Day 16- May 19 - Whitewater Memorial State Park, IN to Franklin, IN - Two Old Guys Take On A Continent

May 19, 2023

Day 16- May 19 - Whitewater Memorial State Park, IN to Franklin, IN

Raccoon Attack! / Jekyll and Hyde Weather

John’s Story

The first subtitle says it all. Last night our food was assaulted by a pack of raccoons. We’ve been leaving our food in our rat sacks on picnic tables at night with the rat sacks tied to the tables. Last night after we retired to our tents we started hearing rustling sounds, then suddenly vicious snarling as several raccoons started fighting over who would have first crack at our food. Then it was quiet for a few moments. Then the snarling and fighting started over again. Then it was quiet for a few moments. This repeated several times before we decided we needed to put our food somewhere else if we were going to get to sleep. We decided to place our rats sacks for food in the men’s bathroom nearest where we were camped. We figured the raccoons weren’t tall enough or smart enough to reach the door handle to get into the men’s room. All was peaceful after that, and our food was safely retrieved in the morning. Ed was concerned every time he heard a noise once we got back into our tents that the raccoons were going to break and enter into our quarters.

The second subtitle says the rest. It was about 55° this morning with not a breath of wind and a clear blue sky. Despite the hills, and there were some, the first half of the day was a lovely ride. We stopped for lunch at the market about 35 miles into the day. Immediately after we hit the road again a strong southwest wind sprang up. Of course we were headed southwest, so the rest of the day was perhaps not a living hell, but it was at least purgatory. The wind persisted for the next 35 miles all the way to Franklin. We limped in windblown and somewhat exhausted from fighting the wind for about 4 hours. Luckily tomorrow is our second rest day, so we get to sleep in a hotel room bed tonight and tomorrow night. No tent to set up, no food to cook, no raccoons to defend against (at least we hope not).

Before I forget, I need to provide an update on the blooming cactus back home in Oklahoma City.

It’s coming along nicely. There should be a bushel of cactus apples later this summer

A few scenes from today’s ride.

I think there was one of these buzzing around in my tent last night.

You know by now how much I love old buildings. I think this must’ve been a part of some sort of pioneer museum but I never saw a sign or an entrance.

A scene from The Night of the Pod People.

I think the Russians missed this missile silo and demolished the old stone building behind it

Saw some beautiful county court houses today. This one is in Rushville, Indiana

I only took this picture because it looks like an old AT&T Long Lines microwave relay station. After my dad retired from the Air Force, he worked for AT&T for 25 years servicing the equipment at stations like this. You don’t see many towers like this anymore with their microwave horn antennas because the technology has been replaced by fiber optics and satellites.

We were riding along and I saw this huge out of place rock at the end of a drive into a farm. I thought it might be a glacial erratic, which is a stone dropped by melting glacial ice. I don’t know if the glaciers reach this far south in Indiana back in the last Ice Age. I saw a couple men in the drive so I thought I would just ride up and ask them what they knew about the rock. Steve told me that it used to be some distance away, and a friend of his with a bull dozer managed to pick it up and move it here. He didn’t know anything about why the rock was here in the first place, but we did have a nice chat about life, the universe and everything.

Steve. One thing I found out from Steve was why I had such a doggone difficult time last night getting a hotel reservation in Franklin for tonight and tomorrow night. Franklin is less than 25 miles from Indianapolis. The Indy 500 qualifying heats started today and continue into the weekend. It’s surprising that we found any place to stay at all.

We went out of our way to find a coffee shop in Connersville. It turned out to be a great choice. There were enough calories in that peanut butter brownie to fill me the rest of the day.

We have to work on Ed’s navigation skills. When we decided to go into Connersville to look for the coffee shop, Ed pulled out his phone and started waving his arms about how we had to go up this road in front of us to get there and showed me his phone to convince me. I told him that was exactly what we had to do, except that he was waving his arms about the wrong road. We had to turn around and go back to the right road and then a mile further to get where we needed to go. Good thing he wasn’t the navigator on those submarines back during his Navy days, or he might’ve frightened someone when his periscope came up in their bathtub.

At the top of one long hill a barking dog came out to chase me just as I crested the hill at low speed. The dog was snapping at my leg as I peddled past. I landed a lucky glancing kick on his nose, which caused him to lose interest. I stopped just a little ways farther on the downhill out of the dog’s territory to wait for Ed. The dog did not seem so interested in chasing Ed as he did me. I wonder why.

The bird population the last day or two has completely changed from what we were seeing early on the tour. Now it’s all red wing blackbirds, swallows, killdeer and mockingbirds. Not a cardinal in sight.

How about some more scenery?

Beautiful clear water streams crisscross the countryside here.

The only picture of flowers I took today

Lots of fields just planted or ready to be planted.

