Once again I started the day raiding the comp breakfast at the hotel. It has become appalling how much food I can eat and still feel hungry. I know that after a couple of hours on the bike I will not regret this early morning pig out.

I grabbed two apples for the road and went back to my room to fill my bottles with ice water. I hit the road at 7:45.

I started riding east on US 33. There was some traffic but a generous shoulder made for a reasonably safe ride. My legs were pretty tired from yesterday's mega ride. After 20 minutes, I noticed that truck traffic was starting to pick up. So I turned south on SR 65 and started to zigzag my way to Lakeview. I entered Lakeview on SR 730 stopping at the southern tip of Indian Lake (this was Shawnee country). I re-loaded my maps, taking out the first of my local maps from Columbia Outdoors Pursuits (COP). The COP maps are exceptionally detailed, but somewhat cumbersome. When using them you feel as if you are really making progress, as you ride past the edge of the map, a rare occurrence with the Ohio highway maps. The scale of the COP maps can be a nuisance because I would seem to be stopping frequently just to re-orient the map.

Following a COP route to Bellefontaine, I headed south. I stopped at a post office in Lakeview but the window didn't open until 10 a.m. So I continued south on SR 235 to CR 91 into Lewiston. I stopped at the Lewiston post office, which had been open since 9 a.m. The clerk was cordial and helpful. I mailed home my Indiana maps and my hand written journal from the first two days. I continued on along CR 91 to CR 130 into Bellefontaine (pronounced Bel-Fontin by the locals). It was a disappointing town. Maybe the name had raised my expectations. After getting a little turned around, I stopped for some "health" food and Gatorade and hung the plastic grocery sack on my seat support, hanging off to the side of my bike. Then headed east along SR 540.

SR 540 is another busy truck route and it was surprisingly hilly. After a few endless up hills, I opened it up on a very fast 38 mph downhill. I was starting to get plenty of time in my big ring going 30 mph or better now. On one of my descents, the plastic bag took off and landed with a thud on my Thermarest in the middle of my rack. I turned around to see what had made the noise and if I had lost part of my load. My bike rolling along at about 35 mph went haywire, swerving left and right across the road. I faced forward, relaxed and got it under control. There is nothing like a momentary brush with disaster to wake you up.

Having grown tired on re-mapping with the COP maps, I started relying on the Ohio highway map again. I followed SR 540 to SR 292 into East Liberty. On the way I saw a Honda transmission plant. This may be where my 1991 Honda's drive train was manufactured. They do good work here.

All morning an ominous storm was building to the north and west. I could hear thunder in the distance whenever I slowed down.

In East Liberty I stopped at Pop's Pizza Place for an excellent BLT sub. It was gone in a minute or two. 'Pop' and his assistant gave me some directions out of town. With the storm approaching, I had to decide either to continue on to Delaware (a 75 to 80 mile day) or to ride south to Marysville (a short 55 to 60 miler). I decided to take SR 347 east as it carves an arc to the north of Marysville. I could turn south for Marysville at several crossroads if the weather got too nasty or I got too tired.

Just outside East Liberty I came upon the biggest factory I'd ever seen. This Honda assembly plant was so vast I couldn't begin to get it into a single frame of my camera. This may have been where my 1991 Accord Wagon was put together. As I took the picture, Thor reminded me to get a move on.

I passed through Raymond, my first chance to turn south to Marysville and decided to forge onward. The road was flat and I had a nice tailwind from the approaching storm. I rode on through Broadway (the neon lights aren't bright here) where another Marysville road crossed my path. There was now lightning in the distance. I stopped to dig out my flashing red taillight, which I attached to the back of my helmet. At this point, the odds of getting caught in the storm seemed equally likely regardless of which town I headed to. An old man across the road stopped mowing his lawn and walked over to chat. He advised me that the storm front was stalled on a line between Marion to the northeast and Bellefontaine to the west. He pointed off to a clear spot on the horizon and said, 'Delaware is over that way. You might make it. If you don't, pull off into a barn.' The man looked eerily like my late father; he was short, improbably white skinned, and had crooked front teeth. I thanked him for the weather report and the advice and headed off for Delaware.

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At a cross =roads in Pharisburg, a woman rolled down her car window to tell me that she had just purchased 'one of those bikes'. She said it was hard to learn to balance. I told her to keep practicing and she drove away.

Then it started to sprinkle. In no time at all, the sprinkle had shifted gears into a deluge. Since I was already wet, I figured the easiest way to keep warm was to keep riding. Helped by a tailwind, I cranked it up to 20 mph through standing water that must have been at least a half inch deep. Instead of being unpleasant, riding in the storm was exciting. The adrenalin was really pumping. Riding at this pace, I ran the risk of running out of energy ('bonking' in bikespeak) before Delaware, then I'd be up a creek.

As it turned out, the rain abated. SR 347 turned into SR 37 and I followed it into Delaware, soggy but smiling. I stopped at a gas station and bought a Gatorade and a 'mini' sub. although there was nothing mini about it, I consumed it in seconds. I was becoming a food vacuum.

A passerby gave me directions through town to a hotel and off I rode. As I rode past Selby Stadium (and Ohio Wesleyan University) I said hello to man who looked like a football coach out of central casting. He wore a baseball hat and a whistle, and he had an ample but hard stomach.

The Delaware Hotel is a former Holiday Inn. It's exterior was probably very nice about 20 years ago, but nowadays it is unimpressive. Inside, however, it was pretty unusual. The reception counter was covered in copper. The receptionist said there was a first floor room available. I pointed to my bike parked next to the glass front doors, and asked if I could put it in my room. The receptionist said she'd have to check with the manager. Over the phone she told the manager that a guest wanted to park his motorcycle in his room! I straightened the two of them out ('It has pedals. I'm the motor!') and they agreed to let me bring my steed indoors.

Despite the relatively low mileage, today's ride took quite a bit of effort. Somehow, I covered a respectable amount of ground and still finished by 3:30. Tomorrow will be a bigger effort, if the weather holds.

Roadkill:          4 raccoons, 1 rabbit, 1 robin

There must be a lot of raccoons around here or they must be really stupid.