Tim: (Voicemail from the road this morning, just after texting this picture to me...)
Day nine started with a morning ride along the Maumee River, and then through the back farm roads of Ohio. The day was fairly uneventful, with a lot of small farm towns followed by a restless night of camping with some intruders after dark on our tent site requiring us to call the campground security to ensure our safety and privacy. Unsettling for sure, but we finally were able to get some sleep at a much later hour than we would have liked. Total miles traveled at 105, and then passed into Indiana. Tim zone change today. Looking forward to continuing this journey.
Marcia: I am discovering the joys of the public library that I never really appreciated before...cold delicious water fountains where you can refill all your bottles...outlets next to carrels where you can plug in all the necessities for safe travel (phone, portable batteries for charging phones, computers). We are in Renssalear, Indiana today, having traveled from Salamonie Lake and Reservoir where we camped last night. It was gorgeous there (bunny rabbits, bluebirds, waking to lots of beautiful birdsong) and we even got to swim some nice long lap like lengths (me) and a cooling off to rest swim (Tim). And a hot shower after primitive camping the night before where the best he got was a dunk in a muddy river. Oh those hot showers after a long and sweaty day are such an amazing thing! Someone should write a song about them.
Tim is still doing great, going strong, and challenging my cooking skills to supply him with enough calories so he doesn't disappear. I rode a nice long stretch with him today on a lovely bike path in farm country. It's all corn fields and soybeans here...I actually jumped out of the car at one point and ran to this field to confirm what I thought it was...yup...soybeans.
The fields, and therefore the roads, are in grids of rectangles and squares, and being spatially challenged (which one of these things is my left hand anyway? And if I'm looking at the map right side up, is the turn to the left or the right??)...I found myself stopped at a corner (not for the first time but that's about 10-20 other stories so far) pondering just which way to go and find where I had promised Tim to meet him for lunch and water replenishment. A red van pulled up gently beside me and a lovely grandmother with her four grandchildren rolled down the windows and waved. She is a Warm Showers Host and invited me to stop at her farm just up the way a couple of turns, and wouldn't we like to spend the night? It was too early for that today (although I just wanted to fall into her arms and say Yes! Yes!) as we still have miles to go before we sleep. But she invited me in to wait for Tim and we made our sandwiches there on her kitchen table with the little fellas telling us all about farming, football (their uncle was drafted to play for Purdue!) and their Dad's motorcycle repair business. She fed us just picked sweet corn on the cob (oh my...so good!) and cold ice cream (it's mighty hot out there today) with fresh berries. She loves hosting cyclists and showed us her book of all her guests so far. She took our picture to add to it, so we took this one in return....
We will camp here in Renssalear tonight and look forward to tomorrow which will surely bring new experiences and adventures.
It sounds as if one of the wonderful discoveries of this trip is the kindness and hospitality of strangers. Hmm. Didn't Paul say something about that? It also sounds as though this is turning into the adventure of a lifetime! God bless and safe travels.
ReplyDeleteGo, Tim! Lisa and I are thinking of you and Marcia!
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