70.7 miles cycling, 1707′ of climbing (3275.6 total) – to read from the beginning, click here.
After a filling breakfast of fresh eggs and cherry tomatoes, and warm good-byes and thank yous to Hank and Laurie, we left for our next destination, The Last Resort Campground in Hanna, Indiana. Hanna was pretty much our only choice as there were no other campgrounds or cities with hotels anywhere along our route to Goshen. We had 132 miles to cover in two days, so we chose this to be the longer of the two.
Today was thankfully nothing like yesterday. Mostly low traffic rural roads with an occasional stretch through a city with a bit more traffic. We got to Hanna in the late afternoon and Dana had already scoped out the park and the two eating options in town. We ended up at the Hanna Pub and quaffed a few beers before we met a couple from Salem, OH who were staying at the Last Resort in their camper. They warned it was nothing to crow about. Jim and Chris then bought our next round and we told them of our trip and its start in Youngstown. “Why, we’re only 20 minutes from there — if you go back that way, you have a place to stay in Salem. I’ll even come pick you up.” What they did pick up was the bill for the rest of our drinks and a pizza, and invited us to their camper for nightcaps and a fire. Rick, the bartender, also told us that nobody would bother us at the park if we decided to camp there.
After dinner, we headed to the “resort” to visit with Jim and Chris and get showers and possibly a tent site. Well, we did take showers, but “Last Resort” was definitely that and in need of some maintenance and cleaning. Still, the showers were hot and we got ourselves clean and then went back to the campfire. A quick tour of the grounds and we were sure we weren’t going to be staying. We enjoyed chatting with Jim and Chris and getting warm by the fire, but soon we headed out to the park.
When we got there, the woman in the house next to the park was just pulling into her driveway. She came over and introduced herself and offered her bathroom if we needed it. Dana got Cindy’s card and we proceeded to set up “camp.” Camp consisted of our pads and sleeping bags as we were in a big pavilion and safe from any of the promised morning downpours. I opted for the concrete (I have a 4″ pad) and fell right asleep and even with her new pad, Dana landed on the top of a “softer” picnic table. That was, however, after a visit from a local policeman who wasn’t concerned about our presence in the park but wanted to talk about bike touring. Dana handled that conversation as I was already deep asleep — at least until the talking started. Once things quieted down, it was back off to la la land.
Tomorrow we finish our push to Goshen with a 61 miler. Piece o’ cake after the last few days.
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