Day 39 Sandusky to Burton

Day 39 Sandusky to Burton

Essence - All the People we meet.

Getting up is not nearly as hard as I thought it would considering how late we were up, being out at the amusements park and all.

David Lambert and I are man the Breakfast table, since the rest of our team covered lunch making last night and allowed us to go to Cedar Point. So the we get off to a later start. Stephen asks to ride, which catches me as strangely polite.

We are all so used to riding with each other that we often just assume we are riding with one another. To be asked, and thus show the respect of personal space catches me off-guard but is actually quite appreciated.

Rolling out we also catch up with Bob Dumke and Jodi and cruise along Lake Erie. The ride along the lake is beautiful. It is smooth and flat so it feels good to our legs and only one row of shireside houses separates us from the lake. By and large the houses/ cottages are nice, but aren't magnificent mansions. Just nice weekend getaway type places.

Finally we get a view to take pictures.



Stephen, taking a picture on the bluff.

Continuing on, we have plans to go to the CLevelenad Indians baseball game and our pace is good so we stop for a coffee and a treat. WE happen to stop at Granny Joe's Read the Picture for an explanation.





Granny Joe's "Creamatorium with ice cream good enough to die for", just makes me laugh. I think this is my favorite establishment so far. Itis too early in the day for me to indulge, but I love the puns.

Sitting on the porch of the Creamatorium we meet a wonderful family who ask lots of questions of our adventure. Again, i am glad to have been forced to slow down and take time to visit with some locals. Jsut as we are ready to leave, Jo comes bakc with a report that the mayor and a welcoming group are at the next block to cheer on one of their sons who is also riding across the country but for another organization. He is part of the Pi Kappa Fraternity's Ride for Hope from San Francisco to D.C.

As our two rides converge on the same route here in Harbour, OH the overall support for all the riders of both groups is truly amazing. All the friends and families know what all the riders have gone through regardless of which group and the sharing of water stops and support to form one larger community is so inspiring.



After mingling a few minutes and waiting to cheer on their riders, we are back on our road.

At this huge Easter Basket,



Steve determines he needs to stop fnad take a picture of it for Pollie. As I turn around to stop and take a picture I clip out on the wrong side and wind up falling over on my bike. Fortunately I lnad on the grass and just layout and play it off as if I were just taking a bit of a nap. ... Yeah right. Steve and Bob don't buy it and Steve actually has the picutre of this less that graceful ending. Hey you need to fall over, every now and again just to keep the humility level up.

Finally we get to Cleveland and are stil on time for our ball game. Cleveland is a our first Big City since... since I don't remember. Probably since Billings.

The roads are terrible. Totally potholed and rutted. We have to ride in the center lane of traffic because the curb lane is unridable.




A few pictures from the bridge and we head right for the game, where we meet a great security guard. All the other security folks said there was nowhere to park bikes except some bike racks. Knowing they had a stadium, I knew they had some space somewhere. And then we met Aaron who understood our situation and came up with a solution.



And viola!!! we had secure bike parking at the game. Thanks Aaron.



In the game we have a blast and are a bit of a tourist attraction.




We chat with all the folks around us and cheer for the home team.



Lots of people want to know about our trip and this family even buys some drinks. What awesome people.



I even catch a nap during a few innings, which Steve gets a picture of. All part of the Baseball experience, right?

After the game we head out and the real fun begins. See the next post for the storm story.

A thunderstorm has crept up on us and as we are leaving it starts to sprinkle super sized rain drops.


See the Raindrops? They are the streaks in the picture. Huge, huh?

We take shelter under these Air show planes. As you can see the raindrops are big enough to leaves streaks in the picture. We think it lets up after a few minutes, and so we ride on. We shortly realize how wrong we are. I call uncle and head towards a bathroom shelter that is at a Lake Shore Park. No one else sees it through the rain and thinking that I am crazy they ride on another few hundred yards nad then are eventually stopped themselves.

At this point I am soaked to the bone, shivering and taking refuge in the bathroom. The wind is whipping and I am cold but I am at least not in the rain anymore. Standing there shivering and trying to figure out what to do, I watch the wind blow whirlpools in the deepening puddles outside. While this bathroom is great temporary shelter, it will not do for long term/possible overnight accomodations. Some guy runs in to use the bathroom and we chat for a minute when he is done. He is Bob and he just got out of hte baseball game and was going go fishing with his partner Matt. They are painters and are having a bit of an afternoon off. Now that the weather has changed, their plans are changing. Since they have a van, I bum a lift from them to a Motel 6 or a convenience sotre or anywhere other than this bathroom on the shores of a very mad Lake Erie. I tell them where I am going and Bob actually knows exactly where to go, since he lives across the street. So with my bike in the back and a paint bucket to sit on, and a drop cloth as a towel, Bob and Matt rescue me and around what winds up being a record breaking storm in Cleveland.

The storm winds up dumping 4.75" of rain in 90 minutes centered right where we were riding and as I get a ride around the the flooding we encounter up to 6" of running water on the freeway and in the streets. Between the hazards of high winds, filled or covered up potholes and erractic drivers there was no way we could have ridden through this storm.

As it turned out though, Bob and Matt did know exactly where my next road was and dropped me off at a hotel lobby that was great spot to dryout and reorient myself and come up with a plan of action.

From here the storm had mostly passed and after regrouping and leaving the phone messages with my fellow riders that I was separated but okay, I headed out to tackle the last 20 miles of riding.

I only made it 50 yards when I realized I was still unprepared. At the convenience store, I was shivering so much I couldn't hold the map still long enough to find where I was. So my first purchase was a cup of hot chocolate. From there I warmed up and got out first a state map and narrowed it down to counties and then using a county map I created a new reroute.
With map in plastic bag in hand I was back at it. A major challenge overcome. Riding along, the weather improved and I was makng progress toward camp and my spirits were lifting. Feeling that I surely must be ahead of the other, because of the lift in the van, my thoughts worried about them but I was glad to believe they were all still together and I was the only separated one.

Finally at the tiniest of town halls, in Russell, OH I stopped to take a picture and call the others and leave them a message that I was okay and give a favorable scouting report.

In the parking lot there in Russell, a lady pulled into the parking lot.
Asking if she could confirm my directions, I met Lynee.

Lynee is an amazing woman who holds your gaze when she talks to you and smiles when she speaks. Lynee struck a chord with me. Christian, well spoken, great sense of humor and conversation, selfless, courageous, intelligent, beautiful and a U of A Wildcat. Lynee didn't know the area because she is from Arizona. As it turns out she is from Mesa, but is attending school at the U of Arizona in Tucson, "Go Wildcats" and is out in Ohio selling children's books as a summer intern to pay for college. After joking with Lambert the night before about "who would I meet out here in Ohio", Lynee was a gift from God to show He has it under control.

I thoroughly enjoyed the 40 minutes we stood chatting and could have chatted a greater while still, but that would have been rude. We went our ways and I rode my last 10 miles going over and over the day and all the things that had brought me to that point. It was too perfect. It felt like it had to be a God thing. What kind of God thing, I don't know and I know better than to try to predict. I have been shown though how God has put believers in my life for a purpose.

Considering the weather delay, and the lift from Bob and Matt and then the delay at eh convenience store and now my timing of my cycling to put me at a place, and for Lynee to be between apointments and to put her in the same place for us to meet as Christians during a summer adventure, with Bible verses as motivators and both from Arizona all the way out in Russell, OH. Call me crazy if you like, but I have been shown differently that I don't take this chance encounter lightly. As I say meeting Lynee truly is a gift from God. I don't know the purpose or pretend to guess what that purpose is. But I feel it is part of God's purpose and for that I will be diligent to follow the Lord and let Him reveal the purpose to me, in His time.

These were the thoughts running through my head as I cycled in those last 10 miles and all I wanted to do was ride up to Lambert and tell him, "Guess what God did to me today?" Riding with such excitement I made it to camp relatively quickly and found Lambert and relayed my story. As a believe, he knew my feeling and at least made me not feel crazy even if he thought I was.

