April 21, 2006
Back to Brown County
Paynestown to Brown County State Park
Everything but the interior of the tent was wet this morning. Really wet. I wore my raincoat in the morning so I could shake, wipe, and otherwise persuade the water to jump off my tent. I knew I'd be headed home in the afternoon, so I stuffed everything into the panniers and headed out of the park with just a few fig newtons for breakfast. I stopped at a café a few miles up the road for an ok omelet but was a little disturbed by the Elvis shrine inside and signs for specials on chicken livers and gizzards (6 for $3!). Two scruffy guys were smoking and playing billiards before 9 a.m. as I paid my bill and headed on up 446.
Linemen were stopping traffic to facilitate line repairs. The flow of traffic from this was pretty nice for me. For the next hour or so, I'd have nobody pass me for about 10 minutes, then a little line of cars would speed by, again leaving me in peace for the next 10 minutes.
I stopped by a little barn with 'Barn Yard Friends' written on it, and behind the barn were a bunch of peacocks. One was trying particularly hard to get a female's attention, but she ignored him long enough that he eventually gave up.
| Heart | 1 | Comment | 0 | Link |
I hadn't paid much attention to the topo marks on my map, but maybe I should have. There was one especially long and painful hill just south of the west entrance to the state park, but I am pleased to say that I made it. I stopped at one point, thinking I'd almost hit the top, but it was one of those hills that has a little flat spot right before turning to an even steeper section. I was only going 3 mph, but I made it! I felt a little better when the gate keeper of the state park said that some cars can't make it up the hill in the winter without quite a bit of help from the salt and sand trucks. She said people line up early in the morning waiting for the truck to come through so they can follow it up the hill some slippery days.
One entrance to the park was at the top of that hill, and I decided to take that instead of routing through Nashville (Indiana's Little Nashville) and coming back into the park from the north. I hoped that this RV and truck entrance meant that it was the least hilly of the three entrances, and I ended up with an excellent ride through the park watching people hunt mushrooms and take in the spring vistas. The hills were just right-just enough downhills to help with the uphills and still keep things interesting. The area's hills have been called the Little Smokies (as in the mountains, not those little sausage things), so I was happy to end on a not too hilly note.
And even happier to end in time for lunch at the buffet in the lodge!
Reflections
I feel so much more confident after this trip. I'm still scared of mountains, but at least I've done a few more big hills. That one hill at the beginning was the only one I had to walk, and the others weren't too painful, even if I did go up them at 3 mph. I'll make a few minor adjustments to my gear, but not too many. My one gear failure was that one of my Lake sandals broke sometime on the second day. The main structure held together and didn't keep me from riding or walking, but I'll have to get new ones before I go. The worst part of that was that I then had Margaritaville in my head the whole rest of the trip (see lyrics below). Some people do math problems while riding their bikes-I make up new lyrics to Margaritaville.
On some great big rock
Didn't bruise my heel
Kept a cruisin' along...
| Heart | 1 | Comment | 0 | Link |
26.08 miles, 9.2 avg, 2:49:41 pedal time
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 4 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |