Day 11 ending near Ferdinand, IN

September 3, 2015

A camping trailer hitching up and leaving the park woke me up at 4:30am (had the alarm set for 5:00am). Finished report and packed up. My bicycle's voltage monitor had been indicating an over-charge condition for the last few days, so I've been riding without the bottle generator engaged. Well, this morning, the monitor was displaying "discharged". Got out a battery voltmeter I have and measured: 11.7 volts. It is discharged! Plugged in the AC charger to see if it'd come up while I ate breakfast. When I was ready to leave (at 8:58am), the battery voltage was at 12.2 volts.

Headed out of camp east and south to get to DeGonia Road going east. I'd decided today, referring to the map, to take highways IN-62, US-231, Dubois County Road 1100S, and IN-264 to get to my evening camping spot: Ferdinand State Forest. At 9:48am, I was at DeGonia Springs, where I met up with IN-62.

Took a break at a bridge in the shade of some trees at 10:05am. A nice, sunny, sort-of-hot day. Passed over Little Pigeon Creek at 10:44am, and met up with US-231 at 11:09am. Arrived at the south edge of Gentryville at 11:39am, and at the top of their hill at 11:51am.

Went inside the Gentryville Food Mart to buy items for lunch. I asked about where to find a picnic table, and was told about a park a quarter mile away on a road west. I arrived at the place at 12:04pm. It's nice - even has a pond. After eating, I took a nap, and was ready to go again at 1:00pm.

Noon mileage report: 17.1 miles so far today.

Back at it heading north on US-231. South of Dale, I was quite surprised to see a highway sign ahead stating US-231 North was one way and US-231 South was the other. How could that be if I was already on US-231? I checked this out using the Google Maps app on the BlackBerry. A new road! And I'd been riding on the old highway up until now! Both my GPSs and my map didn't show this new road, which sort of bypasses Dale on its west side.

It wasn't long after I was on the new highway that I saw a Denny's ahead. Could I eat more after just an hour? Of course! Arrived at 1:50pm and ordered the Lumberjack Slam and a Dr Pepper. Now I was full.

I left Denny's close to 3:00pm, and passed under I-64 a short time later. I see now on my out-dated map that I went from Central Time to Eastern Time when I crossed the county line just north on I-64.

At 4:25pm (I'm using Eastern Time now) I was at my turn right onto CR-1100S. Now I had some serious hills. I assumed that the towns would be on hilltops, and that was the case. Arrived St. Henry at 4:43pm. They have a beautiful church there. At 5:10pm, I took another break near the top of a hill. Between being full, it being hot, and these steep hills, I was getting worn out.

Arrived in Ferdinand at 5:30pm. There's an impressive monastery building here, on a hill, of course. One last section to go, using IN-264, would get me to the state forest. The hills didn't look too bad, but I was struggling. Finally, after several short breaks, I was at the forest's entrance at 6:54pm.

I'd figured that it'd be downhill to the lake, but I didn't expect a slope that had me at 35mph before I applied the brake! How will I ever get back up this hill tomorrow morning? There are two campgrounds in this park. I stopped at an information board and saw that one campsite (by the dam) had seven sites, while the one to the north had sixty-one. I decided to go with the larger one and started up the first hill on that road. At the top there was a hill down, sloped so much I couldn't see the end of it! I changed my mind at that point, and went back toward the smaller camping area by the dam. At least it was all downhill. The area was on the other side of the dam, which I crossed. No one was here, so there was room for me.

This is a nice spot, with a lake view. It was now 7:21pm. I self-registered and got set up. I'd left the bike's bottle generator engaged all day (even on hills). That had brought the voltage up from 12.2 volts to 12. 3 volts! No electricity or water here, so that will have to do.

It was 10:00pm when I went to bed, after one last gaze at all the stars I seldom see. I'll finish the report in the morning.

Jeff

Spent: $5.07 (lunch items) + $12.18 plus $3 (lunch #2) + $13 (campsite) = $33.25.

Day 11 - Boonville, IN to Ferdinand, IN

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+ plus signs indicate pictures added after returning home from the trip +