I appreciated that and we headed off to dinner and started our day off chuckling about his rain adventures as well as mine.

Day 38 Evening in Sandusky

Day 38 Evening in Sandusky

Cedar Point and world class roller coasters is the destiantion. Lunch duty is in the hindrance. Dave and trade lunch prep duty in exchange for Breakfast duty. That hurdle out of the way,

Dave and I grab the shuttle and head for Cedar Point. $25 gets us in from 5pm to 10pm. That is a fair trade.

Ultiamtely it winds up being very hot and muggy. Iti s the amusement park experience. Standing in lines for 45 minutes or an hour to ride a 2 minute roller coaster. but we ride some of the best in the country.

I get my first taste of a real professional thrill rideroller coaster. This isn’t Disney’s Thunder Mountain Railroad, this is corkscrews, loops, and super drops. We get off and my stumach is definitely on its side. My knees are wobbly and I realize I am not cut out to be a professional roller coaster, rider or designer. I don’t have the stomach for it.

We go for another. I hope the 45 minute wait with give me time to settle my stomach.

It does. This ride is more drops and banking turns withour the corkscrew. My stomach can deal with this and I like this ride. We are waiting for another rider so we get dinner. Dave bust’s me for chatting up the cute Bulgarian behind the counter.

Now the ride longs are getting very long and we have to watch our time to make sure we catch the last shuttle.

We do the longest wooden coaster in the worla nd then head out. Dave and Lisa ride another ride as I start shooting picstures in the low light. The Amusement park is great for such shots.

We see Scott, Alison and Tom at the Ben & Jerrys Ice Cream on the way out. They rode 150 miles yesterday and stayed in a hotel to be able to come here and been at the park all day. It is 9:45pm and they are just leaving.

We catch the shuttle back to the campsite and I am happy to have spent the 5 hours at the park, and I am especially glad to not have ridden 150 miles yesterday jsut to be at the Cedar Point all day today. I am glad it was worth it for them. I am also glad for my choices.


Again another good day in the last 2 weeks of the ride.

Check out these Cedar Point Pictures.

Day 38 Napolean to Sandusky

Day 38 Napolean to Sandusky

Essence - The easy grace of spinnig like a windmill

5:40 a.m. and I wake up late. Everyone seems to have woken up late. Apparently we collectively forgot to reest our alarms from ysetredays 5:30 wakeup. Ooops.

The morning air feels good. Not quite scurrying, but certainly moving briskly we are packed up and the morning is underway.

Stephen and I ask each other to ride together and I really appreciate the simple gesture of just asking someone to share their company. Heading out we are at an easy roll and come across some great buildings and some more of the giant windmills.





The windmills are just so huge and yet as we get right up to them, they are silent and their movements seems very gentle.

Ben and Sean are wearing the McGowan Institute Jerseys for Brack and Jean- Anne to continue their legacy across across the country.

We cross a bridge and I notice the WPA stamp in it. Not a huge monument, but they always catch my attention.



In Bowlling Green, Steve and I are hungry and stop at an ATM and then Breakfast at the corner Grill. We saw the gril with bikes out front on our way in. And then a local asks us about our ride and recommends the Corner Grill.


So the Corner grill it is. We sit at the lunch counter. I can’t remermber the laast time I sat at the lunch counter in a diner. It reminds me of breakfast with my Granddad as a kid. He always ate at the local cafe/truckstop and that seemed like the only place I ever saw lunch counters.



Anyway Breakfast is great and we talk with Jerry and Marlene who own the pizza place across the street. Before we know it we are engaged in great conversation about the history of Bowling Green, Ohio (not Kentucky) and so forth. Jerry and Marlene also pick up our checks and are just some of the really great and sincere folks we have met on the trip. Steve and I would love to chat, but we know wehave to be rolling after 45 minutes of chatting.



Lifted by the rest, food and company, Steve and I ride off, sorry that we had to leave Jerry and Marlene but just smiling and talking about it all the way out of town. Water stop comes and we stay only long enough to fill our water bottles and be back at it. Not much of a visit for Cathy, however we are so glad to have spent the breaktime at the grill and not along the side of the road.

Now the day is warming up and i am warming up. Cruising along we are trying to make up some time and hold a pace to get to Sandusky early enough for Steve to have his bike worked on. I suggest a 20+MPH pace for the next 10 miles into our midday checkpoint. The terrain is flat, the road is good and we can move. I hold 20 mph, then 21 mph then 23, mph and then am holding 25mph. I am zomming, but it is too fast! I am missing the world go by. I have skipped 3 pics I wanted to take and finally shut it down to catch this smoke stack.

This is what I think of when I think of Ohio.



Rollin’ on we back the speed back down so Steve and I don’t miss the world go by. 17mph feels like a crawl but we see so much more. We go through the town of Former U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes and see his old house. all the homes are flying flags and it feels very patriotic.

During the afternoon, Steve and i concoct a plan to go to the Cleveland Indians baseball game tomorrow midway through our ride. The rest of the ride is boring and we re-enter urban traffic as we hit Sandusky.

Steve has time to go and see about his bike and David Lambert talks me into joining him at Cedar Point Amusement park in the evening for Roller coasters.

It is another good day, enjoying our surroundings, meeting the people and not being captive of outside stressors.


Don’t forget to comment.

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.

Day 36 Valpo to Kendallville

Day 36 Valpo to Kendallville

Essence - Rediscoverying the fun of adventure.

5:00 a.m. and the alarm clock risks being thrown across the room when it goes off. I snooze for an essential 15 more minutes and then ... I am up. Packing up the laundry that was wet last night when I went to bed, I have more work than normal. But only a few minutes worth. By 6:00 I am down at the truck with my gear on it.

Hot water was not started as per the usual hour before breakfast so coffee is late. I am glad to not have that morning caffeine addiction. I am just up as as ready to go as I am ever going to be.

During breakfast we get the reroute information that should cut 3 miles off our 109 mile day and get us around some construction. In then end it was negated by other factors.

The big tragedy happens to the Dimmitt’s. Their tandem bike is knocked over and their front wheel is broken. Cracked rim, out of true, etc, etc. Their day is done before they have even started. Being a Tandem, they have hub mounted disc brakes, a heavier wheel and a high spoke count of 36 spokes. Basically this isn’t just a run of hte mill kind wheel. The bike shops don’t open on Mondays, Chicago is more than an hour away, blah blah blah. There is no good solution.



God however always provides a way out, if the hearts are willing. And fortunately today they are. David Lambert’s family are up to ride with him. Grandpa Lambert is going to ride teh single bike. Dad Lambert and sister Hannah are going to ride the Lambert tandem. The Lambert’s step up to the plate and hit a home run, as MOm and Dad Lambert, offer up a wheel trade. The Dimmitt’s will use the Lambert’s front wheel and ride, while the Lambert’s cancel their morning ride plans and take the broken wheel to get hopefully get fixed.

For the Lambert’s, I am sure this a disappointing turn for their plans, but they are heroes and lift the rest of us. As a Christian, seeing Christian’s in need, and seeing other Christian’s provide, I can only see the hand of God in all of this.

Solution proivided and wheels exchenaged, the Dimmitts roll out of Valpo with us in the Scott Train.

The starting turns frustrating. The directions assume we are leaving the university fromt he main entrance and basically run us to a right turn and then a right turn and then another right turn and a bend in the road and 4 miles later we have just made loop through town and are rigth back at the same intersection we started with. Now we are all annoyed!

We follow the route and finally are on our way out of town. The pace in the Scott train is uncomfortable slow for me and I decide to end the frustrations and ride my kind of ride. I AM going to enjoy this adventure. Pulling I get in a rhythm that feels like my training rhythym. It feels so much like my trainig rhythm, that I can actually imagine my trainig buddy, David, riding along side me. I imagine our conversations and I start verbally answering his questions. Except he is back in Phoenix so I really just talking to the cows, as we say.

But I enjoy finding my body feel familar. Breathing is right. Leg Cadence is right . Foot tension is okay. We ride a while and then after a potty break I separate as I get a late restart and try to keep it a day where I feel good being me, not part of the team.

