Author: Paul Rito (Page 2 of 24)

61.2 miles cycling, 1195′ of climbing (3453.1 total) – to read from the beginning, click here.

After coffee and some breakfast, on we went to Wauseon. Neither of us had ever heard of it, so it would be new to us as many of the small towns we have visited have been. The ride was pretty flat with a tailwind to start the day, but that switched to a headwind by noon. Other than an 8 mile stretch on US 20A at the end of the ride, we were on very quiet back roads, passing lots of fields of corn, soybean, and occasionally tomatoes.

54.3 miles cycling, 1692′ of climbing (3391.9 total) – to read from the beginning, click here.

We said goodbye to Sarah, Curtis, and Elam and hit the Pumpkinvine Trail to start off (for us) a short day to Angola, IN. We rode through the Amish village of Shipshewana — think Lancaster on a much smaller scale. Not much else on this route as we were on local roads for much of the way.

9 miles cycling, 0′ of climbing (3346.6 total) – to read from the beginning, click here.

We spent the last two days in Goshen with Sarah, Curtis, and Elam feasting on their company and amazing meals, and comfortably resting our tired and sore bodies.

62 miles cycling, 1080′ of climbing (3337.6 total) – to read from the beginning, click here.

I woke up early, hoping that we would get on the road and make it to Sarah’s by early afternoon. Wasn’t to be. A quick check of the radar showed thunderstorms both heading our way and all along the path we were on to Goshen. So we hunkered down, had some coffee and breakfast of oatmeal, yogurt, and granola and decided it was best to wait out the storm where we were rather than head the 3 miles to a truck stop convenience store that was only somewhat on our way.

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.

82.5 miles cycling, 1637′ of climbing (3204.9 total) – to read from the beginning, click here.

Joe made us a hearty breakfast — eggs, bacon & sausage for me and a veggie omelet for Dana, and we packed up, said our good-byes and thanks, and headed out. We started on the Illinois and Michigan Canal Trail, but like yesterday’s trail, it quickly lost its charm with bumps and ruts and single tracks. We had to stick it out until we could get off the trail at mile 12 and get back on some better roads.

81.8 miles cycling, 1850′ of climbing (3122.4 total) – to read from the beginning, click here.

Fresh eggs and (for me) bacon awaited us at breakfast. Pat left to go fish for more trout, and Jean went to visit her mother, leaving us to our packing. It would be another long day as we were planning 80+ miles to Peru IL, but with half the ups of the last couple of days. On our way off of Campbell’s Island we visited the local “monument.” Pat & Jean weren’t of the mind that is was a “must see,” but it was on the way out. And while telling them about our woes with Dana’s holey sleeping pad, Pat came out with a brand new pad he got on a swap site for $4 and that Jean insisted needed to get out of the house since neither of them needed it. Heaven sent, these two.

75.8 miles cycling, 2084′ of climbing (3040.6 total) – to read from the beginning, click here.

A breakfast equally as scrumptious as last night’s dinner was waiting for us on waking up today. Peter and Hannah were the most gracious hosts, and it was really a pleasure to meet and talk with them. After breakfast we hit the road again for another long day, this time to complete our personal RAGBRAI in 5 days and cross the 3000 mile mark on this tour.

63.7 miles cycling, 2431′ of climbing (2964.8 total) – to read from the beginning, click here.

After the drama of last night, we got up, packed up, and rode to The Depot, the convenience store catty-corner to Casey’s. We had coffee and something to eat and then hi-tailed it out of there.

65.5 miles cycling, 3019′ of climbing (2901 total) – to read from the beginning, click here.

Another hearty breakfast and thankful good-byes to Scott and Mindy, and Scott’s son Jackson, we headed off in the (continuing) hills of Iowa. Nice quiet roads on Sunday morning though, and we had a nice stop in Reasoner at the Double-D’s bar where we filled up on peanuts in the shell, a couple PBRs, a Corona and the Steelers on TV. Nobody in the bar was the Steelers fan, so I don’t know why that game was on.