Humid, but thankfully overcast, when we left this morning.  We had to weave our way through some very interesting city streets, neighborhoods, jailhouses and over the Des Plaines River,  dodging construction and pot holes, but oddly, not a lot of traffic.  It took us six miles to reach our trail where we were instantly surrounded by trees.  This trail is extremely similar to the C & O canal trail we take out of Washington D.C; weaving through the back yards of neighborhoods of all kinds.  While we missed most of the homes, we avoided all of the traffic; rabbits, chipmunks and squirrels was as busy as our trail was.  We did pass through one town that had capitalized on the trail usage; businesses lined the path surrounded by parks....capital idea (pun intended).

Sadly, our trail only lasted 20 miles and we were back on the roads through Chicago Heights and Sauk Village.  As we crossed the state line into Indiana, we rejoined the very busy Route 30; thankfully with few tractor trailers.  A few miles of the heavy traffic and we needed a break; after 40 miles it was time to get some cold liquid, anyway.  The stop provided time to rest and find a different road.  This narrow stretch of our course wound through neighborhoods, heavily trafficked, but with a slow speed limit and polite drivers.  Shortly after noon, the sun came out and the temperature shot out of the comfortable 80° we’d enjoyed all morning; it was now hot and steamy.  Though the sun didn’t stay, the 90° temps, did.  Ten miles from our stop we once again joined the busy highway, but this time with a very generous shoulder, so we could snap a couple pictures.  Also now out in the open, we sailed with the tailwind that we’d previously only heard in the trees.  It was the push we needed as the high humidity had drained us.  After passing a couple interesting characters, we made it to our stop for the night by two o’clock.  Limited dinner choices within walking distance, but we walked away happy and restocked after our 65 mile day.  Holding off on that cholesterol test once we get back, though!

Ames, Iowa to Valparaiso, Indiana

396 Miles

Surprisingly, cool (67°) considering the bright sunshine that greeted us this morning.  We headed out on the highway, hoping that Saturday’s traffic would not be as heavy.  Traffic wasn’t bad, but there was really nothing to see; struggled to find something to take a picture of.  We resorted to counting banana peels (15) and bungee cords (lost track at 50).  After 22 miles, we needed a break.  The country road was instantly quieter and greener.  A short pedal through the hamlet of Hamlet and then back on the highway.  The last eight mile stretch was on the Historic Lincoln Highway.  Of course, the country road added a couple miles and a few hills, just to work our legs on today’s short ride.  But we also enjoyed pretty homes and Saturday yard sales. Once reaching the town of Plymouth,there was plenty to see. Note the price of gas; wonder what year that was?!

Way too early to check in (even with the time zone change), so we stopped for lunch, (check out the real turkey on this club) once again being served much more than expected (or needed)…..but OH, so good.

This is so bad; the next pictures we have are for dinner……we really do not spend our entire day eating.  Though there are two “family” diners  nearby, we craved a beer and glass of wine for dinner.  The three miles roundtrip (which we add to get to our 45 mile total) was worth it.

It was dark, warm and humid (67° & 95% humidity) when we emerged from our motel room this morning.  The forecast was for hot, so we wanted an early start, but in reality someone was hoping to go further than the planned 50 miles.  The highway was quiet as usual for a Sunday morning, though we still had ample shoulder.  Once again, there was not a lot to see (other than the changing morning sky), but we’d settled nicely into riding the slightly rolling hills.  The breeze we created from pedaling was easily cooling the moisture on our skin,  it wasn’t quite this cool, though the sun did stay behind the clouds until well after nine.

Shortly after 11:00, we reached the edge of the town where we’d originally planned to stay.  An early lunch and rest was in order, plus we had to plan our route from here; after all, it was too early to stop.  When we left from lunch, it was still cool (82°) in the shade, but out on the highway the sun was hot and the traffic had picked up.  A quick turn on to a country road and quiet (and farms) returned.  Though it was hot and we were tiring, we still were enjoying the ride today, but we were more than happy it did not last any longer than 67 miles.

Our twenty extra miles was motivated by the Thai restaurant conveniently located across the street from the hotel.  Little did we know, they are closed on Sunday.  We settled for Chinese and were looking forward to a good night’s sleep.

