Living it up

Today I am nestled in the lap of luxury! I got a hotel room and the air conditioning feels heavenly. I’m happy to be here!

I left my wonderful, secret campsite about 6:30. I had several more miles of road riding to get to Fredericksburg. It seemed there was lots of uphill today. But what goes up must come down according to Isaac Newton and Tyrone Davis. I guess thats even true for the roads in Ohio.

In Fredericksburg the OTET went back to being a bike path. Here though it was twice as wide and was open for horse drawn buggies. It was paved and very well maintained. The Amish here are allowed bicycles and even electric assist bikes. I really wanted to ask how they recharged them since Amish do not use electricity.

I had just got off the road and on to the OTET. I stopped at the first bench I came to to turn off my rear light/radar and to take off my hi-vis vest. I only use that when I’m on the road. Safety first if possible but never less then safety third. Ha ha, just joking Mom. I was just getting ready to sit down when a man pulled up and asked where I was going. After talking for a minute he suggested we ride together for a while. I agreed but knew I was in for a struggle! He was fit and on a nicely set up Specialized Secteur. His bike probably weighed less then 23 pounds. Mine was about triple that. His name was Barth and I enjoyed talking with him. We maintained around 14 mph for 10 miles or more. That was fast for me. Lol im betting it was slow for him! We rode together to Walmart where I had to resupply.

As I was locking up my bike 3 other riders pulled in. I don’t remember if I got there names. Im so terrible about that! If I don’t write it in my notebook I forget. Anyway they had started in Cleveland and were headed to Cincinnati. There 13 year old son was doing it with them. Good job guys! I know you all will make it. I should of asked to take there picture but I didn’t think of it. They were gone when I came out.

What is not in the picture is what I ate for lunch. I bought a package of raspberrys 2 bananas 2 yogurts a pint of milk and and a 2 pack of donoughts that were reduced to a $1.00

11:45 I was back on the path headed through the Killbuck swamp. Or at least the outer edge.

It was pretty with a lot of birds, ducks and turtles.

Lunch was not sitting very well with me so in the shade I pulled over and laid down. That lasted for about 3 minutes due to the mosquitos. I got back on and continued to ride. I got down to Killbuck where the OTET is on the roads for I think 8 miles. According to my bike computer it was 90 degrees and that was in partial shade. I started looking for a place to camp but it was only 12:30. I really didn’t feel like 8 miles of roads in the sun so I googled my location and saw there was a hotel back by the Walmart I had been to at lunch. 4.5 miles backwards to air conditioning sounded better then an 8 mile road ride. A funny thing is Barth and I talked a little about camping and motels. He said sometimes you just have to get a room. I didn’t disagree with him but I thought to myself, nah not me I live for camping. He sure was right though.