Today was suppose to be a very easy day... With a fierce wind blowing out of the south all day, I planned on sleeping in and riding the short 19 miles to Henry, IL, where I could camp in their park. I did sleep in to about 9am, but there were crews in the park with a backhoe refilling the playground mulch about 50 feet from my tent so I figured I might as well get up and rolling.
The morning went slow, I didn't want to strain my legs so I took it nice and easy and enjoyed the remoteness that I was in. When you don't see any cars for 30 minutes on these back roads, you start to wonder how far you are from anyone else... I have a feeling at times its a couple miles or so! While not a headwind, the strong crosswind coming out of the south did make cycling interesting. About 1/3rd of my route had me headed north, so I enjoyed the powerful tailwind for the few miles I got it. A little before noon or so I rolled over the bridge into Henry, IL, and sought out the library.
I spent the afternoon updating the last several days on my blog and finally getting a good charge on my phone. I then checked out the weather and saw that tomorrow it would be hitting 100 degrees and I'd also be getting a decent headwind (not as strong as yesterday's but still decent).
I needed to be in Kewanee tomorrow, about 40 miles away, before the post office closed so I could pick up my new phone... so I had another choice: hang out in Henry tonight and get 40 miles in tomorrow's heat and wind before the post office closes or start out now, in the evening, and try and get some miles in before nightfall.
Yup, might as well add some mileage on today. After finishing up my meal at a little local diner, I headed out, hoping to hit Bradford, about half way there, before it got too dark out. I didn't know where I would be spending the night but I figured I would find someplace when I got there.
About half way to Bradford, a collie from some farm decided to give chase. Up to now, I had been used to dogs running along their property line barking at me, and have had probably a dozen dogs come up and run along side of me, 2-3 feet away, barking, but they didn't get close enough to bite and would break off once they got a little ways from their yard. I even had a really fat rottweiler try to give chase in a hilarious but sad I'm-too-fat-to-run way. But this time, this collie got right up close to me and I felt the bike momentary slow down, like he tried to bite my tire or pannier. I had sped up so after this he had broke off chase, and about a quarter mile down the road I stopped to see if there was any damage to my tire or pannier, and amazingly I could not find even a mark, so I'm not sure if the slow down I felt really happened or if I hit some gravel orif he did bite something on my bike.
What I did know is I should probably make my pepper spray more accessible, so I dug it out of my handlebar bag and put it on top of everything so I could grab it fast. My new rule is if any dogs close in like the collie did, they were getting a face full of pepper spray.
When I reached Bradford it was dusk and I started looking for places to camp. Right outside of town there was one of the many giant wind turbines and a little gravel road going to it, I though it might be fun to camp at the base of one of those, but I figured I would hit up the police dept and see what they said first. I pedaled over to it and called the number on the door, and an officer emerged from inside about 10 seconds later. I told him what I was doing and asked if I could camp behind the police dept, he looked at me like it was a very strange question and then said "eh, I don't think anyone will care, you can set your tent up out back." As I thanked him and started to unpack he came over and asked for my ID, which I gave him, and then asked if I would mind if he ran it for warrants or whatnot. I wondered how many people with warrants would really initiate contact with the police, but it was late so I told him to go for it. As I finished setting up my tent he emerged from the building and gave my ID back to me and told me to have a good night and apologized as he would be coming and going throughout the night so it might be a little loud. I thanked him again and crawled into the tent and fell asleep.
Start: Wanona, IL
End: Bradford, IL
Distance: 44.79 miles
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
DAY 16 - MY FIRST 100+ MILE DAY
Having fallen asleep rather early last night, as I didn't have to set up a tent and I couldn't call anyone because I got no signal (also the phone is on its last legs), I woke up pretty earlier today. I was all packed up and ready to ride by 8am sharp!
It was a typical morning ride between the corn fields, and I stopped for lunch in Ashkum, IL. I noticed that they had a laundromat, and going on day 5 of using my 2 sets of cycling gear, figured it was time to do some laundry (Ed, you would be proud!) I grabbed some lunch to go and ate it while my clothes washed.
As I finished that up, I casually made my way to Odell in the afternoon. It was only about 68 miles in, as they were another town with free camping in their park, and due to my early start, I got to my destination a little before 4pm. There was a town pool next to the park so I changed and jumped in the water - felt great!
Afterwards I went and had a couple beers and grabbed dinner at Rentz's in town. The locals were very friendly and I was having a great time - until I checked tomorrow's weather... huge headwind gusting to 25 mph... nooooope! I finished my meal around 8pm and hatched a plan - I would ride another 36 miles to Wanona, which also had free camping in their city park. I figured I would rather do those miles tonight while there was no wind than tomorrow when I would be fighting it.
Before I left the waitress at Rentz's gave me a cyclist goodie bag - a couple bottles of water, a bag of chips, and a container of fresh fruit. Nice! I was weirdly energized at this night time gamble to beat the wind. As the sun went down and I was cycling at night on these back roads, I witnessed a sea of fireflies dancing in the cornfields. It was very cool to watch.
I also went by a farm house with a big oak tree next to it that had christmas lights around the trunk and lower branches. It lit up the area next to the house very beautifully, like something you would see out of movie prom scene.
But night cycling wasn't all roses... so many bugs to get hit by, and I wasn't sure how much battery life was left on my headlamp, so I had it on the lowest setting, so I only got the see about 10 feet in front of me.
And I fell over. First time with this bike. I was at a standstill after looking at the map and moved the wrong way and went down. The left pedal gave my leg a nice 6" cut and my seat got bent back (guess I need to tighten that screw) and I was pissed that it happened but everything else was fine. My panniers didn't even have scuff marks.
In a few more miles I crested 100 miles for the day and hit Wanona, now almost 11pm, and found the park. It was a lot bigger than I thought it would be, was all lit up, and had the typical "park closes at dusk, violators will be prosecuted" signage. IU walked around with my bike wondering if there was any part of the park that wasn't bathed in lights they kept on all night when I spotted a police car and asked the officer about camping there. He was very nice and told me I could throw a tent up anywhere and he would unlock the bathroom for me.
