"Adventure is where you find it....except home in the rocking chair" - Wally Byam - Garfield and Tango Travel the Long and Winding Road

July 20, 2022

"Adventure is where you find it....except home in the rocking chair" - Wally Byam

Ohio bike day

Today was day 2 of repairs so it was up before dawn to be ready for them to haul the trailer back over to service at 7. Good thing I'm a morning person! Unfortunately Don is not. so this has been hardest on him

With all of the constant stress I've been having, I wanted to go for a bike ride but I couldn't talk Don into going out on the tandem as now his feet were bothering him. Ok, fine....I'll go by myself.

So after we had our morning walk-thru with the tech guy, he quickly put together a route for me that he called "Le tour de cemeteries" as I would go by several different ones. We got my bike ready and I headed out for some fun.

I left town on the main highway and right away, I found an annoying NW headwind. Not bad but it was there right in my face. Don had written down notes for me to refer to on my roads, so I started looking out for the first turn which I thought was near the main Airstream factory.

But the only side road I found had a slightly different name than the one he'd notated. Hmmm, maybe I'd better call him and double check.

Unfortunately, he didn't answer his phone and his voicemail box was full. So I sent him a text and decided to keep going a bit further to see if it was up ahead of me.

On down the road, traffic was busy with lots of semi-trucks. Most everyone was good and moved over a little for me but I only had a small shoulder to work with that had a rumble strip on the white line. I had to really concentrate on keeping the bike straight and not wobble.

Continuing a couple of miles further, I still couldn't find any matching side roads. As I was getting a little frustrated and concerned, I pulled over at a church and gave Don another call. Nope, no answer again! And no reply to my text. Sheesh, what was up with this guy???!!!

At this point I had 3 choices, go forward on a busy highway, turn around and go back to the service office or go back to the first side road I found that sort of matched his cue sheet. I decided to pick #3 option and return to the side road. It looked quieter and maybe he just wrote down the name of the road incorrectly. That's been known to happen.

With the wind at my back, I headed toward town, waving at our neighbor from the campground that was also out on his bike. I thought later that maybe I should have waved him down to see if knew where Don was and why he wasn't answering his phone.

It didn't take long to reach the road, although now I had bonus miles to add to my day's total. Once I turned onto it, the traffic died completely and I could finally relax. Ahhhh - this was SO much better even if it wasn't the road listed.

I was REALLY happy when, after a few miles, I found the next correct road Don had written down for me. Huh, either Google had the wrong road on their map or he'd written down the name of the first road a little differently . No matter, I'd was now on the route I needed.

The country roads had little traffic and it was a pleasant ride past all of the farms and fields. I even came across some buggy warning signs. Yea - an Amish area, that was a surprise!

The worst parts were the ever present wind - sometimes in my face and sometimes from the side depending on which direction I was going, along with some loose gravel on roads that had been recently chip-sealed.

Eventually I came to the first cemetery on my route and decided to take a break to stretch, pee and eat lunch. It looked like it was still being used for burials with older markers from the late 1800's.

I pulled out the route notes and saw that I should just continue on the road I was on. So hopping back on my bike, I did just that - up some little hills now which were a change from the previous flat roads. Don still hadn't called or texted me back, but I figured I was good to go (HAH - more on that later!)

I slowly climbed up the hill by the cemetery, turned a corner and dropped down to a band of trees where I suddenly saw a COVERED BRIDGE ahead of me!!!!! Hey - maybe I should forgive Don for writing down the wrong road earlier. I LOVE covered bridges!

This bridge spanned the Great Miami River which looked more like a creek to me. And like many bridges, it was at the bottom of the hill so I had a bit of a climb going up the other side.

I huffed and puffed up the hill by a couple of Amish farms and followed the road which soon ended at a busy highway. Hmmm - NOW which way to go??

This highway wasn't listed on my notes, but I saw that if I continued on it for a short way to my right, there was a hookup to the county road I was already on. Ok, that looked right, so turning , I found a wide shoulder so it wasn't too bad and soon made my way back to the county road.