Rolled out of our quiet hotel room into a Monday morning mayhem, a.k.a. rush hour.  Based on yesterday, we had no idea we were near a major interstate and main commute route.  With no choice on course, we hopped on our bikes and joined the rush of commuters, catching every stoplight along the way.  A couple of miles down the road, we gained a shoulder; just enough room to snap a couple of photos. The St. Joseph River andthe pretty campus of Brown Mackie College

It was over an hour before we were outgoing on the incoming tide, but our real peace came after 15 miles, when we turned onto our now favorite road.Finally able to relax, we realized the sweat pouring off of us was not from our hectic escape from city traffic, but thick humidity.  But our steady pace on the beautiful country road kept us cool.  A quick trip back on the highway to cross the state line.  We finally broke our streak of getting rained on in every state.

The morning was filled with plenty to see and by mid-morning, the hazy sky had engulfed the sun and kept the temperatures from soaring.  Our ride into town for lunch got a bit choppy, but we managed to find a good local place to eat.  Van Wert is a beautiful town with a renovated downtown and even a Duckie!  On the way out of town, we pedaled past nicely restored old homes and The Marsh Foundation.  We had another 15 miles on more country roads, past drive-in movie theaters and a beach volleyball court (sort of), before biking through downtown Delphos  and more charming homes.  With the only hotel on the far edge of town, we would be back on our bikes in search of dinner.

We had eyed a Greek restaurant on the way to our hotel, but naturally it was closed on Mondays; the only other choice was Mexican.  At least we had a filling meal after our enjoyable 57 mile day.

Hazy and humid this morning; the partially cloudy sky keeping the temperature at 70° for a couple of hours.  For twenty miles, we had a slight uphill grade as we pedaled past farms and small towns; so refreshing to see the American Flag being proudly displayed in these towns.  Besides the required churches, barns and horses, we had some different sights today, too.  We’ve notice in Ohio, homes don’t have swimming pools, they have swimming ponds, plus colorful beehives and the “mac daddy” of tree houses.

Reaching an unnamed crossroads on our country road, Rico waved us down.  He was just starting a renovation of a great old building and converting it to Cherico’s Roadhouse; this place will be Fabulous, once complete.  When the sun finally broke through before noon, it shed light on the previously disguised storm clouds. We reached the edge of town by 1:00, so stopped for a bite to eat.  Once again our hotel was on the other edge of town, giving us a great opportunity to check out the pretty homes and interesting buildings of Upper Sandusky, this is the police station.

Just before reaching our motel, we made a quick stop to pick up supplies for tomorrow’s ride and in walks “little Joe” (now lives in Cleveland)…..what a great surprise.  We sat and chatted for awhile, but he needed to head home and we needed a shower.

Not the wonderful ride we had yesterday, but the 60 miles ended well.

The strong southeast blow had kept the haze of humidity from settling on the horizon and blown the clouds away; it also kept our pace slow.  We had been looking forward to a shorter and hopefully easier ride today, but the wind kept us working to maintain 10 mph; not to mention the uphill grade with some rolling hills.  But the soft remnants of clouds in a blue sky and the color it was casting on the fields, kept our mind elsewhere….most of the time. Again, we passed huge pool/ponds, this one with a beach and  a church from 1861.  As the morning wore on, the wind seemed to blow the humidity away; it really was a gorgeous day.  The beautiful country road offered flowers, pretty homes and even ducks! We had pedaled through a couple small towns, but by 11:00 we were ready to take a break.  Found a Great local spot, selling homemade jellies, playing oldies and making a “Dagwood” size sandwiches.  They had to turn the music off, for Jerry to leave.  The wind was kicking and fluffy clouds had returnedby the time we left our early lunch.  But with only 15 miles more (or so we thought) we figured we would be checked in early and rest up for tomorrow.  The road to Mansfield kept going and going and getting hillier by the mile.  We wound our way up and down the streets of the citywith a quick stop at an old-fashioned carousel.Road construction sent us on a couple mile detour with a couple hills thrown if for good measure.  A couple mile trek on the interstate got us to our hotel over two and a half hours (& 18 miles) later.  Our relaxing 39 mile day turned out to be a hard fought 47 miles; and we’ve only begun to hit the hills.

Fortunately our dinner and drinks, tonight was just steps from our room..…and delicious.  Rest and Sleep in now on the menu.