So I found a decent area to the side of the pavilion and started setting up my tent and out of no where - friendly random dog! I pet him a couple times and got back to my tent, when he starts trying to get into my food! I tried to shoo him away from the food but he would just keep coming back to it, and its not like this guy was underfed, so I ended up storing it higher up in the pavilion so he would finally leave me alone. I heard him come around a couple more times that night but my food was safe!
Start: Iroquois, IL
End: Wanona, IL
Distance: 104.14 miles
It was a typical morning ride between the corn fields, and I stopped for lunch in Ashkum, IL. I noticed that they had a laundromat, and going on day 5 of using my 2 sets of cycling gear, figured it was time to do some laundry (Ed, you would be proud!) I grabbed some lunch to go and ate it while my clothes washed.
As I finished that up, I casually made my way to Odell in the afternoon. It was only about 68 miles in, as they were another town with free camping in their park, and due to my early start, I got to my destination a little before 4pm. There was a town pool next to the park so I changed and jumped in the water - felt great!
Afterwards I went and had a couple beers and grabbed dinner at Rentz's in town. The locals were very friendly and I was having a great time - until I checked tomorrow's weather... huge headwind gusting to 25 mph... nooooope! I finished my meal around 8pm and hatched a plan - I would ride another 36 miles to Wanona, which also had free camping in their city park. I figured I would rather do those miles tonight while there was no wind than tomorrow when I would be fighting it.
Before I left the waitress at Rentz's gave me a cyclist goodie bag - a couple bottles of water, a bag of chips, and a container of fresh fruit. Nice! I was weirdly energized at this night time gamble to beat the wind. As the sun went down and I was cycling at night on these back roads, I witnessed a sea of fireflies dancing in the cornfields. It was very cool to watch.
I also went by a farm house with a big oak tree next to it that had christmas lights around the trunk and lower branches. It lit up the area next to the house very beautifully, like something you would see out of movie prom scene.
But night cycling wasn't all roses... so many bugs to get hit by, and I wasn't sure how much battery life was left on my headlamp, so I had it on the lowest setting, so I only got the see about 10 feet in front of me.
And I fell over. First time with this bike. I was at a standstill after looking at the map and moved the wrong way and went down. The left pedal gave my leg a nice 6" cut and my seat got bent back (guess I need to tighten that screw) and I was pissed that it happened but everything else was fine. My panniers didn't even have scuff marks.
In a few more miles I crested 100 miles for the day and hit Wanona, now almost 11pm, and found the park. It was a lot bigger than I thought it would be, was all lit up, and had the typical "park closes at dusk, violators will be prosecuted" signage. IU walked around with my bike wondering if there was any part of the park that wasn't bathed in lights they kept on all night when I spotted a police car and asked the officer about camping there. He was very nice and told me I could throw a tent up anywhere and he would unlock the bathroom for me.
So I found a decent area to the side of the pavilion and started setting up my tent and out of no where - friendly random dog! I pet him a couple times and got back to my tent, when he starts trying to get into my food! I tried to shoo him away from the food but he would just keep coming back to it, and its not like this guy was underfed, so I ended up storing it higher up in the pavilion so he would finally leave me alone. I heard him come around a couple more times that night but my food was safe!
Start: Iroquois, IL
End: Wanona, IL
Distance: 104.14 miles
DAY 15 - SET YOUR CLOCKS BACK
That's right - I've crossed over into the central timezone now!
More corn! But I didn't care, because today I enjoyed a decent tailwind, finally! It really raises your spirits when you can cruise at 16-18mph instead of cranking to do 12. About half way into the day it turned into a crosswind, but hey, I was more than happy with what I got.
This section of the route was very... remote. I found myself going through 20-25 miles sections at a time before hitting a small town with like 1 gas station. Had to stock up on some extra water as I was going right though it in the afternoon before I could get to the next town. I actually had to deviate a few miles out of the way to hit a town with a CVS so I could get some more contact solution, as I had run out of it yesterday and didn't realize how little the towns where that I would be going through today.
I finished the day crossing over into Illinois (state #5) and sleeping in the mayor's office in Iroquois, IL. I called earlier that day to see if I could sleep in the park like it said on my map, and Mayor Karr told me he would leave his office in the park unlocked and to feel free to use the shower there and to help myself to some cold beverages in the fridge! I noticed I wasn't the first person to spend the night in his office as he had a book just full of thank you notes from previous cyclists passing through that got to spend a night inside with a warm shower.
After showering, I walked across the street to the only restaurant/bar in the town and had a beer and some dinner. The woman tending bar / cooking the food / doing everything had a lot of stories about cyclists stopping through, including a group of 27 cyclists that came through a few weeks ago (complete with a support van) that showed up hungry while she was the only one working. Full of food, I walked back to the office and passed out for the night.
Start: Fletcher, IN
End: Iroquois, IL
Distance: 82.48 miles
DAY 14 - THE REDNECK RESORT
More cornfields! The scenery wasn't anything too exciting, though it does give you a certain scope of just how much farmland there is in midwest America.
Sometime in the morning as I was pedaling along I saw a baby bird just chilling along the roadside. I swung back and it was still there, so I picked the little guy up, took a bunch of pictures because he looked pretty cool, then put him back down in the grass a little farther back off the roadside. I'm pretty sure his mom was chirping/yelling at me from the powerlines above, but damn, don't be leaving your baby in the road!
A little while after I was sitting at an intersection wondering how in the hell the numbering system for these roads worked, as I was staring at a road sign post for 500 E road & 500 N road. Right then an older gentleman in a truck rolled up and asked if I needed directions or anything, I told him no but was very curious how the road naming worked. He was more than happy to explain it to me: (grabbing the following from Wikipedia because it explains it better)
Most Indiana counties use a numbering system for designating county roads based on a grid. The system is similar to latitude and longitude on the globe, where numbering begins at the Equator and Greenwich Prime Meridian, respectively.
Typically, the north-south road that divides the county into east and west parts is named "Meridian Road", and the east-west road that divides the county into north and south parts is named "Division Road". Roads in the county are identified by the distance (in miles) from the baseline, multiplied by 100, followed by the compass direction from the baseline. For example, road "200 E" would be a north-south road located 2 miles east of the meridian line, and road "350 N" would be an east-west road located 3.5 miles north of the division line.
