Money grows in rows

July 3, 2022

Ohio bike day

I woke up to beautiful sunny skies this morning. It looked like a great day for a bike ride! But while I was raring to go by 8, I had to wait for Don to slowly get up, wake up and get motivated enough to head out. So it was nearly 9:30 by the time we got out on the bike.

Don had looked at some possible quiet roads for us to take and since they were mostly laid out in a grid pattern, pretty easy to follow without any written directions. It's sure nice that we seem to be out of the hilliest part of Ohio, at least in this area. While we did have a few PUD's when we crossed a creek, it was pretty flat and we didn't have to walk any of the little climbs.

Traffic was very light today and we even had a couple of Amish buggies pass us. The families were all dressed up and likely heading to Sunday services somewhere. But most of the homes and farms we saw today didn't seem to be owned by Amish. I think they're more scattered in this area.

We enjoyed the morning, and passed many large fields of corn, soy beans and wheat. The wild day lilies, sweet peas and orange trumpet vines were so pretty along the pavement. We also passed an alpaca farm and another place that had a field of what looked like raspberries.

One part of the ride took us into the Spencer Lake Wildlife area where we weren't sure if the road we were on went through or not. However, it wasn't an issue for us as a paved trail took off when the road ended which brought us to the next section of road.

We did encounter one road that had a "road closed" barricade on it. Don said we should check it out since it was Sunday and no construction would be going on. It was due to a bridge that was out, but we would have had to have wings to be able to traverse the chasm that was left! Turning around, we located another road to take. Grids are so nice!

Eventually we returned back to the highway that our campground was located on. And before we knew it, we were back home. It had been a GREAT ride but Don said his knees were a little sore from pushing the speed. I think he said our average was 11 mph. Not bad!

After we ate lunch, we didn't do much for the rest of the day. I sat outside under the awning and read a book. It was so peaceful listening to the birds that I fell asleep in my chair!

We don't know where everyone is here and most of the trailers parked around us have no one using them. This campground appears to cater to seasonal campers with most RV's and trailers parked for use in the summer. They have nice decks and sheds, so likely stay every year. But it's so nice to have peace and quiet!

These silos were as shiny as our Airstream!

And once in a while we saw a "nodding donkey" oil well but only one was actually working. I had no idea that there are about 60,000 oil and natural gas wells in Ohio.

And this one too. Neither sign was at an Amish farm.

The biking queen found an indoor seat today.

Spencer Lake was a nice spot to kayak or canoe.

Just a reminder at the boat ramp. Notice in the previous picture that neither adult wore life jackets. That's kind of like making your kids wear a bike helmet but you don't? A little stupid and a poor example for the kids.

One of our favorite roads today and of course we just had to take it!

Don decided that he didn't want to pull an "Evel Knievel" move with the tandem and jump over this chasm. We wisely turned around and followed the detour.

Look at the cherry red head on this Red Headed woodpecker!

We passed this produce stand on our route today and stopped to check it out. Don bought some very cheap zukes and early peas.

Today's ride: 22 miles (35 km)
Total: 306 miles (492 km)

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