I had a conversation with one of these goats as I rode past. I think he thought I was horning in on his territory

I have no earthly idea what this machine does

A flower outstanding in it’s field. I guess I lied about that other picture being the only one I took of flowers today

There’s a lot of discussion about the direction of the prevailing winds and whether it is better to ride across the country towards the east or towards the west. I can only say that, whether or not today’s winds were prevailing, they prevailed.

For the first 16 miles of riding in the wind today we were on a two-lane road without a rideable shoulder and with very heavy traffic. The wind was coming from in front of us and to the left. When a big truck came from the opposite direction its “wash” was like being slugged from the side by a heavy pillow. When a big truck passed us from behind its wash tried to push us off the road and then tried to suck us into the lane behind it. Lots of fun.

We checked into the hotel in Franklin, unloaded our bags into the room, and headed directly to the Shale Creek Brewery. After four days not being able to stop at one it seemed fitting reward for a tough day. We met Don and Ronda at the brewery. Don’s a biker. I asked Ronda if she bikes. No, she said. So what do you do when Don is out biking I asked. Anything I want, she said. Take that,Don.

After a couple of really good Scottish Ales, we biked a few blocks down the road to a Mexican restaurant and had a great meal. At about 8:15 I looked up and noticed the sky had really darkened up with threatening clouds. I checked the weather on my phone. Rain expected at 8:30. Radar showed a line of thunderstorms just about to reach Franklin. We hurriedly paid the bill and made our way back to the hotel. Luckily Franklin has a really nice bike path from the hotel to the brewery 3 miles away which expedited our hasty return. Just a few moments after we got undercover the rain started. That sounds like a perfect end to today.

Personal Note

In the interest of full disclosure, yes, I love buttermilk! I must’ve inherited this trait through my mother and grandmother who passed it on from those hardy German farmers from whom I am maternally descended. I also like blood sausage. When I was a kid, back in the day before we were all afraid of everything, my mom would take raw ground beef, spice it up with salt and pepper and I don’t know what else, and we would spread it on bread and eat it for lunch. Another German chromosome I guess.

Who knew buttermilk came in single serving containers? Well, now I do.

Ed’s Story

You may have wondered why this journal didn’t come out last night. Well by the time we were done at the brewery and the restaurant and rode back it was 8:45. I was pooped. I told John to work on the journal while I went to bed. I would finish in the morning…..lazy me, but I don’t care.

Several people asked why mileage was not adding up on the front of each journal entry. Here’s a response from a reader that seems to make sense:

I think the problem with the mile counter is that you are doing the journal entries "backwards" as it were by placing each new entry at the beginning of the journal rather than at the end. It makes it easier for readers to get to the latest entry, but the algorithm assumes that each new entry is "Day 1" since it's the first entry with a mileage that you entered. The total shown on the title page will be correct because it simply adds up all the entries, but since each new day becomes a new "Day 1" to the mileage algorithm, the mileage will be counted only for that day at the page bottom. Hopefully that makes sense.

Just to clarify things, it was my idea to put the food in the bathroom, and yes those raccoons were trying to get inside my tent. I heard them standing outside talking about the best way to get in but then I shined my light on them and scared them away.

It was a cool morning when we left but not cool enough for a jacket; my long sleeve fishing shirt came in handy as a layer over my jersey to keep my arms warm.

Several miles after we left camp we had a screaming downhill, followed by a bridge crossing.

Will load picture later poor signal

As we were crossing the bridge, my GPS indicated we were near a little town called Dunlapsville. I never saw it or any houses, but George, maybe that’s where your family originally came from.

As we approached the intersection to go to Connersville, there was a little mini train museum there. Yes I may have waved my arms in the direction we need to go, but I just wanted to confuse the enemy for operational security because after all I am a retired submarine sailor. We were never there and didn’t do anything.

We saw a large white house on the side of the road as we are leaving Connersville. It look like an old time mansion.

Erected 1831 and eventually the home of Caleb Smith, Secretary of the Interior.

Old barn; newer barn; newest barn….each bigger than the last to hold their worldly goods.

John talked about the wind and the berm on the road. As we approached Franklin, our route took us off State Route 44 and onto a 4 mile loop to get to the hotel while we were actually only 2 miles away. We opted to stay on the busy state route, because of the great berm, and eventually got to the Relax Inn.

Today’s plans are washing clothes (mine in progress); going to bike shop to buy a new multi tool; going to church this evening; and finding more iso butane fuel for our stove. If we have time we will dry out our tents to get ready for our stay at the Cagles Mill Lake - Lieber State Recreation Area Sunday night.

Well, we will tell you in tonight’s journal entry all the great things we did today.

Until next time, happy biking!

Today's ride: 73 miles (117 km)
Total: 3,271 miles (5,264 km)

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Dorothy ShinstockLove the goats and the barns. Not so much the butter milk. I remember NO such raw hamburger sandwiches! Mom nibbled on raw hamburger every time she made burgers and meatloaf as long as she lived.
Love you Mom!
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