I ended my day at a campground at Fletcher Lake. I checked it out online and it's webpage raved about how it was a great stop for cyclists. When I got there it turned out to be a small field next to the lake filled with 2 rows of 5th wheel campers set up for the season with about 30 feet between them, filled with picnic tables and campfire rings. Though initially it seemed kind of... mediocre, as I made my way over I was greeted by a bunch of people who were packing up for the day (as it was Sunday, they were there for the weekend in their campers.) They immediately said they were sorry I didn't get there sooner as they loved taking out cyclists in their boats, and one of the guys, a retired state trooper, came over and handed me a beer.
He told me I should have been there yesterday as a cyclist from Massachusetts was spending the night there and they had a big chicken cookout for him. We started chatting and he was telling me how there are 6 different types of meat on a turtle and how great it tastes, and also how the campground had 4-5 "wild" pet rabbits that just hung out around the campers that they fed. Then as they left they told me to feel free to use their paddle boat tied up to the dock if I wanted to go over to the far side of the lake to swim.... soooo I took out the paddle boat and swam!
As the sun went down I made my way back to shore and jumped into my tent, again, the only person in the campsite... falling asleep, I heard sounds of rabbits hopping around my tent.
Start: Zanesville, IN
End: Fletcher, IN
Distance: 75.14 miles
DAY 13 - INDIANA & RADIO INTERVIEWS
With Lake Erie behind me, I have now entered a giant multi-state corn field. As I travel west the fields just keep getting bigger and bigger, until you look at the map and notice that the roads are pretty evenly spaced out in 1 mile squares and most of those squares are just giant corn fields. On the flip side, the roads have no traffic and all the small town people are some of the friendliest people I've ever met.
I stopped for lunch at a cafe in Paulding, OH, and chatted with one of the people working there about cycling across the country. A few minutes later, a gentleman named Gary Unger came over and shook my hand and gave me his card. He works for a couple radio stations, WPAU in Pauling, OH; KRTE in Williams, AZ; and WPNM in Ottawa, OH. He had overhead what I was doing and wanted me to call in with updates about my trip and he would put them on the air... and as he left he paid for my lunch! I feel bad I haven't been able to call him yet as my phone's speaker & mic have stopped working for the most part, thought sometimes if you smack the back repeatedly it will work momentarily (oh yeah, that started to happen too, I need that new phone!)
After lunch as I continued my western route I left Ohio and crossed into Indiana! State #4! My route took me south of Fort Wayne and through Hoagland, IA, where I met a mid-20's guy who told me how a couple years ago he and a friend decided to bike from there to Maine along the Northern Tier route (he recognized my map.) He hadn't really ridden a bike in years before he went, and regaled me of the horrors of just jumping on a bike and riding long distances, but sadly he only got to Niagra Falls before calling it and having to get a ride home.
As I was rounding out the day I stopped at a small store in Zanesville, IA for some food. The lady working there asked if I was cycling across the country and told me that the assistant principal for the local school, Rob, lived nearby and welcomed cyclists to camp next to his pond in his far back yard. So I made my way over there and he was not home. But his kids were, and showed me where I could set up for the night. Talking to them I found out that Rob and one of his kids were going to spend a couple weeks in Africa doing missionary work, 14 hours into the bush. Wow. If anything goes horribly wrong on my ride, at least I'm still in America and could always hop a greyhound and be back home in a couple days. Being out in the middle of nowhere Africa is a whole other level of remoteness. They let me grab a shower and as I finished up Rob and his wife came home and greeted me.
I asked them why I saw so many houses with gravel-lined ponds, I was curious if they were the midwest equivalent of a swimming pool, and he told me that years back the corps of engineers thought they would help control flooding so they covered 80% of the cost, so everyone got very cheap ponds! Then I went back to the pond and conked out for the night.
Start: Defiance, OH
End: Zanesville, IN
Distance: 77.65 miles
DAY 12 - SLEEPING ON THE... OTHER... ERIE CANAL
I hate to say it but this day was kind of a blur, I've been getting into the routine pretty well: wake up at 7-7:30am, eat something for a light breakfast, break down camp, load up the bike, get going around 9am, hit 30 miles or so around lunch time, grab lunch, hang out a bit, continue cycling until I hit my destination anywhere from 5-8pm, grab dinner, set up tent, pass out around 10-11pm, repeat!
I'm not saying its not enjoyable and I've leaving out all the little unique things I see and people I get to talk to daily, but a trip like this definitely starts feeling like Ground Hog day after awhile when you start camping back-to-back (I'm foreshadowing the next couple days here.)
I got to go through Bowling Green and check out the campus of BGSU and I stopped and updated my blog at a local library. The big adventure of the day was trying to figure out where I would "stealth camp" for the night as there were no warmshowers people nearby, nor any *official campsites*.
Right before the town on Defiance, I spied the Independence Dam state park. It didn't have any camping areas but I figured I should be able to find some little corner to throw my tent up in. As I checked the park out, I learned that it was situated along the remnants of the Miami and Erie Canal and the eastern side of the park ended where the towpath kept going, so I took the bike along the towpath and quickly spied an area that I could camp along the Maumee River. I set up my tent and fell asleep to the sounds of late night boaters going by.
Start: Gibsonburg, OH
End: Defiance, OH
Distance: 69.3 miles
I'm not saying its not enjoyable and I've leaving out all the little unique things I see and people I get to talk to daily, but a trip like this definitely starts feeling like Ground Hog day after awhile when you start camping back-to-back (I'm foreshadowing the next couple days here.)
I got to go through Bowling Green and check out the campus of BGSU and I stopped and updated my blog at a local library. The big adventure of the day was trying to figure out where I would "stealth camp" for the night as there were no warmshowers people nearby, nor any *official campsites*.
Right before the town on Defiance, I spied the Independence Dam state park. It didn't have any camping areas but I figured I should be able to find some little corner to throw my tent up in. As I checked the park out, I learned that it was situated along the remnants of the Miami and Erie Canal and the eastern side of the park ended where the towpath kept going, so I took the bike along the towpath and quickly spied an area that I could camp along the Maumee River. I set up my tent and fell asleep to the sounds of late night boaters going by.
Start: Gibsonburg, OH
End: Defiance, OH
Distance: 69.3 miles
Friday, June 22, 2012
DAY 11 - BACK TO THE GRIND
I had my day of fun, now back to the saddle!
