Day 8: Turkey Run State Park to Attica, IN

June 23, 2012

(By Joy)

We finally managed to put together a day without any really bad parts. We had a nice cool morning and got on the road quickly after stopping at a nearby gas station for breakfast and to refill our nearly empty snack bag. After racing along the busy state road in front of the state park to get back to our preferred country roads, we stopped to see the Narrows Covered Bridge, built in 1882, at the edge of the park before facing our toughest climb of the trip. The road was shaded, though, and pretty, so I kept pushing the pedals and didn't have to walk it. Part of our morning road was rough and poorly patched, but it was nothing like the poor road conditions we'd seen earlier, so we still enjoyed the ride.

After a quick stop for me to tighten my kickstand, we headed toward Wallace, where we didn't know what we'd find. Our map said something about a restaurant, but I warned Jeff that the map was over 10 years old and that restaurant might not be there anymore. What we found, though, was more than a restaurant. It was the Wallace Opry, a diner + sports souvenir museum + opry house. We had intended to just get something to drink, but when we saw they had pie, we had some for second breakfast.

We continued to have pretty good roads past Wallace, but since our maps are old, some road names have changed, and we missed a turn somewhere, but Jeff found us another road that included the perfect shady spot for a break. That break was timed just perfectly to get a call from friends in West Lafayette offering us a place to stay in their home for our rest day, so the day just kept getting better!

The other thing that helped today was that I had made a reservation at the historic Hotel Attica for the night, so we knew we had that ahead of us. The campground near Attica is attached to a giant off-road park full of ATVs and Jeeps—not exactly our scene—so I thought I would surprise Jeff with a hotel night instead. We weren't sure what we'd find, especially since I hadn't really checked into what kind of place the hotel was, but when I called, the owner sounded really nice, the price was right, and though it wouldn't make up for not being able to stay at the Turkey Run Inn, I hoped it would be good enough.

We stopped for lunch in Covington, where we stopped only briefly at the un-air-conditioned local diner before relocating ourselves to Subway. Jeff started looking up more information about the hotel on my phone during our stop and saw that it was very old and had been damaged by a recent storm. Only part of the hotel was affected, though, so we hoped it would still make a good stop.

Saturday traffic into Attica was busier than we'd expected, particularly around the Badlands ATV park, but we pushed on to the hotel, which was right on our route. It was very old, built in 1853, and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Owners Bertie and Jeff got us checked in, showed us where to park our bikes, and told us about previous bicycle tourists who had visited. It didn't take us long to settle in to our air conditioned room, get cleaned up, and decide to eat there at the hotel. It was Prime Rib night, so you would have had a hard time convincing me to go elsewhere.

Dinner felt like a little vacation from our vacation. We were starving, of course, and made quick work of our soup, bread, and appetizer. My prime rib was both giant and tasty—Jeff had to help me finish it—but we still saved a bit of room for cheesecake at the end. Our waitress was great, and impressed by how much diet Pepsi we were consuming, brought us carafe after carafe of the stuff.

We walked around town a bit after dinner, I visited the hotel's lounge while Jeff worked on the computer, and we slept very soundly to the drone of the AC.

Joy requested my "sad clown" face while I performed the morning sunscreen application.

Incredibly detailed map of the Wallace General Store and Opry.

Somebody added Bobby Knight to Mount Rushmore. Sacrilege.

Joy needed a bathroom, so I rode ahead and scouted for one. This bait shop was possibly the worst-smelling building I've ever entered. The owner (who was actually a really nice guy) assured me there was a bathroom, but I couldn't bring myself to check it out. Later, Joy did enter the bathroom, and took a photograph, which I think it best not to publish here (or anywhere)...

Today's ride: 57 miles (92 km)
Total: 376 miles (605 km)

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