Marion, OH to Fostoria, OH:

May 6, 2019

Here comes the sun!

We had a late start this morning because we waited for a phone repair store to open. Rhona is on the fourth screen on her iPhone. I worry she’ll cut her finger on glass shards. Her genuine Apple battery case is in not much better state.

Her sister’s ferret took an interest in the case one day and gnawed through a corner or two. That plus being dropped from nearly every height onto every hard surface known to man has been rough on it.

I decided to take the opportunity to have my screen replaced also since it has one crack in it and forcing the phone in and out of the Quadlock case and the very snug and tight water cover stressed Rhona’s screen causing the few cracks to spider web out. We had two hours to kill in Marion without phones for navigation but surprisingly never got lost.

President Warren Harding lived in Marion and conducted the last “Front Porch” style campaign in Presidential history.

Unfortunately the home was closed for renovations but I perched my newly repaired phone over the fence to get the same view voters had of the front porch.

President and Mrs. Harding’s memorial grave site was nicely done (although admittedly nobody has ever accused me of having good taste.

Nearby was Marion County’s World War II memorial.

Almost 6,000 served from Marion County alone and 169 died in service. The names are inscribed on both sides of the walls. I couldn’t get all of the walls in the picture. I fear today some of our leaders are so casual about America getting involved in another war. I can’t imagine what it must have been like for so many men to be off fighting from just this one small rural county.

We had 8 miles on the odometer before leaving Marion and had a long ride north through farm country. Unfortunately the predicted mild southwest winds were frequently from the northwest and really not so mild. However the sun was out, birds were singing, trees were flowering and we had the rest of the day to get to Fostoria. We saw many plowed fields but couldn’t tell if the had been seeded. There were few of those signs the seed companies post identifying their seed brands. We wondered if some of many unplowed fields will remain fallow because of the collapse in the soybean market resulting from the Chinese tariff war. We didn’t see a single tractor plowing a field, perhaps it was still too wet.

Arriving in Fostoria we encountered a metal sculpture.

There’s even an old chainsaw arm in there.

A local recommended a Mexican restaurant near our hotel.

The fajita was sizzling hot...it really was, you can hear it here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jGoRareNYA&feature=share

Today's ride: 56 miles (90 km)
Total: 309 miles (497 km)

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