Oh wait, looks like my phone did sustain some damage from the previous day's shenanigans... Bluetooth and wireless abilities didn't work and I would get static from the external speaker if I tried to play any media. Normally I won't really care but I upload my camera photos thru an Eye-Fi card that connects to my phone via wireless, oh noes!
And even better, I got some crazy headwind today. I'm talking 17-20mph gusting to 25 type headwinds. All day. It feels like ever since i got close to Lake Erie I'm been getting headwind coming out of the south-west but this was much more, I'm really hoping this is a lake thing and as I go westward away from the lake it'll die down. Its a shame because there was this really nice 10 mile paved bike path next to the train tracks and all I was doing was being on the drops, head down, trying to fight against the wind.
When I got to Fremont, I hit up the Verizon Wireless store to inquire about my phone. I showed them my phone, and after doing a complete wipe of my phone and the bluetooth and wireless still not working, they just told me they'd cover it under warranty and send me a new phone... Appearently if the screen's not cracked, it hasn't been dropped hard enough!
Now comes one of the problems with being on the road, where could I get a Fed Ex package delivered ahead of me? I know I can get US postal mail shipped general delivery to post offices and pick it up in person, but no clue about UPS or Fed Ex.
So I had the phone shipped home, so when Melissa gets it back in Ithaca, she can then mail it to me via USPS, sounds like a very roundabout way to do something, but I had already asked if they could just ship it to a Verizon Wireless store ahead of me and was told that "it can't be done" must be physically impossible!
Oh well, new phone, can't complain too much, but I can complain about the headwind! I set out and eventually made my way to Gibsonburg for the night. Just south of town there is a camping area and across the street from that is an old quarry that was filled in with water and is now a popular place to learn scuba diving. There was also a beach there and after setting up my tent, I rode the bike over and jumped in and just kinda floated around for about an hour, felt *great*.
After getting dried off and biking back to the tent, of which I picked the best campsite in the whole campground as it was the only one off by itself, I found that I would be the only one camping there that night as the place was dead. Probably more popular on the weekends, when you could camp and go scuba diving.
A little after dusk a thunderstorm came by and while I thought I was sitting pretty, during the 2-3 minutes of intense rain in the middle of the thunderstorm, my tent started leaking! It was only dripping, but both sides above the door zippers where the zipper cover flap was sewed to the cover, had 2-3 places were water was dripping in! Boooo, and also after that the exact middle of the cover also started leaking, right onto my sleeping bag, again just drops but annoying. Now I'm not sure if I should get some seam seal tape and fix it myself, see if I can get a replacement and send this back, or look for another tent to get?
With the rain down to a more normal level and the leaks either stopped or leaking very slowly, I decided to be done with the day and fall asleep. To better days ahead!
Start: Sankdusky, OH
End: Gibsonburg, OH
Distance: 48.5 miles
Oh wait, looks like my phone did sustain some damage from the previous day's shenanigans... Bluetooth and wireless abilities didn't work and I would get static from the external speaker if I tried to play any media. Normally I won't really care but I upload my camera photos thru an Eye-Fi card that connects to my phone via wireless, oh noes!
And even better, I got some crazy headwind today. I'm talking 17-20mph gusting to 25 type headwinds. All day. It feels like ever since i got close to Lake Erie I'm been getting headwind coming out of the south-west but this was much more, I'm really hoping this is a lake thing and as I go westward away from the lake it'll die down. Its a shame because there was this really nice 10 mile paved bike path next to the train tracks and all I was doing was being on the drops, head down, trying to fight against the wind.
When I got to Fremont, I hit up the Verizon Wireless store to inquire about my phone. I showed them my phone, and after doing a complete wipe of my phone and the bluetooth and wireless still not working, they just told me they'd cover it under warranty and send me a new phone... Appearently if the screen's not cracked, it hasn't been dropped hard enough!
Now comes one of the problems with being on the road, where could I get a Fed Ex package delivered ahead of me? I know I can get US postal mail shipped general delivery to post offices and pick it up in person, but no clue about UPS or Fed Ex.
So I had the phone shipped home, so when Melissa gets it back in Ithaca, she can then mail it to me via USPS, sounds like a very roundabout way to do something, but I had already asked if they could just ship it to a Verizon Wireless store ahead of me and was told that "it can't be done" must be physically impossible!
Oh well, new phone, can't complain too much, but I can complain about the headwind! I set out and eventually made my way to Gibsonburg for the night. Just south of town there is a camping area and across the street from that is an old quarry that was filled in with water and is now a popular place to learn scuba diving. There was also a beach there and after setting up my tent, I rode the bike over and jumped in and just kinda floated around for about an hour, felt *great*.
After getting dried off and biking back to the tent, of which I picked the best campsite in the whole campground as it was the only one off by itself, I found that I would be the only one camping there that night as the place was dead. Probably more popular on the weekends, when you could camp and go scuba diving.
A little after dusk a thunderstorm came by and while I thought I was sitting pretty, during the 2-3 minutes of intense rain in the middle of the thunderstorm, my tent started leaking! It was only dripping, but both sides above the door zippers where the zipper cover flap was sewed to the cover, had 2-3 places were water was dripping in! Boooo, and also after that the exact middle of the cover also started leaking, right onto my sleeping bag, again just drops but annoying. Now I'm not sure if I should get some seam seal tape and fix it myself, see if I can get a replacement and send this back, or look for another tent to get?
With the rain down to a more normal level and the leaks either stopped or leaking very slowly, I decided to be done with the day and fall asleep. To better days ahead!
Start: Sankdusky, OH
End: Gibsonburg, OH
Distance: 48.5 miles
Day 10 - THE UPS AND DOWNS OF CEDAR POINT
I woke up at about 8am, got ready, called a cab, and arrived at Cedar Point at about 9am. They don't open to normal guests till 10am, so after I got my ticket and opted to pay more for their "fast lane" line-skipping kinda-unfair program, but I figured if I wanted to see everything in one day I should get it, even though I loathed the idea (yes, I am a hypocrite.) How it works is on most of the popular rides there's a separate entrance for "fast lane" people which pretty much gets you to the loading building of the rollercoasters. I think the longest I had to wait was 15 minutes to get on a ride versus 1.5 hour queue times I saw in the middle of the day.
