Kendallville, Napoleon & Sandusky

The journey continues, through Indiana and on into Ohio this week.   We are now on the last three days of a 6 day run through part of the mid-west.   Each day had long mileage, and we all were a bit worried about high temperatures and winds and all of those other things that concern anyone out trying to ride a bicycle.   But fortunately, the cold front that brought rain to Madison last Thursday, has lowered the temps a bit and it is all working out pretty well.

Kendallville

We left Valpo after a breakfast at the cafeteria.   Lots of good stuff to eat, and just not nearly enough time to do it proper justice.   When we do breakfast, we are faced with two conflicting considerations, to get enough calories into us so that we can begin our ride, and to not overdo it, so that you end up with bloated feelings that make you really slow and lethargic all morning long.   Striking the right balance is tough !

Corn

The ride was pretty uneventful for us.  One treat was that we got sprayed with an irrigation sprayer as we rode along later in the ride.  I think the water spray is visible in the picture below... it got us all pretty good as we rode through it.   And then a few minutes later, we got chased by a few dogs, and I believe the words "eat him" were spoken ( ie... don't eat me, eat him ! )

Stopping for a break

 In Kendallville, the Parks and Rec folks put on a really nice dinner for us.   Hot dogs, BBQ pork and some salad fixings, for me it really hit the spot and was well appreciated.  And we got to meet Suzanne, the major of Kendallville ( sorry, I missed the last name ).  She and Jeffrey were talking about all of the common places that they had been in the Corps.

Supper in Kendallville

Napoleon

When we awoke in Kendallville, our next stop was going to be Napoleon, OH.    The skies were flashing a bit of lightening and we loaded the truck without much fanfare, and got a great breakfast by the same Kendallville folks.   As we rode out of town, it began to rain.    The group I was with stopped and dug out our rain jackets, and a few minutes later, it really opened up.   That was pretty much it for the morning, spots of heavy rain, then light rain, then drizzle and back into medium rain, just off and on.   Once you get wet, and get thermally adjusted to what is going on, it's just a matter of enjoying the ride.   Think I had "In the Early Morning Rain" by Peter, Paul & Mary playing for a while, most appropriate.

We crossed into Ohio at some point.   We almost missed the sign, it was on a little country road and hidden to the side was the Ohio-Indiana State Line sign, and someone decided to start a yellow line in the middle of the road on the Ohio side.  Not quite the big "welcome" fanfare that one sees when one takes the Interstates from state to state.

Ohio !

We stayed at the Henry County Fairgrounds in Napoleon.   Some nice architecture in the city, and Todd and Heather and I went exploring for a few minutes.

Heather

Court House

Sandusky

Up and at it with a breakfast off the truck for our last day of this 6 day roll to Sandusky.   Not much exciting along the route.   We got chased by a very little doggie with a blue collar and a very loud bark and that was the most exciting thing until we got into Sandusky proper and got ourselves cutoff by some idiot motorist who turned about 15 feet or less in front of Liz, Camilo, me, Rob and Sarah.   He got a pretty good vocal treatment.

Checkpoint in the corn fields

Bikes & flowers

Heather & Doron

Lake Erie from a Sandusky restaurant

Reesh & Jeffrey

Ben is enjoying this !

The next morning on our off day, the group went to the Cedar Point park.   It has giant roller coasters and other stuff.    The staff of Cedar Point took some photos of our group and we got in free.

Waiting for the rest of the team to show up

Here they go !

Lake Erie

Waves

That's about it for now.  Tomorrow it's a ride to Burton, OH and then off towards Pennsylvania and the final stages of this Big Ride.   We will have 6 days of rides, with some of them over hilly terrain.  Hope the weather holds and the legs keep pumping.