Break out the sparklers - it's the 4th of July! - Garfield and Tango Travel the Long and Winding Road

July 4, 2022

Break out the sparklers - it's the 4th of July!

Ohio bike day

It was another clear sunny day today and I wanted to do a bike ride. But Don decided that his knees were still complaining about dancing 2 days in a tow followed by a tandem ride. So he opted to stay in camp and do the laundry. By the time he'd put pedals on my bike and walked through a route with me, it was 10:00 before I left.

As I came to the first intersection, I saw that a sheriff's car was parked on to the side and 2 officers were standing in the middle of the road. I slowed at the stop sign (as any law abiding cyclist would do!) but they waved me through. Hmmm - I wondered what that was all about?

Continuing down the road, I saw a few other cyclists out on this pretty day. Obviously these roads are utilized by a lot of riders.

At the next intersection, I needed to turn left, so signaled my intention with my arm out. There were a couple of cops here too and one gestured that I should go right. Nope, I didn't want to do that so I stopped to see what was going on.

Apparently there was a bike race happening in this area today. But once I told him the road I needed - to the left - he said to go ahead. I appreciated that as the other direction would have totally screwed up my route today!

The rest of my ride was fairly uneventful as I rolled past farms and fields. The wildflowers were so colorful with daisies, yarrow, day lilies, chicory, and others ranging from white to yellow to blue and orange. Once in a while I'd have some shade from trees which was much appreciated as it was warming up.

On one road, I came across a small cemetery. I decided it was too good of a spot not to take a potty break and rest a bit, and of course a chance to check out the monuments. It was an old one with the earliest marker that had a death date of 1856.

Although I hadn't seen any buggies today, I did pass one farm that had what looked like a group of Amish men putting up a barn. I would have taken a picture but they were working behind another building and I would have had to trespass onto the property.

Don had picked some good routes for me today and there was little to no traffic except for one busy road that I had to cross. Mostly it was pretty flat with some little climbs, especially on the aptly named Indian Hill Road! But I didn't walk anything or even get into my granny gear.

A few farms had some livestock and I even spotted a ground hog running along the road. It was pretty shy though, and it moved into the grass when I stopped to take a picture. There was plenty of stinky roadkill too, deer and raccoons.

I have to say that both today and on our tandem ride, that the farms and homes we've ridden by were quite tidy and well cared for. No signs of a trashy house anywhere.

I had no problems following Don's directions and around noon, found some trees next to a phone pole where I could park the bike and take a standing lunch break. As it was really heating up by now, I didn't linger for very long. I just resoaked my neck cooler, head cover and leggings which helped cool me for a bit.

Eventually I made it back to the Spencer Lake Wildlife area and out the other side. As I headed back to camp, I decided to add a few more miles and explore one side road. It was somewhat interesting as it took me by an old farm equipment business.

When I reached another busy road, I turned around and went back to the route which I followed all the way to the campground. It was 2 pm when I pulled up at our site - red faced and very hot. The ride had been a good one but BOY! was it hot out today! I think it was 90ish and who knows what the heat index was with the higher humidity. Likely over 100 degrees!

It sure felt great to get out of my sweaty bike clothes, and have a cold drink and snack in the shade of our awning. Don was just finishing with the laundry but hadn't made any progress on packing up the rest of the camp. He said it was just too hot out right now. But I was just happy he'd done our laundry, including the sheets which are a pain to put back on the beds with the curve at the top of each one.

Later after dinner when it had cooled off a bit, I helped him start packing up things since they are predicting rain tomorrow morning. I tried to talk him into loading the bikes tonight, but he declined and said it would be fine. I still thought it would be a mess, but hey - I wasn't going to argue!

As I was pretty tired, I went to bed early.

I wore my big girl socks today! Bring it, Ohio!!

Where are MY balloons?! I had to wait for this bike parade in the campground to pass before I could leave.

I took a potty break in this handy cemetery and found one zinc monument.

The sign on this weird piece of equipment said it was a 1926 Star. I have no idea what it does or if it was made this way???

The last little road I explored had these signs telling drivers to give cyclists 3 feet when passing. But this was the only road I was on where I saw these signs. They could also have been used on the busier roads. But drivers were all courteous and gave me a lot of room.

Today's ride: 27 miles (43 km)
Total: 284 miles (457 km)

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