But, after having a hard time figuring out what was where, I downloaded the Cedar Point app to view the park map. I was getting off the 5th ride of the day, the Maverick, when I went to pull out my phone to see where I wanted to go and it was GONE! I ran up the exit to the ride and asked the people working there if they had seen my phone. Nope! Great, that thing was probably my most important piece of equipment on this trip, the ability to pull it out and see where you are and what was around you was invaluable! I wasn't sure if I lost it on the ride or if it fell out of my seat as I was getting off, and I didn't know which was worse, someone random with my phone or it sitting somewhere I couldn't get to.
So I trudged back to the entrance of the park to the lost & found desk and told them about my missing phone. They had me fill out a form and told me to call tomorrow to see if it was found. This wasn't going to work at all.
Just then I remembered that I had installed a tracking program on it using Prey Project. I asked the lost & found lady if I could use her computer and got the typical "sorry we can't do that" response. Damn! So I went to the front of the park and called a cab via the courtesy phone and went back to Melanie and Bob's place. They had given me their garage access code if I needed to come or go when they weren't around.
So back at the host's place, I used their computer to track my phone. I got a location report back - right underneath a part of the roller coaster that you can't access! Well, at least now I know where it is. I printed two copies of the google maps picture showing the location of my phone and called up the cab service for a third trip - back to Cedar Point!
When I got back I took my location picture to lost & found and they were like "duuur, ok... can't do anything about it, go to park operations." So I go there and the guys there were a lot more helpful, they called the ride and told them about where to look, but said the area can only be searched either when the ride is down or closed for the night. They suggested I bring the phone location picture to the people at the ride so they would know where to look.
I know still had about 7 hours till the park closed and I wanted to give it to the people who would be at the ride during closing so I pretty much just decided to go on more rides, thought by about 8pm I was all rollercoastered out and decided to hang out near the ride till close.
It was at this time a man and woman sat down near me that I had seen like 4-5 times in the lines at at rides around the park. I struck up a conversation with them, Stefan and Christie, and they turned out to be very cool and enjoyed hearing about my travels thus far.
Eventually it was 10pm and I made my way up the exit ramp of the Maverick again and told the people working there about my phone and showed them my map. Waiting there was another guy who also lost his cell phone and a couple that had lost their camera. One of the ladies working there came over and said "does your phone look like this?" and pulled it out! I was very relieved that the screen wasn't cracked and it didn't look like it fell off a roller coaster at all. Apparently one of the maintenance people found it around 8:30pm and threw it in the box of found stuff.
I stuck around for a while and talked to the other guy who lost his phone. I ended up repeatedly calling it so it would be ringing and hopefully easier to find. Eventually I had to go as it was 11:30pm and the park was in the latter process of closing down. I kept calling his phone as I walked back to the entrance and it was surreal, most everyone had left, there were a few employees cleaning various things up and a few scraggling guests like myself, but for the most part the park was empty and dark.
I called up a cab and took ride #4 home. Melanie had left the front door unlocked for me so I took a quick shower and went to bed, such a looooooong day!
DAY 9 - DETURE TO SANDUSKY
I didn't know until a few days ago that my route took me within 10 miles of Cedar Point. I had skimmed a couple coast-to-coast cycling blogs before leaving on my trip, but didn't read any covering the Northern Tier route in depth, most were about the TransAmerica trail.
So last night I asked Sam if he had any thoughts on the logistics of getting up there, since apparently one can not ride a bike on the narrow causeways that go to Cedar Point. He checked with a friend in Sandusky to see if I could crash there for the night but he turned out to be busy.
As I pondered this, I checked my phone and had received a reply from a couple living in Sandusky, Melanie and Bob Zoellner, whom I messaged earlier from Couch Surfing. They said they would be happy to host me, so I got me a place to stay!
So back to today, I left Sam's place after a light breakfast and made my way up to Huron, about half way to Sandusky, and stopped into the library so I could update the last couple days on this blog!
After I was done playing on them internets, I headed out to Sandusky. What should have been an easy 10-11 miles turned into something else as I was once again greeted with some strong headwind. Like a lot of this trip, one just has to soldier on, just continue cranking in a lower gear on the drops. Eventually I made it to Sandusky.
I met up with Melanie and Bob and found out they are big couch surfers, using it for all their trips and hosting loads of people. They told me of how earlier they hosted a group of 6 guys who were traveling the country and using hip hop to teach kids poetry. Another group that stayed with them was a traveling family on 2 tandem bikes and 1 normal bike. They were homeschooling their kids and bringing them around the country, they even brought the kid's textbooks with them so they could study. Sounds heavy!
After talking with Melanie, I figured the best thing to do would be just call a cab to get me to Cedar Point and back.
Start: Vermilion, OH
End: Sankdusky, OH
Distance: 24 miles
So last night I asked Sam if he had any thoughts on the logistics of getting up there, since apparently one can not ride a bike on the narrow causeways that go to Cedar Point. He checked with a friend in Sandusky to see if I could crash there for the night but he turned out to be busy.
As I pondered this, I checked my phone and had received a reply from a couple living in Sandusky, Melanie and Bob Zoellner, whom I messaged earlier from Couch Surfing. They said they would be happy to host me, so I got me a place to stay!
So back to today, I left Sam's place after a light breakfast and made my way up to Huron, about half way to Sandusky, and stopped into the library so I could update the last couple days on this blog!
After I was done playing on them internets, I headed out to Sandusky. What should have been an easy 10-11 miles turned into something else as I was once again greeted with some strong headwind. Like a lot of this trip, one just has to soldier on, just continue cranking in a lower gear on the drops. Eventually I made it to Sandusky.
I met up with Melanie and Bob and found out they are big couch surfers, using it for all their trips and hosting loads of people. They told me of how earlier they hosted a group of 6 guys who were traveling the country and using hip hop to teach kids poetry. Another group that stayed with them was a traveling family on 2 tandem bikes and 1 normal bike. They were homeschooling their kids and bringing them around the country, they even brought the kid's textbooks with them so they could study. Sounds heavy!
After talking with Melanie, I figured the best thing to do would be just call a cab to get me to Cedar Point and back.
Start: Vermilion, OH
End: Sankdusky, OH
Distance: 24 miles
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
DAY 8 - ESCAPE FROM CLEVELAND
After wishing Alan and his family good-bye in the morning, I was off to tackle Cleveland!
