8/3/55 McDonald to Connellsville, PA 93 miles

The best laid plans…
fall apart sometimes. I'm 17 miles short of my goal for the day & 18 miles over my original plan: a 35 mile mistake. Ouch, that hurts. Hope that's the last of those.

Anyway, short entry tonight – I'm tired & need to get to sleep.

The B&B I stayed at last night was the North Street Inn, 121 North St., McDonald, 15057. 724-926-2649 – heartily recommended.

more later if I find a library tomorrow.

8/2/05 Lisbon, OH to McDonald, PA 68 miles.

These really hot days cause me to pause often & sometimes too often & too long. I took a long break in E. Liverpool, OH – updated my blog & caught up on e-mail at the library, had brunch at the local coffee shop & pittered away the morning. It was close to 11 before I left there with only 16 miles done, & temps in the high 90s.

Then came the Newell bridge crossing to WV. I am not normally afraid of heights, but when the toll booth guard waved me through to the 'sidewalk,' I offered to pay the 50 cent toll if I could use the roadway. No dice. The walkway hung out to the side of the bridge & consisted of 2x6s of various ages & conditions suspended 80 ft over the water with rusting strap irons. I was truly expecting Jake & BOB to crash through & actually planned which girders I could grab if that
happened. I thought it might be safest to ride over the joists, but there were too many nails sticking up. I obviously survived, & maybe it wasn't that bad, but I sure was nervous.

Meandering along the Ohio river was nice – very pastoral.

I stopped again in Weirton & finally was headed to PA by 6. I made it to McDonald just at sunset & asked around for a camp or motel. "None," was the answer, "but there is a new B&B in town right up there (pointing) & I think Tim the owner is there." I climbed up the hill & rang the bell, but there wasn't any answer, so I called the # on the sign & that worked.

Tim is retired military, originally from Lock Haven, but now lives in DC area. This B&B is their retirement place & he was only here on a non-weekend because someone else had booked for tonight. The house has been carefully restored & is really luxurious. A nice find.

Tomorrow I start riding the Allegheny trail – no more trucks or cars – except for a few detours – between here & DC.

Aug. 1, 2005 Wellington, OH (Findley State Park) to Lisbon, OH 96 miles

This morning was the kind of morning I love for cycling. Crisp air, 70 degrees, clear skies, and bright, but not burning, sunshine. Leaving the state park, I headed south and east and immediately noticed that things were not flat anymore. The hills weren't too bad and there was still a lot of flat. I got lost in one section and flagged down a truck only to find it was the county maintenance man. He pointed out where I was and pulled out his map to show me how to go. He headed off and I turned around to head in his direction to the intersection I had passed a half mile earlier. When I got there, he was waiting to tell me that the intersection I was heading for wasn't an intersection but an underpass and that I couldn't get on the highway from there. We straightened out the directions and again parted ways. How nice of him to wait for me, though.

Anyway, I got where I was going and stumbled on a bike trail that wasn't exactly on my route, but it was so hot and hilly that I opted for heading directly south to Massillon on the trail. It was a beautiful tree lined old canal towpath — flat and shady. I stopped in Massillon for a bite and then headed east to Canton and my original route. This was a thrill-filled ride — the kinds of thrills one could do without — potholes and rush hour traffic. Once I got through Canton, the hills of eastern Ohio that I had been warned about showed up. Up one hill, down another, then up again. And again. And again.

What kept me going, though, was a call from Sandy Dimento, a friend from the Lake Glendale sailing club who lives in Pittsburgh, that she wanted to drive over to Lisbon to meet me for dinner. After some misdirections and bad cell phone connections, we finally got together about 8:30 and had a quick but nice dinner and Sandy hit the road back to Pgh. While it was a short visit, it still was a nice surprise and a good boost on a day when my spirits were flagging. AND, I made 20 more miles than I had planned.

At the start of day 45, the temps are already in the 90s at 11AM and it's really humid. I've been putzing my way to East Liverpool, OH and am just about to get on the road to Weirton/Steubenville, and more hills as I make my way to McDonald, PA. There, finally, I'll be on the Great Allegheny passage rail trail. That, at least, will be mostly flat except for one known detour with a killer climb that will hopefully be my last of this trip. Guess I'd better get on my way.

7/31/05 Maumee to Wellington, OH (Findley State Park) 106 miles.

We watched the Toledo Mud Hens beat the Durham Bulls 2-0 last night & then we were treated to a flat-bed truck full of fireworks. Quite an impressive display on a crowded city street. Back at Mark's & Jean's we had a nightcap & I put my nightcap on & headed for bed.

This morning I got on the road again The camping mat & road food are going to be such a letdown. I said my goodbyes to Jean & Mark & Mark's cousin Chuck & his wife Celeste, & rode east.

I rode through Fremont, OH, birthplace of Rutheford B. Hayes, the 1st president to visit California (I stumbled on Fremont, but I learned the latter fact from a folk song). Some really beautiful old homes there.

