The 1200 Mile Marker

First I'd like to personally apologize for not posting within the last week; we've been on the run and it seems as though all of the places we've been to do not have Internet access. Here I am sitting in Edwardsburg, MI in a church that looks as though it was built within the last two or three years. The main room that is currently home to our bicycles is enourmous with a concrete floor, it looks more like an airplane hanger than a church recreation room.

Todays ride was fantastic, it was one of the best rides I have had yet on the trip. It was a 78 mile day with the wind at my back most of the time and the roads in Indiana are so nicely paved, as though they new that bike and builders were going to be treking through their state. This morning we began in Camden, MI (not to be confused with Camden, NJ) and pedaled through Amish country which was beautiful. I spent most of the day talking with one of our trip leaders which helped to pass the time very quickly. We spent the day bouncing in and out of Indiana and Michigan following route 12, which again, was a great road for cycling.

The last several days have been quite busy. In fact, since my last posting on Sunday we have ridden all the way across Ohio and most of the Indiana/Michigan border putting us only 100 miles out of Chicago. Mind you, last Sunday we were in Cleveland. Riding through Ohio was quite interesting because we kept coming upon places which I had been to, but I had to remember that I had come by car from Columbus not by bike from the Atlantic ocean. For instance, one of our lunch stops was right at the entrance to Cedar Pointe, an entrance I know quite well. It was quite surreal knowing that I had come from New Hampshire.

That day, as well as the next day (yesterday) on our way to Camden were quite difficult. They were long, hot, and very windy. The day we rode into Bowling Green was a 98 mile day with a head wind fronting us the entire time. Given all the work that was done to get us there it felt more like 130-140 miles on the bike. Riding across Ohio was great, but that wind is relentless. Any direction you move it comes right at you.

Now let me back up and discuss our ride into Cleveland which was on Monday. We left Ashtabula Monday morning with some serious van problems. The previous evening (while I was out with my parents) the van had run into some trouble and had to be towed. It was taken to a repair place and the following day - Monday - the alternator was replaced. The procedure of course took the entire morning making it impossible for the van to catch us for lunch. Many of us stopped in a local diner type restaurant for some "lunchy" items which was fantastic - corned beef hash hasn't tasted so good in a long time. We sat at the counter and next to us sat a man who was probably still drunk from the night before. Now being that I did attend college, I do know how to deal with people who are still drunk at 11am. He was a nice guy, totally harmless, and quite interested in our trip. In fact, he had ridden his own bicycle to the diner for a bite to eat. Now I have heard some great quotes and I know some people struggle with geography, but perhaps one of the best things I heard thus far on the trip was:

"When you guys get to Washington D.C. can you get Bill Gates autograph?"

Close, but D.C. is on the east coast, Washington State is one the west coast. It was a bit of comic relief to say the least.

Upon leaving the diner we pedaled into East Cleveland which is notorious for being a pretty rough neighborhood. Yea the roads were bad but people were so facinated by us and amazed and excited when we told them what we were doing. Folks were yelling out of cars, off of porches, and from parking lots, it was great. Once we made it through East Cleveland we were on Superior Drive which took us right through the center of Cleveland. I gave some people a tour of the downtown area -hitting the water and the rock hall - and then took them over to the West Side Market which has been a family favorite for a long time. After we burned ourselves out on produce and fine cheeses we finally rode into Avon Lake - perhaps the best stop we've had thus far.

Avon Lake is a suburb of Cleveland to the east and a quite nice one at that. We were also to spend the two evenings there with host families, my family just happened to have a huge house right on the lake. Following dinner, the entire group traveled to my host families house for an evening of swimming in the lake. Perhaps one of the coolest parts was the fact that they had a trampoline as well as some other toys to play with in the water; we managed to entertain ourselves for the entire evening.

Tuesday was build day and was followed by a most generous donation - 30 tickets to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Most of the people on the trip had never been and I must say, after not being there for quite awhile, I was very much impressed with entire thing.

The stay in Avon Lake was fantastic. The people were so generous and the food was phenomenal. Everywhere we've gone people have been so generous with their time, their food, their churches, their showers, their washers and dryers, it just amazes me how generous people can be. The trip continues to be fantastic and I am very much looking forward to our time in one of the great cities of the world, Chicago.

Continue to comment and email, I will post again in the near future.