The Northern Tier route splits in Cleveland, the main route allowing one to stay near the lake and the alternate goes south into the fancier neighborhoods. Since I was closer to the alternet route I only had to go a couple miles before hooking up with it, but not before decending al the way into a river valley and then having to climb back out of it!
The route took me past many large, old school mansions, most probably built in the first half of the 1900's. It was nice because there wasn't a lot of traffic in these areas, and the only people I saw outside in the middle of this workday were gardeners and other workers working on the properties.
I eventually met back up to the main route along the lake and cycled past the Rock n' Roll hall of fame and the Cleveland Brows stadium. I continued on along the shore as I saw the large buildings of Cleveland get smaller and smaller.
I made it to Rocky River and stopped off for a late lunch. The skies were darkening and I knew there was an incoming thunderstorm. I put on my raingear and pushed ahead, until about 4 miles down the road in Bay View with lightning in the distance I knew something big was coming. I ducked under a park pavilion and planned on waiting for it to pass.
It was then that I recieved a text from Sam Patterson, a docter who I contacted earlier in the day for hosting in Vermilion, his office was right down the road and he came to see if I wanted a ride to his place. I figured I could handle the 20 miles as now the storm was mostly passed, but he was very nice and asked if he could take my panniers so I could enjoy a little faster of a ride. I took him up on his offer and he said he and his wife Susan would be waiting for me when I got there.
Riding my bike without all the gear on it was just night-and-day different. I was amazed at how fast I could climb hills. It will be very interesting when I complete this trip and go back home and jump on my unburdened road bike.
When I reached Sam and Susan's home I was once again greeted with a beer, a shower, and a warm meal. They made some fantastic indian food with chicken and Sam has some extra sauce to tune up the heat on it to a respectable amount. I met Sam's son and his friend who just started watching the second season of Game of Thrones, and we talk a little about how great a show it was and his friend still couldn't believe that they killed off one of the main characters in the first season. I ended up hanging out with Sam for most of the night, he showed me his bikes, he had several great custom bikes and a foldable one that he was going to take on the KATY trail with his wife at the end of the month. I told him how I was also going to do it and asked him to tell me how it went and if there were anything I should watch out for if he ends up on it before I get there.
As it always happens, before we knew it, it was almost midnight and time for sleep. I laid on the bed in his guest room with the windows slightly open and just fell asleep on top of the bed.
Start: Chesterland, OH
End: Vermilion, OH
Distance: 66.8 miles
DAY 7 - REST DAY.... KINDA
I was finally able to sleep in for the first time this trip at Rogers and Jessie's place, and when I got up Roger made me some breakfast and showed me around the outside of his place, his chickens, his home built hot tub in-progress, and his garden.
Alan (aka Subnet), one of the most popular members on a firearm forum I frequent had earlier offered to let me stay at his place when I posted about my planned bicycling journey there. I was keeping in contact with him the previous day and I figured I would hop on over that way on my "rest day" because it wasn't too far.
Roger told me about some rail trails that would make the journey to Alan's place easier then jumped on his bike and lead me a few miles to where they started. I thanked Roger for everything and started my ride. Other than some rolly hills and elevation gain, the ride was short and not too bad.
I arrived at Alan's place and he seemed impressed that I was out there doing what so many others (myself included before I got laid off) could only wish to do. He gave me a nice cold beer and introduced me to his lively and friendly family. We ended up talking about a lot of varied topics and I realized that we were pretty similar people in how we viewed a lot of the world. Alan treated me to a T-bone steak on the grill that was excellent and before I knew it, it was 11pm and it was time for me to go to sleep, but before I did, he and his friend, another forum member who stopped by, offered me lots of good advise on what roads to not take around Cleveland.
Start: Painesville, OH
End: Chesterland, OH
Distance: 23.0 miles
Alan (aka Subnet), one of the most popular members on a firearm forum I frequent had earlier offered to let me stay at his place when I posted about my planned bicycling journey there. I was keeping in contact with him the previous day and I figured I would hop on over that way on my "rest day" because it wasn't too far.
Roger told me about some rail trails that would make the journey to Alan's place easier then jumped on his bike and lead me a few miles to where they started. I thanked Roger for everything and started my ride. Other than some rolly hills and elevation gain, the ride was short and not too bad.
I arrived at Alan's place and he seemed impressed that I was out there doing what so many others (myself included before I got laid off) could only wish to do. He gave me a nice cold beer and introduced me to his lively and friendly family. We ended up talking about a lot of varied topics and I realized that we were pretty similar people in how we viewed a lot of the world. Alan treated me to a T-bone steak on the grill that was excellent and before I knew it, it was 11pm and it was time for me to go to sleep, but before I did, he and his friend, another forum member who stopped by, offered me lots of good advise on what roads to not take around Cleveland.
Start: Painesville, OH
End: Chesterland, OH
Distance: 23.0 miles
DAY 6 - OHIO ALREADY?
After a wonderful breakfast at the Blanchard's place, Jim loaded my bike in his truck and drove me a few miles past some streets with heavy traffic to where a bike path started and dropped me off to continue my journey.
As I got out of Erie I took route 20 again and made my way about 30 miles to cross the border in Conneaut, Ohio, where I stopped at the White Turkey Drive-In for lunch on the recommendation of Renie. As I sat there eating I checked out warmshowers for a place to sleep tonight and found a mid-20's couple in Painsville that I contacted and got a quick reply from them saying they'd love to host me. I originally didn't want to go that far today but I was feeling good and figured a bed was worth an extra 20 miles. Its a good thing I didn't try stopping and camping around Geneva-on-the-Lake like I first thought at the beginning of the day, that place is a crazy tourist town.
This day's riding kinda blurred in with the last few days, riding south west, headwind, little towns, little parks, random gas stations for water or Gatoraid. I was happy that my untested Brooks saddle has worked out great, it's the most comfortable saddle I've rode for long days on the bike. I guess this means I can finally send home the original Trek saddle I also brought along incase the Brooks ended up being horrible.
In one of the towns I met a bearded guy on a bike with a small motor on the rear rack. He was pulling another bike tire in a Bob Yak trailer and had on gardener gloves as bike gloves. He reminded me of a roommate I had one, Brilex, and we chatted for 10 minutes and he told me he wanted to find the best way up to Albany and I told him about the Erie Canal towpath and warmshowers, of which he was very thankful for. It was weird hearing someone say "Oh, my wife's cousin has internet, I'll go over to his place and look that up!"
