Day 37 Kendalville to Napolean

Day 37 Kendalville to Napolean 70 Miles

Essence - Goofing Off.

Once again a new time zone and it is dark on the western edge of that time zone when the alram goes off. We even have a shorter day today so breakfast and start are delayed a 1/2 hour and yet it is still dark.

Today everyone is getting up late. Long day yesterday and then late dinner nad later night than usual and for once it was cool enough to use teh sleeping bag again. All in all people are having a hard time to rustle out of bed.

Breakfast goes. We run out of some of our favorite cereals like “Skooters” (the Target brand of Cheerios.) But we manage. Oatmel, raisin bran and even cold left over corn from the cookout the night before.

Again I am slowing my pace down. I atually leave camp earlier than usual with David Lambert. I have chosen my red sleeveless jersey for hte hotter day. However itis cold enough that I do put on my arm warmers and have a terrifc Drag Queen look going. I try hard to not get photographed in this attire. I think I was sucessful.

David andI ride out and chit chat all day. Great conversations and new conversations and topics. Talking about girls and relationships, religionand theology, houses and politics. We manage to get most of all of it.

The roads are nice and smooth and not much traffic. A few ponds are steaming in the cool morning air and the rising sun rays paint them als mist clouds of glowing gold. We stop for a few picutres.



An olded man id out at the side of the road watching us. WE stop and chat. He has watched riders go by now for 8 or 9 years. He remebers the first years when it was many hundred riders. He is smoking away and I don’t have the heart to tell him that we are riding for the American Lung Association. Meanwhile his cigarette smoke is kiling me as we tell him of our quest to D.C. He asks about my aero bars and our bike computers and generally is interested in all the stuff we have up on our “dashboard.”



A genuine old man just watching the annual spectacle of us go by. Reminds me of how in the summertime, as a kid, I would watch in wonder as the street sweeper would go up our street and back down the other side and wouldn’t return again untli next summer. Not a momentous occasion but something you didn’t see everyday!

The cue sheet tells us the Ohio border is coming up, and to keep our eyes peeled, because it is easy to miss. Easy to miss. It winds up being darned impossible to see, except for the fact that some Big Rider, chalks it out in the road.

Here is the Official Ohio sign notification. Guess they didn’t have the tax money to buy more than wallet sized signs.




From here we dash through the water stop and then are back rolling again, just ahead of the Scott Train. I see them and I know their pace is faster than mine today and I am really happy for David and my Pace.

We pullout of the waterstop and pretty soon the Scott train catches us and I am pulling again only because they come up behind and stay there. I am relieved when they finally go by us and the mental stress of the train is relieved.

Coming into Bryan, I am talking about getting a coke in a local cafe and how great that taste sounds. David agrees and we plan to find a spot. As we venture more into town we find this little Centrla Garden. We stop and take pictures and poke around. Travellingi nt he smaller group it is easier to stop on a whim and David is absolutely behind any motion to stop and smell the roses. He is studying to be and engineer and we are both planning type personalities trying ot improve our living “In the Moment”skills.

While crossing the street to the park, I shout back across to him that a cheesburger would go really well with that coke. He not only agrees but suggests pie as well. I consider it to early for pie, but leave an option for reconsideration.






After our park pics we come fully into Bryan, Ohio, which is a county seat and a realy cute little town. At the intersection with Main street I see Lester’s diner and instantly steer us toward our cokes and burgers.

Pulling up we see a familar site. Many bicycle parked and leaned up alongside the building. This is almost like our calling card as we are out on the road. As we are riding thorugh all these towns we will survey the cafes and restaurants looking for signs of fellow riders. It it partially to keep track of where you are int he progress of the group, and based ont he number of bikes, you usually can guess as to the amount of goodtime happening inside. Also by the bikes you can guess on the quality of the place. If the restaurant is bad the out coming riders will pass the word along tot he newbies and the new arrivals will go elsewhere. If the place is good, the word is also passed and menu recommendations are given. “How’s the service?” “Oh you have got to try the coffee and the huckleberry pie” ...