Riding slower and solo, I start hanging with other folks I usually don’t ride with. I am riding with Marty, and Lisa G and then the Dimmitts. Trish is really upset over having disrupted teh Lambert’s plan. We pray on the bikes and I pray over them, and that uplifts us all. Trish tells me at the water stop how much the prayers meant and on several levels and it is a moment of true caring connection withthe Dimmitts. I am just pleased to be a part of their day.

Before we know it we are at the first water stop, provided by Larry, the local Big Ride Alumnus. The stop is magninficent. So much fruit, for many salty snacks and wonderful Cinnamon roll carbo loads. Mmmmmmmm!



The Dambert’s. The Dimmitts and Lamberts coming together to form one team. Pictured are Greg Dimmitt, Grandpa Dan Lambert, Dave Lambert and Trish Dimmitt.

Larry reminds us all to slow down and smell the roses for the next 2 weeks. I tell him how I have already taken that advice this mornig and am already having such a great morning.



Leaving I ride with Jo and Lisa G for a long time. We have great conversation about religion and God andsuch things and it is all good. Jo rides off and Lisa and I continue what will be a wonderful flowing conversation all day, that flows from one topic to the next.

Suddenly my feet are screaming with pain and I decide I am going to stop at the top of the hill for an impromptu 50 miles stop since our next stop is not until mile 65. As I crest the hill I see that the remaing Lambert’s have had the same idea and have set out such a spread of chairs and food and beverages to rival Larry’s bounty.



It is the perfect water stop. And we get news that Daddy Lambert is at the bike shop and the wheel will take about 2 hours to rebuild, but they have the parts and are starting almost right away! Hallelujah for perfect blessings!



A picture of some of the farm traffic we share/compete with.

Lisa and I roll on and add Ane to make our group a trio. Ane inadvertently carries out another mishap as she runs off the road and into the soy beans. Here is how I expereinced this event.

I pass her as she is wobbling trying to ride and do a map change at the same time.

Suddenly I hear her yell.

I look over my right shoulder to see her head off the shoulder at speed and right toward the ditch and the flow fence around the soy beans.

I know she is going to crash. I know it... and it may be bad.

I start to slow down and start thinking of where is my first aid kit, where is my phone, do I have Pollie’s number handy etc.

Meanwhile I continue to watch as Ane rolls through the ditch...unharmed

Ane rolls through a void in the fence ... unharmed.

The Soy beans plants slow her down and finally 15 feet in to the soy beans. She has stopped, is upright and laughing.

Amazed that nothing went wrong, I now go from panic mode to Embarrassng big Brother mode and I grab my camera to catch this moment.

Lisa has also seen all of this and has stopped and it now reaching for her camera as well. Becasue this is NOW a PHOTO OP!


Okay but a bit embarrassed, Ane climbs back up to the road and we continue on after she cleans her cleats out.

Along the way we have seen several entertaining mailboxes. But this one really entertains me.




The afternoon iis good. We pick add Ben to our group and are continually swapping so we are riding in pairs but not getting bored with each other.

We are in Amish country and enjoy the clip cllop of the horses hooves and all the little carriages. We pass with care, so as not to spook the horses.

This “Giraffe Poodle” is a streange looking animal that actually made us turn around and double back to get teh pictures of it. Why would you shave your Alpaca to look like a Poodle?



Riding on we make a break in the across road garden from a beautiful house.



Lisa has the expected flat after inviting the Devil, when she claimed earlier in the day, how happy she was that she had not yet had a flat on this ride.

We the flat. We find the final water stop, where the Lambert’s have rendezvoused with the Dimmitt’s and both tandem bikes have been restored to their intended working order. Dimmitts ont he road, leave the Lambert crew to get rolling.

We have taken our time and stopped throughout tthe day to enjoy rests in peoples gardens and smell the flowres along the way. Ane even compliments me for fulfillining my goal to slow down my ride and take it all in.

During the ride we lost and hour as we crossed into Eastern time zone. how that affect us is that we get into camp at 7:00 pm and i t had been 115 miles day, including the 4 mile scenic loop that we did through town at the top of the day.

