
• Saw a vole or mole run across the road.   It didn’t look left or right but its survival strategy beats the turtle’s.
• Best smell: Got to the top of a hill late in the day and smelled someone grilling out.   Reminded me of my next store neighbor Tom that grills all the time.
• 2nd Best Smell: Farmer was tilling his field.   The smell of fresh dirt was everywhere and it is a smell that I like a lot.
• Worst Smell: Went by a dairy farm with lots of cows.   Nuff said.
• Best Sight: I saw acres and acres of vibrant green grass that was a foot tall.   It reminded me of Scotts and I couldn’t help but wondering if this is where some of our quality grass seeds would come from.

I continue to be inspired by the people that I come across.   Several people today stopped me today and talked to me about bikes, my ride, and just being friendly.   The people (firemen and policemen) that I am asking for lodging have been spectacular.   They don’t always say yes but they always do what they can.   Continue to see the kindness and concern of people everywhere I go.

Great day to one and all!

What a wonderful country we live in.   Remember yesterday when I told you I went passed “Birdseye” (city) in the hopes that Huntingburg had more eating places.   Well Huntingburg was the answer to my dreams.   I stopped at the fire station in the hopes to get a place to pitch my tent.   A police officer came out from the police station next store and I asked me if he could help.   I explained that I was traveling cross country to collect money for the Pelotonia which of course uses 100% of all funds to fight cancer.   He said that the fire station was empty but he would call the fire chief.

He called the fire chief who said he’d like to help but all of the fire station property is concrete and not suitable for a tent.   The Policeman told me to hang on as he was working on something.   He called the mayor and collectively they arranged for me to stay in a Quality Inn for the night.   They have a program that they use now and again when people are in their fair city and don’t have a place to stay.   Since I was trying to “help” others they decided to “help” me.

This alone is enough for me to sing the praises of America and the people that live there but the story continues.   This morning I got an early start (the Quality Inn had the best continental breakfast I’ve see) thanks to being able to eat breakfast while it was still dark.

The weather was good and the wind was calm so I was able to get a 13.2 MPH average and 88.8 miles in going from Huntingburg to Fairbanks.   When I arrived I talked to the Sheriff, who put me in touch with Jerod of the Fairbanks fire station.   He, with the chief’s concurrence, are allowing me to sleep in the fire station, wash my clothes and take a shower.

I think these two actions show clearly that the news hype about everything going wrong with the country is rubbish.   America is the people and the people are wonderful!!!

If you were watching my titles you will have noticed that I got my dates wrong.   Thinking about it I decided to start putting my “from” and “to” places as the title since it allows you to more easily follow me.

Today’s ride game was looking for things on the side of the road:

• Most ugly: Lots of paper, plastic, and tire litter.   Really?   Can’t we stop this?
• Most beautiful: I was riding along when I came upon a small body of water by the road.   Two Canadian Geese were swimming away from me but remained spooked.  They decided to fly away and they transitioned from swimming to flying in a seamless manner and flew next to me (about 10 feet away) in perfect formation until veering off.  Wow – magnificent.
• Most sad: Apparently turtles are crossing the road and don’t have the chicken’s agility as many didn’t make it.   Snakes and frogs shared a similar fate.
• Most unexpected: Teenage Mutant Ninja wading pool.
• Most welcome: Crossing into Illinois.
• Most thought provoking: When I saw a train going my way I wondered if I could hitch a ride.

Hey, that pretty much wraps up today’s entry.   Remember if you are reading this the reason is to collect money to fight cancer.   Spend some time talking to a couple of friends to see if they won’t join our bandwagon.   While big donations are always welcome it will take an army of people donating what they can to get us to our goal.

 

 

The map I attached yesterday was my pride and joy.   It had every turn, it had directional arrows, in was fool proof – I thought.

Thanks to my Aunt and Uncle, packing was easy and I was out the down at about 6:00 a.m.    I had a choice of going down major roads to downtown Louisville or go through Cherokee Park.   I decided to go through Cherokee Park.   This is the park that I would ride through with Uncle Frank and his Saturday bike group every now and again.   The last time I rode with him was a couple of years ago when he was 80.   Isn’t he an inspiration to us all?

In any case I knew the park pretty well and even if I made a wrong turn I could easy get to downtown.   Came out on Lexington road and it took me right to the first check point on my Google Map – Liberty Street.   I should have known the morning was going to take an ugly twist when Liberty was a one way street going the wrong way for me.   Oblivious to the galactic forces working against me I merely moved over 1 street and continued to downtown.   My target was the 2nd street bridge.