It was getting later in the day as I finally make my way through Geneva-on-the-Lake and made my way to Roger and Jessie's place in Painsville. They definitely have a cool hippie vibe going and were the most interesting people I've met yet on my tour. Roger bought his almost-condemned house for $20k and has been slowly fixing it up with recycled wood and material he's gotten for free. Jessie spent some time in Ithaca and worked for Moosewood. Two years ago they just upped and left California and decided to bicycle across the southwest. They used 5-gallon buckets lashed to their bicycles as panniers and slept out in the desert with only a tarp around their sleeping bags. They stopped in random towns and found temp work for money before moving on. Roger also told me of how after getting fired from a previous job he went to India with his friend, a 70 year old indian catholic priest, and ended up just bumming around India for 6 months, where he worked on a coffee plantation for a while. Roger and Jessie fed me some great food and I almsot thought I was back in Ithaca! We all hung out and had some beers and talked till about midnight and then they had to go to sleep and I was also pretty tired after a long day.
Start: Erie, PA
End: Painesville, OH
Distance: 90.4 miles
Friday, June 15, 2012
DAY 5 - GOOD-BYE NEW YORK
I woke up at the Cole's and was greeted by Tim and a delicious bowl of oats and organic fruits and yogert. After breakfast I thanked them and headed out, back down the coast.
I started to notice a trend that would haunt me for the next few days while riding along Lake Erie... south-western headwind! While I enjoyed the view of the lake and all the little parks on route 5, I enjoyed some shelter from the wind down on route 20, so I found myself spending more and more time away from the coast.
Late in the morning I figured I should stop and see about where I would be spending the night, and using the warmshowers app on my phone, found Jim and Renie Blanchard in Erie, PA. They are a couple of retired school teachers and as I found out have toured the Great Allegheny Passage twice. I called Jim and he was more than happy to host me, and told me since Erie's streets were a little crazy that I should call him when I got to Erie and he would pick me up.
About half way to Erie I crossed the NY-PA border. This was a small but big step I felt, I'm finally out of NY, this trip is really happening, I'm really going to be on the bike for the summer, I really am this crazy!
When I rolled into Erie, I stopped to see where I was and call Jim, but a man named Jack on a mountain bike saw me and stopped to chat me up and offered to guide me to Jim's place. I accepted and he lead me down the "safer" streets. We stopped off at his place on the way, where he showed me a bunch of his bikes, gave me a drink, and offered to fix anything on my bike that may be broken. I did take him up on his offer for free chain lube as my chain was still pretty grimy from the canal trail.
Eventually we got under way again and he lead me a short distance to Jim and Renie's house. They greeted me and let me shower, showed me the guest room, and fed me! As we were talking I found out that their daughter was spending the summer in Ithaca and she was going to college at ESF, the same place my brother went, and that she was coming home that night!
We all ended up hanging out, I was able to fix a problem on Renie's laptop (and "earned my keep") and we watched Nik Wallenda walk across Niagra Falls on TV then I updated the last few days on this blog and headed to sleep.
Start: Dunkirk, NY
End: Erie, PA
Distance: 51.64 miles
DAY 4 - BOO HEADWIND
I woke up to a cool morning and actually got to use my sleeping bag the way it was intended instead of just sleeping on top of it! After packing everything up, I got a move on and found out that I had forgotten that there's not a complete towpath after Lockport and had to plot a new route down some roads near the canal, but eventually got back to an off-road trail next to the canal.
Going through Buffalo took me longer than expected, there's a few points where I was thankful I had a smartphone with google maps to see if I was headed in the right direction. I started getting a very decent headwind coming out of the south west which was just going to make the rest of the day that much harder.
When I got out of Buffalo the ACA maps had me head south to Orchard Park (the last section of my current map), which I didn't know at the time but this added almost 20 miles to my trip as I wanted to end in Dunkirk and stay with my first host family that I met through warmshowers.org. When I got to Orchard Park at about 5:30pm and 50 miles in, pulled out the next map, and to my dismay Dunkirk was 38 miles away. My error was when I used google maps earlier to get a rough distance of this route, it said it was only 65-ish miles to Dunkirk, but I didn't notice that the maps took me out to Orchard Park while google took me straight there.
I ended up cycling another 5 miles to Hamburg before calling my host family, the Coles, and telling them that I might not make it. Kim Marie and Tim turned out to be awesome people, they told me of an alternate route, route 20, that was more inland so I wouldn't have to fight the headwind next to the lake. They also said I could come show up whenever and if I needed, they would come pick me up.
So I took route 20 instead and wow... I went from fighting to maintain 12mph to doing 16-18 no problem. About 2 hours and 30 minutes later, I was standing outside their house in Dunkirk! Kim Marie and Tim were super nice, they let me grab a shower, fed me some tasty vegetarian food, and sleep in their spare bed.
Start: Lockport, NY
End: Dunkirk, NY
Distance: 88.41 miles
DAY 3 - CAMPING AT THE PLAYGROUND
Waking up in the familiar bed at my parent's house was kind of surreal, considering that I didn't know where I would be sleeping tonight. Oh well, I'm slowly getting more comfortable with not knowing where or how the day will end.
I left my parent's house and biked back south to the canal path. It was cool but sunny, a great day to ride! I really like the Rochester to Buffalo section of the Erie canal, the trail seems to be the best and the little "port" towns that come up every 10 miles or so are great little rest stops. I saw a bunch of land marks like the road that goes under the canal near Medina that made me think my first cycling tour with Cliff and Lyman when we cycled the entire Erie canal 2 years ago.
Right past Spencerport I saw an old man on the trail walking 2 cats without a lease, they were just following next to him as he walked.
I ended up stopping to eat a faux-garbage plate at Jimmy Z's in Brockport, and texted the crew guys to ask if it was just a bad idea or the worst idea, but I dug in anyways, Brady needs calories!