It has been a good day. It has been a day about realizing God’s blessings and being thankful. Sunny and good weather. I have enjoyed great conversation and made better friends wtih folks I hadn’t spent enough time with. I spent my day, making it my day, smelling the roses, enjoyin ghte ride and rediscoverying the fun in it all.

Tonightwe cooked for ourselves, which was delicious cold cuts and chips and fruit. I also got to talk to M&D for a long time and that was very good.

I enjoyed my day. I look forward to each day of the next 2 weeks and am thankful for the blessings to me nad especially for those around me.

It hase been a good day.


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Day 35 Valparaiso (Day Off)

Day 35 Valparaiso (Day Off)

Essence - Recovering

One of the best thing about day’s off is the chance to sleep in. In this case it was lonly till 7:30 but it was luxurious. I met Bob Bumke, Iron Mike, The Dimmitts and Jo and we all went to early service over at the Valparaiso school chapel. The Stanied glass int he main sanctuary was amazing - and it gave me an instant feeling of old church. The use and styling of the images and colors seemed to be very much of classic old church.

Our service was actually down stairs in another little chapel room. The had a very formal feel to it. Although it was Lutheran and celebretory of the resurrection of Christ, the machinations of the service made it seem similar tot he old Cahtolic mass format with kneeling to pray and a somber singing out of the Hymnalls and just very structured. While I liked the ultimate message, the delviery mechanism was not my style and I can see why as a kid it was hard to understand what they were talking about in chruch when I would go with friends or whatever. I enjoyed seeing a different style of church service, but in the end it really made me miss my non-denominational home church.

The service was quite nice though and seeing the beauty of the church was fantastic.




On our way out we found the baptisery fountain and I just like the perspective of circular stair.



After serviceI fetched my computer and headed into old downtown Valpo to find breakfast and get a chance to upload the blog.

After a really nice morning walk through most of old town Valpo, I found breakfast. Breakfast was the ever popular 2 eggs scarmbled hard and pancakes at Jimmy’s Cafe. Now the funny thing about Jimmy’s is that it was run by a Greek family with no one named Jimmy.

It was nice for the young single waitress to be my waitress and to get a biggger than usual smile out of her. Hey every single guy likes a little flirting and a littl attention from a girl. Another greek family came in who obviously knew the owners and brought their little girl who might as well have been family. Withteh conversation mingling back and forth between Grreka nd english, it was nice to see such a blend of culture in the middle of Indiana.

After breakfast I headed over to the local coffee shop and spent several hours uploading text and a few pics. Finally the connection was so slow I abonded the picutres and headed back to the dorm. I saw Lisa G on the street and she clued me into the local ice cream shop. Ummm yummy. A double waffle cone scoop of Raspberry and double chocolate. Walking back with my ice cream in hand, I chatted with some ladies who were having a “Dog wash” to raise funds for their Chicago 3-day Breast Cancer walk. We shared our experiences of fundraisnig challenges and bigger goals. I donated some cash to them just as strangers had donated to my campaign and wished them well.

Back at the dorm and not ready to face laundy and bike cleaning, I went off to school library where I actually got all my pics uploaded in a heartbeat. I stayed later than I wanted to as I was getting hungry, but I was compulsive to get the week’s blogs uploaded and back up to date.

I found many of the riders also blogging in the computer room. If you can’t find a rider on rest day, go to the nearest internet access point.

See....



heading home I was hungry and trying to decide what to do for dinner, when Kelly and her mom Carol invited me to eat wth them as they were grilling outside.



Dinner with them was so so wonderful. Kelly and I had a chance to share stories about how the ride was so much more to us than pedalling. Kelly’s stories about overcoming and challenges were really encouraging to me and really helped me reset my mind to enjoy the next 2 weeks and not wish them away.

Finally I did do my laundry and chores and got ready for another week of riding.

By the time I went to bed, I was looking forward to riding again. Larry’s words and Kelly’s stories and my own blogs had moved me to change how I would ride the next 2 weeks and what my attitude would be. I fell aslepp looking forward to it and to take it all in again.

Recovering.



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