Wellington's claim to fame is that the painter of "The Spirit of 76" lived here for a while.

Just chock full of history today.

Unfortunately, I seemed to have used up all the flat in OH. The landscape is just starting to roll & tomorrow I fully expect some climbing as I head to the Appalachians. I tried to cut some miles off today by sticking to the major highways, but I passed 3000 miles today – only 600 or so to go.

I'm resting nicely at my sister Jean's. I'm eating, sleeping and drinking like a king, thanks to hers and Mark's hospitality. Mark's cousin and his family are also here and last night we had a scrumptious dinner complete with an early birthday cake for me. Tonight we're going to a Toledo Mudhen's game, and early tomorrow, I'm on the road again.

Here's the plan for the next week:
Sun, Jul 31: Leave Maumee to Wellington, OH ~100 miles.
Mon, Aug 1: Wellington to Paris, OH ~ 75 miles.
Tue, Aug 2: Paris, OH to McDonald, PA ~ 85 miles.
Wed, Aug 3: McDonald to Ohiopyle, PA ~ 75 miles
Thu, Aug 4: Ohiopyle to Cumberland, MD ~ 74 miles.
Fri, Aug 5: Cumberland to Fort Frederick State Park, ~ 70 miles.
Sat, Aug 6: FFSP to Tuscarora/Gaithersburg, ~ 88 miles.
Sun, Aug 7: Gaithersburg to Annapolis, ~ 80 miles.
Mon, Aug 8: Annapolis to Bethany Beach, ~ 90 miles.

This is a pretty aggressive schedule, especially making 80+ miles on those trails, and counting on clear weather, it will defintely be adjusted as I go. I'm getting to the point where being done is job 1.

7/28/05 Monroeville, IN to Maumee, OH 96 miles

Today was the flattest ride I've done on the tour so far — only 210 feet up. I heard Western Ohio was still part of the plains, but this was great. Especially since I underestimated the mileage by about 10 miles which made for a long day.

I tried to get started early. Got up at 6:30 and started packing and had almost decided that I would ride to breakfast when the route took me right past the bar I had eaten in last night. They were open for breakfast, too, so I went in and plopped at the bar. It took a whole 40 minutes to get 2 pancakes & sausage, but in some ways it was worth the wait. The pancakes were hugh — glad I only ordered 2 — and the sausage was about an inch thick and as big as a t-bone steak. No wonder it took so long to cook. While filling, the extra time again got me off to a late start and I wasn't out of Monroeville until 8:45.

There's not much to say about the route today except that it was flat and that Ohio corn and soybean fields look very much like every other state's. I did stop for lunch in Defiance, OH and got a short history of it's role in the French & Indian wars and saw a marker for Pontiac's birthplace and another marker for Johnny Appleseed's first orchard. After Definance, I rode mostly along the Maumee River road, though the river was very muddy from the recent rains.

I arrived at Jean's & Mark's around 6:30, ready to be off the bike for a couple of days. I was treated to a wonderful meal, excellent libations, and slept in a wonderfully soft bed, feeling fully lubricated. (Have I used the Waldorf-Astoria analogy yet?).

7/27/05 Peru, IN to Monroeville, IN 80 miles

As I said in my post yesterday, my legs are tired and sore & a north wind didn't help. So, today was a slow day after a very late start. I left Peru at noon with the goal of making it to Ohio. Mostly, I stayed on US 24, but later in the day I returned to the Adventure Cycling route, passing through Huntingdon (birthplace of Dan Quayle — oh, and I forgot to mention that I went through Dixon, IL, birthplace of Ronald Regan — I didn't stop at their respective libraries), and Zanesville, where I had a steakburger at a little pizza shop where they had slips from all the through cyclists under the counter glass (mine's there now, too).

I made it within 3 miles of the border, anyway. The description in my Adventure Cycling maps of Monroeville, IN sounded too good: Camping shelter in city park for cyclists — showers, laundry, and best of all FREE. If Iroquois, IL is the Motel 6 of cyclist-friendly towns, then this place is the Crowne Plaza. Not only did they have all of the above, but a full kitchen, cots, and enough room for 20 people. There was another couple there — in their late 60's from South Carolina on their way to Ohio to visit their daughter. The place was big enough that we both had our own areas. They went to bed and I went out to find something to eat. I went to a local bar, "Pour Boys" and had a chef's salad, fries, a beer, and a good dose of 60's country music: Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, etc. Like a time warp.

Anyway, if you're cross-country cycling — Monroeville, IN should be on your itinerary.

It's Day 40 when I'm writing this from Payne, OH, and I've just crossed into the Eastern time zone (so I lost another hour), and I've also crossed off 2800 miles. I have about 800 or so left according to the rest of my maps, so I'll fall a little short of 3700, but I'm not worrying about that too much. Next missive should be from my sister Jean's in Maumee, OH.