I ended up finally rolling into Lockport at about 7pm and sat down on a bench next to the locks and tried to figure out where I would be sleeping. I looked on the ACA map and it mentioned free camping behind a drive-in. I called them up and inquired and the girl who answered sounded like it was a very odd question, but after she checked with someone told me it was fine. So I biked over to the drive-in which turned out to be a small grill / ice cream stand with a playground in the back. They told me to feel free to set up anywhere as they were closing for the night. As I set up my tent next to a slide, a family came over from down the street and the kids started playing on the playground, I'm sure they didn't think the guy with the tent was creepy or anything...
Start: Greece, NY
End: Lockport, NY
Distance: 66.74 miles
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
DAY 2 - ITS GONNA RAIN
And rain it did! I woke up to the sound of some heavy rain on the tent early this morning, figured there was not much I could do about it, and went back to sleep. Waking up in the morning, still raining. I checked the weather on my smartphone and hoped that it would calm down later in the morning.
No such luck! With the time getting closer to 10am, I decided that I was going to have to don my rain gear and take down the tent in the rain. My wonderful waterproof panniers kept my clothes dry and my rain shell kept me dry but the tent got soaked and thrown into a garbage bag before being stuffed into my pannier.
The canal towpath in the rain wasn't much fun and made for some slow goings, so when I reached Palmyra, I decided to get an early lunch in town (giant calzone, had to take half to go) and then jumped off the towpath and rode on NY Bike Rt 5 (Rt 31) for about 10 miles. The rain let up, so I jumped back on the canal towpath, as it is pretty picturesque (and becomes paved) the closer it gets to Rochester.
Somewhere around Pittsford I noticed my rear tire was almost flat. Jumped off the bike and found a giant piece of glass stuck in the tire... I've read a number of cross-country blogs where the authors only had 2-3 flats going across the country when using quality touring tires, and now a flat on day 2 is going to make me paranoid like crazy for the next few days! Luckily I was very close to a bridge so I changed the tire under there as the rain started coming down pretty heavy again.
New tube pumped up and I was off. A few miles down the road I deviated from the canal path and headed north to my parent's house in Greece. Got a good shower in, a wet tent set up to dry, some clothes laundered, and a bed to sleep in tonight!
Start: Newark, NY
End: Greece, NY
Distance: 40.50 miles
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
DAY 1 - A TOASTY FIRST DAY
Today is the big day! Woke up early but by the time I got done double-checked everything bike and gear related and last minute adding a 3rd water bottle cage, it was 10:30AM and I needed to go! It was a good first day riding, a little too warm and sunny but I had a tailwind coming out of the south most of the day so I couldn't complain.
I snaked my way north through the east side of Ithaca and then up Ridge Road (Rt 34B) between the finger lakes. Lots of beautiful farmland and little traffic. Got to King's Ferry hunkering for some food, but the 2 restaurants there weren't open. As my water got low I started thinking maybe I should have planned this route through some more populated areas, but then a lovely little mom-and-pop gas station appeared and I thankfully filled up my bottles with cold water and gator-aid!
Front there I continued heading north till the top of Cayuga Lake and started heading west to meet up with the Erie Canal. I stopped into a diner near the I-90 exit and enjoyed the house special, battered and fried short ribs. I then continued west until I hit Lyons and finally Newark, where the canal towpath started. From there I slowly pedaled along the towpath, winding down the day, until I found a grassy area along the canal and set up my tent and then jumped into the canal to cool off after a long hot day of riding.
Start: Ithaca, NY
End: Newark, NY
Distance: 82.75 Miles
Monday, June 11, 2012
THE BEAST
Here's the heavy beast that I will be piloting across the country...
And here's a short breakdown of my major pieces of gear:
And here's a short breakdown of my major pieces of gear:
- Bike: 2012 Trek 520
- Rear Panniers: Ortlieb Bike-Packer Plus
- Front Panniers: Ortlieb Sport-Packer Plus
- Handlebar Bag: Ortlieb Ultimate 5 Plus
- Front Rack: OMM Sherpa
- Saddle: Brooks B17 Standard
- Tires: Schwalbe Marathon HS 420 (700x32)
- Tent: Alps Zephyr 2
- Sleeping Bag: Mountain Hardware ExtraLamina 20
Friday, June 8, 2012
MAILING A PACKAGE TO A CROSS-COUNTRY CYCLIST
Its actually pretty simple! You just need to find a town they will be cycling through several day in the future and then mail the package to:
FIRST LASTNAME
GENERAL DELIVERY
ANYTOWN, NY 12345-9999
The ZIP+4 extension -9999 indicates general delivery. This will send the package to that town's main post office and it will be held for the cyclist to come pick up. It is recommended that mail is sent to smaller towns with only one post office so there's no confusion. You may also want to write on the package "Hold for cross-country cyclist: ETA: XX/XX/2012" just to let the post office know when approximately it will be picked up.
I look forward to receiving a ridiculously heavy marble statue from Ed somewhere around Kansas!
FIRST LASTNAME
GENERAL DELIVERY
ANYTOWN, NY 12345-9999
The ZIP+4 extension -9999 indicates general delivery. This will send the package to that town's main post office and it will be held for the cyclist to come pick up. It is recommended that mail is sent to smaller towns with only one post office so there's no confusion. You may also want to write on the package "Hold for cross-country cyclist: ETA: XX/XX/2012" just to let the post office know when approximately it will be picked up.
I look forward to receiving a ridiculously heavy marble statue from Ed somewhere around Kansas!
Thursday, June 7, 2012
THE ROUTE (IN SLIGHTLY MORE DETAIL)
About time I started posting!
So here's the route I'm planning on taking:
I plan on covering approx 400 miles/week (6 days cycling & 1 day rest) That gives me an average of about 67 miles per day and should take about 11 weeks to cross the country!
So here's the route I'm planning on taking:
- Ithaca, NY to Palmyra, NY (74 miles)
- Palmyra, NY to Muscatine, IA via the ACA Northern Tier route (941 miles)
- Muscatine, IA to Machens, MO via the ACA Great Rivers route (258 miles)
- Machens, MO to Clinton, MO via the Katy Trail (238 miles)
- Clinton, MO to Pittsburgh, KS (120 miles)
- Pittsburgh, KS to Astoria, OR via the ACA TransAmerica route (2682 miles)
I plan on covering approx 400 miles/week (6 days cycling & 1 day rest) That gives me an average of about 67 miles per day and should take about 11 weeks to cross the country!
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