By now, it was after 12 and getting quite windy. Plus it was hot and humid. I rode about 1/2 mile past some Amish farms where I stopped to take a picture of the farmers working with their horses in the fields.

Taking another look at my notes which were hard to read now as the paper was getting soggy from my wet sweaty fingers. I saw that I still had a lot of different roads and turns ahead of me taking me who knows where. So I decided to call it a day and turned around.

When I reached the busier highway I had 2 options - just retrace the route I'd already done which meant some hills and gravely roads or ride on the busy highway which looked like it would take me to another highway going directly to Jackson Center.

Don still wasn't answering his phone or texts so I was on my own. Good thing I didn't have a flat tire or other issue as I'd be hitching a ride!

So I went for option 2 - the highways. At first the traffic wasn't bad and I had a wide shoulder, so I felt safe. Especially when I saw an Amish farmer ahead of me with a horse-drawn wagon.

A few miles later it took me to the main highway heading to town. There was a large Honda plant here which I think makes transmissions and also a high school/middle school complex.

I pulled over to take some pictures and heard my phone ring. Guess who was calling me? Yup - it was Don. He'd finally checked his phone which was in the truck, not with him in the service lounge!

I grumbled a bit at him and told him where I was, which I don't think really registered at all as he didn't warn me about the highway I was about to take or offer any alternative.

Turning north, I immediately found a narrow, crumbling shoulder with a rumble strip on the white line. Oh, and lots and lots of traffic. Wonderful!!

Oh well, best to just put up with it as I didn't have any other options that I knew of one at this point. I didn't know exactly how far I had to ride but figured that surely it couldn't be more than a few miles (it ended up being 7). But I think I was a little addled from the heat and not thinking clearly.

I was riding directly into a strong headwind here and I was really wobbling around on the narrow shoulder. The wind from the semi's sucked at me which made it worse. Several times I accidently rolled off of the pavement into the weeds, so I would wait for traffic to pass by and I could get back up onto the shoulder.

On and on I went, grumbling about this little adventure. Why or why didn't I just reverse my route when I could?!

I was SO happy when I finally spotted Jackson Center's water tower in the distance - not far now! And I was even happier when I came to the town welcome sign and the road widened out. There was even another cemetery nearby, though I didn't bother to stop to check it out. I was on a mission!

It was a short ride from there down main street. When I rolled up to the service center, I was red-faced, hot, sweaty and literally brain dead. All I wanted was air conditioning and something cold to drink. Don brought me inside and took care of me until I could think straight. What a day!

I collapsed on a couch in the lounge until the trailer was done and returned to us for the night. I would have loved to have taken a shower, but we still didn't have a working one in the trailer and there wasn't a shower available anywhere. Although Don did suggest our outdoor shower. NOT! Guess it's back to wet wipes!

"Oh say can you see....America, America....". Luckily their dog didn't bother me or leave his territory.

AHHHH - this is more like it! No traffic at all for miles!

Here's another one of these strange brick buildings out in the middle of the farms. This one had a sign above the door indicating that it was part of a district which would mean it was a school. There was even a brick outhouse out back! Nicely restored.

The McColly covered bridge was a complete surprise today. Built in 1876 over the Great Miami River the bridge had fallen into poor repair. In 2000, extensive restoration work was on it.

The Amish gather their hay in these unusual stacks.

I had to look up this guy. He was born in Ohio and wrote many songs for Eddie Rabbit. Some of his songs include "I Love a Rainy Night" and "Pour Me Another Tequila". He is a member of the Nashville Songwriter's Hall of Fame.

This area has several large manufacturing facilities other than Airstream, including this Honda plant that makes automotive transmissions.

One bright note on my slog along the main highway to town was this cute bear sculpture.

Today's ride: 29 miles (47 km)
Total: 129 miles (208 km)

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Scott AndersonSounds like an exhausting day. Be careful about the heat!
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