Day #12 (5/18/24) – Bike Across America

I posted yesterday’s blog post mid-afternoon thinking that I was going to have a quiet, boring evening alone. However, a couple of things happened yesterday that I wanted to share before starting on today.

This campground I’m at is mostly RV’s with hookups for utilities and retired people live here April through October. The campground is on a large lake with good fishing. My campsite is amongst these RV’s. I had been sitting all day in the shelter at a picnic table reading and such. At 5:00 I finished eating a backpacking meal for dinner. At 6:00 one of my neighbors from a RV came over and invited me to dinner with some of the other RV owners. I wasn’t going to turn the invitation down, so I met Jerry, Nick, and Mike. All retired guys and they served me steak, baked potatoes, etc. It was a great (second) dinner, and we had great conversation. I continue to be impressed by the frequency with which people go out of their way to help make my journey more pleasant. I’m thankful and feel very blessed.

There is a marina about half a mile down the road from my campsite. Nick told me that during the storms that afternoon there was a small tornado that touched down and destroyed two piers and a bunch of boats. I remember when I was sitting in the shelter having these strange strong gusty winds blowing through the shelter from a few different directions. That must have been from that tornado. I remember thinking at the time that if there was a bad storm that I would have no place to take shelter. I’m in the middle of an RV park, and these places are tornado magnets! Anyway, no one was hurt at the marina, because the rain had kept everyone away that day. And I continue to be blessed during this adventure.

On to today.

I woke up with the birds at 5:20 and got ready to go. I was biking by 6:30. It was 56 degrees to start, which is perfect. I did 16 miles to the next trail, which was the Zoar Valley Trail. I was a little worried about the condition of the trail given all the rain we had and knowing that this trail is a towpath next to a canal. As I biked the roads to get there, I could see a lot of flooded fields and streams that were either very high or over their banks. The roads I was on were nice without much traffic early on a Saturday morning. I was surprised to see several oil wells in the fields.

When I got to the trail, it looked okay. So I decided to go for it.

It wasn’t long before I started to regret my decision. I was basically biking through a swamp. It was very wet, and with trees on both sides. It was going to take a week of good weather to dry it out. About a mile in I slid and fell down on a muddy bridge. My handlebars got mis-aligned in the fall. I was coated with mud. Mosquitoes immediately descend on me – they were ferocious! No time to recover. I quickly muscled my handlebars close to straight and kept going.

The trail alternated between slippery mud and gravel that was easy to ride. But my bike was a mess!! It was caked with mud and gravel. I made it another mile and then exited the trail at the next trailhead.

I opened up Google Maps to find an alternative route. My original route had me riding NNW on trails to Massillon, then SW to Millersburg on more trails. Using Google Maps, I was able to find back roads that cut the corner on my planned route, saving me 20 miles of distance. But, I was now on roads.

Honestly, I was in a bad place. My last shower was three days and two states ago. I was all muddy from my fall. My bike was a muddy mess as well. It took a lot of self-talk to stay positive.

As I was biking, I started looking for someone outside at one of the houses I was passing with the hopes of borrowing their hose to clean the dirt off of my bike – especially the drive mechanism.

It took about an hour until I saw a man and his daughter walking outside their house. I peddled up their driveway. They had disappeared. A moment later, their garage door opened and who did they see but a muddy cyclist standing in their driveway. The man got out of his truck and walked over to me. I asked him if I could use his hose to get the mud off my bike. He was very gracious and showed me where his hose was. His daughter came along and his younger daughter came out of the house as well. We had a nice conversation about my bike adventure and how I got so muddy. I tried to keep my distance, because I probably didn’t smell well. I got most of the dirt off my bike and gave them their hose back. They said they would follow my blog to keep track of my adventures. Then the daughter asked if she could say a prayer for me. We held hands and she said the nicest prayer. I’m getting a little emotional writing this. That prayer was just what I needed – even more than a clean bike. The power of prayer is amazing!! I left them in great spirits.

The part of Ohio I was biking through is Amish country. I know that they don’t like their picture taken, so you won’t see many here. I saw many on bikes and they seem to like to ride e-bikes. I saw them riding horse carriages on the roads. I saw them working in the fields, and I saw their farms. It was very interesting. They would greet me as I biked by, saying things like, “hot enough for you?” Or “you should bike faster up the hills.” The speed of my bike was about the same as the speed of their one-horse buggy, I guess they thought I should be passing the carriages on the road.

At one point, I was climbing a hill behind a carriage. The top of the hill was steep, so I decided to walk my bike up the rest of the hill. I walked my bike up several hills on this shortcut. I was resting at the top under the shade of a tree when a man in a carriage came down the road the other way. His name was Joe, and we talked for a good amount of time. Then he asked me if I wanted a ride in his carriage. Of course I said, “yes.” He rode me around a little bit then dropped me back off at my bike. He said I could take a picture of his carriage if I didn’t get him in the picture.

Eventually, I connected up with the bike trail to Millersburg (called the Holmes County Trail, but part of the Ohio to Erie trail network that I will be riding for a few days). The trail was as wide as a two lane road and it was paved. One half was for horses (meaning Amish carriages), but bikes could use the whole thing. Six miles on the trail and I was in Millersburg at 12:30 with 56 miles behind me.

I found a Mexican restaurant for lunch and worked on a plan for the afternoon. I discovered that the next town down the trail with a hotel was 35 miles away. I didn’t think I had that in me. And right across the street from the restaurant was a local hotel called Hotel Millersburg. I booked a room online while I ate – mostly because I was afraid they wouldn’t give me a room if they saw me. :). This is an old hotel right downtown that has been in continuous operation since 1847. The rooms are nice with lots of antique furniture and old pictures on the walls – very charming.

When I got into my room, and for the first time on this adventure, I took an Advil. It wasn’t for my legs or sit-bones (those feel fine), it was for my upper back. Not sure if it was from pulling on the handlebars while climbing all those hills the last two days of riding, or sitting at a picnic table all day yesterday, or sleeping in a tent the last two nights. Maybe a combination of all three. Anyway, I felt a lot better after 30 minutes.

I spent the rest of the day doing laundry, walking around town and eating a couple of dinners (I’ve been losing weight).

For the day, I biked 56 miles and did 2,633 feet of climbing.

Overall, I’m at 627 miles. More tomorrow!