Some background – My uncle, his 3 sons, and my brother confirmed that the 2nd Street bridge was the proper bridge for a bike crossing (Miracle Go can’t swim).    I preceded down 2nd street where I was met with a sign that said “Bridge Closed Pedestrian Traffic”.   I didn’t have an alternate route and wondered if the bridge was just closed or really “closed, closed”.   I proceeded through the sign and up onto the bridge to check out the “real” bridge status.   After going about 100 yards I met a board across the sidewalk with another message, “if you continue crossing you will be arrested”.   I immediately decided that the bridge was “closed, closed” and appreciated them putting up a sign for me.

I tried to go West and there was no bridge crossing that way so turned around after 4 miles and returned East to find the “bridge by the ferris wheel”.   It had a huge route spiral up that allowed us to cross into Indiana and our third state (Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana).   Since I went over a different bridge my directions were worthless until I found US-150 W.    Using my now honed navigational skills I basically went South and West looking for a major street.   Finally I found US-150.   However it was one of those “bike can’t enter” streets.   I eventually found 64W and have been on it ever since 9:00 or so this morning.

64W is a nice quiet (most of the time) that meanders through the hills of Indiana.   None were particularly large but there was one downhill where Miracle Go achieved a personal best and clocked in at 47.7 MPH.   The old girl was movin’!   Will continue on 64 tomorrow with the next city being Princeton that is about 36 miles away.

You may look at the pictures and notice Miracle Go being in front of a town’s sign, Birdseye.    We are not in Birdseye however.   I had a choice of stopping at 75 miles in Birdseye or continuing 15 miles past Birdseye to Huntingburg.  Birdseye didn’t have many eating places so I gambled, and won, that Huntingburg would be bigger.   So we are now safely in a Subway (the McDonald’s of the West so called because they are everywhere) writing this post.

I am now going to visit the police and fire stations to see if they have some ideas regarding me getting a shower which is sorely needed at this point.

My best to you all!

The “Goldenrod” picture was just a great picture of a field filled with goldenrods.   One of the many splendid nature scenes to which I was treated today.

It’s been a great day.   Miracle Go had oil put on her chain, saw some of my siblings, my Aunt and Uncle, visited Dick’s Sporting Store, and gave my body a day of  rest.   Strangely, when I got up this morning there were no major sore.  I do have a little sunburn (sun screen will now be used) and my backside told me to take the day off but ready to get on the road again.

Next objective is Springfield which is 559 miles away.   I changed my navigation strategy (you can teach an old dog new tricks).   Note the map above which all the turns.   Learned my lesson – really!   Leaving tomorrow morning around 6:30 (sun up) to cross the Ohio River into Indiana and parts West.

It was great staying with my Aunt and Uncle and seeing some family.   Made me think of how lucky we all are having friends and family in our lives.   Suggest that you spend some time today thanking them for making our lives special.

Regarding my pictures, here are the people I was able to meet with (left to right, top to bottom):

• Cousin John with wife Cheryl
• Middle sister on Harley Fat Boy
• Learned my lesson, map from Louisville to Springfield, MO with notes
• Uncle Frank, Cheryl and I
• Uncle Frank and Aunt Lakie

 

Pictures above are last night’s sleeping accommodations.   Read on

Well I officially admit to oversubscribing to the time needed to meet my objectives.   It takes almost all day to ride the 100 miles.   This leaves no time to get dinner, post an article and visit stores, businesses, and schools to request donations.    So here are the changes.

Tomorrow I am taking a break.   Luckily my Uncle Frank and Aunt Lakie (Louisville natives) were willing to take in a poor bike rider that looked like he needed a friend. I am safely in their home and won’t leave till Friday morning.   Read on for the details.

Today’s stats: The final odometer reading is 692.6 miles.   I did meet my objective of 100 miles a day completing 322 miles over the 3 day period.   While this didn’t kill me and I have yet to get a cramp, my muscles are tired, I am slightly sunburned, and my clothes are dirty.   I will use tomorrow to tune up my bike and body and relax.   I also plan on reducing my daily mileage objective.    Now that I am in a safe place (and know where I will sleep I will try to get caught up on stories.

Story 1: Jill’s (my wife telepathic powers).   So I am on 42S, of course, at a point where there are lots of cars and strip malls.   There is a lady up ahead that can pull in front of me or wait.   She decides to wait, I wave and mouth “thank you” and as I pass I hear her say, “Be careful”.   At that point I knew Jill had sent the comment via telepathy.

Story 2: All Hills are not Created Equal.   Going into Covington there is a hill on 42S that goes up and up and up.   Every time there was a turn I figured that the hill was at an end.   When I got to the turn lo and behold the hill continued.   I swore that the hill was going to go on to heaven.   I thought to myself that I am glad that that hill is passed knowing there got be nothing to equal it.   Today just before or after Carrolton a hill of equal magnitude appeared.   I was able to take both hills but it wasn’t fun and I wasn’t fast.

