Friday June 6
Travelogue | Notes...
Average Speed: 12.9 mph
Max Speed: 23.6 mph
Total Riding Time: 6:23:48
Trip Mileage: 82:56
Total Mileage to Date: 767
Wake Up Time: 7:30am
Leave Time: 9:00am
Wrote 7:41pm...
Today I have pedaled the most miles in any one day on this bike trip: 82.56 miles! For lugging around all that weight that's not bad.
I rode from the Meadowbrook campground in Bascam, Ohio to Defiance / Independence Dam State Park. I'm about forty miles from the Indiana border.
Taking Route 18 west was a great choice as it had an excellent road surface, a nice shoulder and not too many trucks. It was flat all the way through and was scenic in the sense that it went through farmlands and then little towns.
Within half an hour of my leaving I found a laundromat and did a quick load. A nice looking mom came in with her two little sons. I gave them a few quarters to play a video game. Spoke to the mom a bit and then left when my stuff was done. A few minutes later I was wolfing down pancakes at a local joint.
Followed Route 18 west all the way with the exception of a short detour through Route 613 west then Route 235 back to Route 18. It was fun chasing the cloud's rapidly moving shadows on the road. Those suckers are fast!
Made it to Defiance and then went to the campground. I entered and proceeded till I fell. There was this incredibly slippery-as-ice silt from the river, which had overflown a few days before. My whole left side, both me and the bike, were caked with it. Even while walking the bike, I kept sliding. The U.S. Army should use this stuff as a weapon. Ironically I was wearing the same jersey that I wore the day of the big crash in Pennsylvania. This has become my lucky jersey because when I fall with it I never get hurt.
No showers in this state run campground. It only cost me $8.00. Washed up as best as I could in the restrooms. Tomorrow: Indiana and I'll break 800 miles.
BICYCLE TREK