Day 25

Can you believe it, we entered our 10th state today...Ohio.  Welcome to the east I guess.  We crossed the state line about 4 miles into our ride today and the riders had to stop and record the event.  We only have 4 more states to go...seems like we have been on the road for a week...not 3.  Did we start in California?  Ohio is one of my favorite states as we are mostly in the rural countryside surrounded by family farms and pastureland.  Much of the route was perfectly flat, but we had some areas that broke the monotony with a hill or two.  We rode most of the day on the marked Cardinal Bike Trail, a stretch of lonely country roads many of which didn't have any lines.  These are the roads that they pour crushed gravel down and then put on a coat of oil to make it into blacktop.  It makes for a great road to cycle especially in the cool winter and spring.  In the summer, however, the heat makes the oil soft and sticky which sticks to wheels...fun to ride, but messy sometimes.

With the rural riding comes lots of turns to make our way across the state.  Lots of turns usually means extra miles as the riders tend to miss a turn now and again.  I'm not sure if anyone got through the day without at least missing one turn.  The good news in Ohio is that most of the roads run north and south or east and west and are laid out in nice squares.  If you miss one turn, just go to the next intersection and get back on route...well, that works most of the time. 

Besides great roads and the farms that dot the countryside, my favorite things are the homes and the endless number of barns we rode by today.  Even though we were pretty rural all day, the scenery is more interesting than the farm land of Illinois.  I call it intimacy...more houses closer to the roadway and more trees to break the monotony.  We passed some beautiful old structures that must have some interesting stories to tell...wish they could talk.  Many times I've thought I'd like to just go inside a rickety old barn and spend the day listening to it tell me of what went on in it's earlier life. 

When we arrived at the motel an old friend, J. L. Herron, from past rides was there to greet us and to take some of our folks to the bike shop to get some of the needed repairs we needed.  Eric had several small adjustments that needed to be done along with getting an 8 speed chain that we don't carry.  Andy's shifter broke sometime during the day so he needed to get a replacement.  The bike shop in Delaware jumped in and took care of our fixes in quick order even taking a shifter off a for sale bike to replace Andy's.  Thanks J. L. for your time and generous help and mucho thanks to the bike shop.

Also had a visit from an old Air Force buddy I haven't seen since 1982.  Rick Archibald lives in the Dayton area and took the time to have dinner with us and share some old war stories.  Nice to see friends on the road.

Tomorrow we trek into Wooster...one of my favorite days.  Remember 603...the riders will after tomorrow.  I'll be in the van but I'll try to get some good photos if the sun comes out.  Hope you've had a good day...we sure did.  See you tomorrow.  M