Story 3: Last night in my quest to get 100 miles I passed the mighty town of Union, Ky.   I was on 42S which switched from “Dixie Highway” to the “Kentucky Scenic Byway”.   What the Scenic Byway means is that there are no more stores, restaurants or gas stations.   This was in stark contrast to earlier in the day on 42S where all of the above were plentiful.   Out of water at the 109 mile mark I stumbled on “Boonedocks” only restaurant (on 42) within 40 or so miles.   After eating I went back on my bike looking for a place to plant my tent – nothing.   I finally resorted to knocking on doors requesting a small piece of their yard to pitch my tent.   The third gentlemen pointed to a place a quarter mile to the left, by a creek,  to camp.   It WAS GREAT!  I so love to sleep.

Story 4: Waking up this morning and knowing that the scenic byway is not my friend I planned breakfast.   Two trail mix bags, four fig newtons, and a bag of almonds totally 700 or so calories I started looking for a breakfast place.   It was at this point that I checked my water bottles.   I thought I had a bottle and a half but on had the half.   Beats the heck out of me where the full bottle went.   Undaunted I started down the road.   At mile 30 I stopped by a construction shed and asked for water which they gladly provided.    Good to go still looking for breakfast.   A mile up the road in Ghent there was a Subway but who wants Subways for breakfast so I went on to Carrolton about 10 miles up the road.   Guess where I ate breakfast – Subway at 10 a.m. with 30 miles under my belt.   Not bad both a 12″ Spicy Italian Sub and a peanut butter cookie for $5.84.  I just may eat breakfast there more often.

Story 5: Nature’s Glory.   You have heard me complain of the wind.   Apparently it is bad from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m.   I make good time in the morning and last night when I rode after dinner (yes Jill it was still light).   This morning’s ride was terrific.   I was riding close to the Ohio River, there was a cool but not too cool breeze and I could see the barges doing their work.   Kinda’ made me feel like Tom Sawyer.

Story 6: Sunburns.   I didn’t believe the stories that you could be sunburned through clothing since it had never happened to me.   Today I wore my long sleeve tights and shirt to prevent sunburn.   I am sure it helped but still have a red tinge.   Plan to go to a sporting goods store tomorrow and get white under clothes to cut down on the heat (I am really hot in the afternoons and I think it got up to 84 degrees today) and use sunscreen.

Story 7: Packing.   I am happy to report that I have everything I need but too much of a couple of things that are adding to the weight.   I don’t mind pedaling the things I need but don’t want to carry anything not needed.   I will box up the things I don’t need and mail them home tomorrow.

Story 8: Lied Again.   Remember when I told you I wouldn’t lose 42S.   Well it disappeared again today.   All of a sudden I was on 42W.   I had no idea if the 42S/42W were the same things but decided to stay on 42W which eventually tool me to Louisville.

Final Story: Why don’t the road signs list upcoming towns and cities?   The first indication that 42W was the ride road was when the sign said Louisville was 41 miles ahead.   No other city was even listed.  This is information a biker needs to know.

Thanks for you notes of encouragement.  It really helps.

So much to talk about . . .

These pictures are from last night in Cedarville.   I set up the test outside of the Cedarville Fire Station.   They allowed me to charge my electronics and get cleaned up – They are AWESOME!

Today I was supposed to stay on 42S which I tried to do.  Unfortunately in changed to 38W which was okay with me since in was going in the right direction (Dayton).   The State Police pulled me over stating that bikes weren’t allowed on that road.   I explained that 42S transformed into 38W and no signs indicated that bikes weren’t allowed.  He agreed and then helped me cross the road and asked me to ride the wrong way up an access ramp and find another path.   As I was looking for my alternate path a Dayton Police pulled alongside so I asked him for a path.   He said I should get on 48S and follow it since it went all the way to Louisville.   I was on 48S for a while and it turned into one of those roads that bikes can’t go on.   Not wanting to meet my friend the state trooper I turned around.   I found a bike trail going in my direction and took it for about 5 miles, continued West and eventually decided to take the next road south.   Lo and behold that turned out to be my lost friend 42S which I am on now.   When I didn’t need food there was eatery after eatery.   I had my heart set on pizza but had to settle for the only restaurant /bar on 42S.   Not the best of places but the food tasted good.

I found out a second reason why Jill cut my hair short.   Every night when I get in my sleeping bag what do you think is exposed – my head!   It got cold last night and I am sure this was Jill’s second way to get back at me.   Admittedly she is much smarter than I.

Just went out to get my stats for today’s ride.   The Cat’s Eye religiously did it’s job all day.  However when I went to get the numbers it was still showing I was riding.   I think it is broken and I will now have to figure something else out.

Sorry that these notes aren’t more interesting.   I need to find a place to camp and get set up and that is hanging on my mind.

Thanks for all and will check in tomorrow.

 

 

 

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