Iroquois, IL to Peru, IN 100 miles.

Well, after yesterday's post I headed on to Logansport where the signage was extremely confusing and I got caught up for about 1/2 hour. While getting my bearings using maps at a convenience store, it started pouring rain. That lasted for about 5 minutes and within another 5 minutes, the streets were dry. I headed on towards a campground in Peru, about 15 miles away.
Never made it. Halfway there it started raining in earnest, complete with much lightning. I took shelter under the eaves at someone's house and waited for about 15 minutes. The immediate storm passed and I continued on, though it was still raining. After three days of record heat, and as the temps were still in the high 80s, the rain actually was refreshing.

As I approached within 4 miles of Peru, the heavens opened and the storm resumed, a deluge this time. I waited under a bridge for a few minutes and when it seemed that it was now or never, I went on the last two miles into Peru. The rain was really pelting now and the lightning became more frequent, so when I saw the MOTEL sign ahead, I made straight for it.

Turns out the county I was in had a severe thunderstorm warning and two counties southward had tornado warnings. After I got settled in the room, the storm really picked up — I had made it through what could only be called the "best" part of the storm. I walked across the street to a chinese restaurant and had dinner while watching the lightning flashing every few seconds. The lights in the restaurant flashed a lot, but to the credit of the power company, they only went out once for about 30 seconds and came back on within another 30. Guess they know how to deal with lightning out here.

Anyway, my legs are in no rush to get moving today, even though it's beautifully clear and cool out. I'm sore & tired after two big mileage days in the heat and the excitement and frantic pedalling last night. I'm heading to the Ohio border today, and should make to my sister's on Thursday. Friday will be a long-needed day off.

Streator, IL to Iroquois, IL 103 miles.

Well, I didn't make it to Rensselaer, but I did make it to Iroquois, IL. This is about the friendliest-to-bike-passers-through town I've been in.

The Adventure Cycling maps I'm using said I could camp in the park, but to call the mayor. I tried, but my cell phone wasn't working in that area, so I just went to the Iroquois Cafe and had a few beers. The bartender was very busy as she was both tending bar and handling 5 full tables without a cook, so I didn't get a lot of info out of her. I left the bar and was going to pitch my tent in the park, but first I stopped at the local store. The clerk asked me if I was staying in the park and if someone had opened the shower room for me. "Well, no — I tried to call the number, but couldn't." So he called Dennis, the shower contact. And when his phone didn't answer, he called Dennis' father with the same results, and then Dennis' son, and again no answer. I was resigned to sleeping in the park with just a quick, cold wash off.

I started to leave and asked the clerk where the Post Office was and what time it opened. He said it was a block away, but that he didn't know when it opened. So, I went back to the bar and got my bike and didn't walk five steps when the guy in the house next to the bar asked me if I was staying in the park and whether I would like the showers opened. "Sure. That'd be great." Turns out the "Dennises" were out of town and Gary was taking care of the park duties for them.

It also turns out that the shower is actually in a little building, half of which is a garage, and the other half a conference room/office. Gary said I could just stay in there if I wanted, which of course I did since it was still 90 at 8:30 PM and the conference room had an air conditioner. (I'm getting so spoiled with all the cool air nights.)

I took a shower, made some phone calls, and headed back to the bar. It was empty, save the bartender. I had another beer or two and we chatted about all the cyclists that come through that town (thanks to Adv. Cycling's maps), my bike trip and her kayaking/canoeing. I went back to the bed with a little buzz, but I had a great rest and decided not to start too early on Day 38 as I wanted to get some postcards mailed and rest my legs a bit.

In the morning, I had breakfast at the Iroquois which serves as the both the local breakfast, lunch and dinner place, and the bar. I made a quick run to Sheldon where the bartender assured me I could get Illinois postcards (I had been looking for them all the previous day and even took an 8 mile detour. It seems tourism is not a big deal in East Central IL).

And then I saw Gary again, and asked him if the way I was going into Indiana had a "Welcome to Indiana" sign. He didn't think so, but that if I went south back to Sheldon and took US 24, there was one there. I head back to Sheldon and east on 24 with a wonderful 15 mph tailwind coming directly out of the west. While there wasn't any sign save for a little "Entering this county, leaving Illinois", the road was so good and I was going so fast that I decided to stay on the route and head straight for Fort Wayne/Monroeville on this road.

While the shoulders have narrowed from 3 to 2 to .5 ft, I'm still making good time and hope to cut a big chunk out of Indiana today. More later.

Streator, IL to currently Watseka, IL — 87 miles.

Another hot one. Corn to the left of me, soybeans to the right… (here I am, stuck in the middle…) 😉

Trying to reach Indiana today, Renssalaer, to be exact. That will be a bit of a stretch, but I'm feeling good and have just spent some time at the library cooling down. Will update you on that progress as soon as I can.