Well at Lester’s, I see the Tandem and Jo’s bike and know that Jodi and the Dimmitts are here!. Just that last bit of encouragement that this is our stop. A few pics outside and boom we are in. Or at least we try to get in until we meet the most airtight doors I have ever faced. With great effort I pry the doors open enough for David and I to sneak inside. Glad we are skinny.

I get a plain Cheeseburger and coke without even looking at the menu. 10:15 and it seems like a good time for lunch, David gets a fancy burger and coke. Nick and Jay pull in and sit at the counter. Jo and the Dimmitts leave. There is jsut a flow of cyclists in and out.

The burger is good and the Coke is divinely refreshing.

On the way out the radio is playing a Simon and Garfunkel tune with the lyrics about enjoying what you got, cause you aren’t in control. Basically it fits perfectly in with our smelling hte roses approach. Buy a few postcards at the counter and we are out the door. We go into the town square looking for more postcards and to get a good look at this country courthouse.



The postcards wind up being a wasted trip, but we take the time to just sit on a shady bench and watch the traffic go by. Barry another cyclist comes by and we chat with him. He leaves. We are still just sitting there. 1/2 an hour later we decide that maybe we should get back on the bikes and knock out our last 30 miles for the day.

In total we have spent about 90 minutes in Bryan, doing nothing but soak it in. I love it. David is pretty happy about it too.

We head off and with 10 miles we are at the Cathy’s water stop, the last one for the day. the kids are there with their shoes off and David and I join in and have A&W rootbeer and take our shoes off. A mock challenge is offered of 50 pushups. David and I jump up and bust out 50 relatively easy pushups in one set. The Challenge is now no longer mock!

Liz and Ane are so proud of me for slowlng down they are about to revoke my “speedy Gonzales” classification. I am proud of Ane for her use of sunscreen technique.



Another 1/2 hour and we head down the road and knock our last 20 miles. The day is hot. Not thunderstorms brewing, not really much humidity until you stop, but just a hot day. My contact lenses dry out and I can’t read the map guide clearly, so David is navigating and I toatlly have to trust where he tells me to go. It is a good exercise in letting go, not pushing and being in the “Now”.

Asphalt patches in the road, create a Curly Q, squiggly that just runs for miles. We wonder what it takes to do that job. My theory is that the workers must apprentice as Struddle Frosters for years until then can perfect the fine art of decoration and can move up to roads.




The Kids meet some other local cyclist on the road who owns a pizza shop and he sets it up to have free ice cream for us. Later this gets delievered to us in camp, after dinner.

Camp is the county fairgrounds in Napolean. HOT. Exposed. Little shade, dry grass. Hot. Sitting under the pagoda I fall asleep ans folks shares beers and snacks. Just fun. Some of the riders have decided to continue on to Sandusky tonight, so they can lump an extra rest day together and have more tiem to go to Cedar Point amusement park. The Scott Train as well as Margo and Adam are those who decided to tack on the extra miles. I am glad that I have hung back and did not decide at noon to try to tack on and extra 75 miles and make it a long hot 150 mile day. I am so content to ride 75 tomorrow and maybe try to go to Cedar point tomorrow night on an evening pass.

I am pleased with my day, my choices, my speed. I don’t even set up my tent until after dinner. There isn’t a cool place to set it and I prefer to rest in the afternoon.

Before and after dinner, I have teh playing cards out with , Mary, Ben, Sean and Mechanic Dave and we are playing Euchre and cribbage.

It is a good day. I look back at all the people I have shared riding time and conversation with in the last 2 days and look at the depth of conversation and how I felt during these days of riding and I am super happy to have changed my style and approach.

Right now I still want to ride the hills tough on Final Exam day and know that I am King of the Mountain. Other than that, I am just chillin’... and the fun is back.

Side note: Tonight, I saw the first bat on the trip. Other folks have seen them, but this was my first bat for this trip. Also there is a bird or a creature in the trees across the street that make such a horrendous screaming noise when it calls. It sounds distressed, but it does it in a call typ e pattern. So I jsut hope it quits soon.

Don’t forget to comment. Talk to you tomorrow from Sandusky.