Riding your bike day after day through new landscapes is like watching a 10 mile per hour movie unfold in real time. I try to pay attention and notice the details. What does it look like? Are there any smells? Are there any sounds? What are the homes like? How do people live around here? Could I live here?  These are things that go through my head as a keep pedaling.

Day 17 – Louisville Kentucky to Madison Indiana 51 miles

When I last left off I was sitting in my 16th floor hotel room on the waterfront in Louisville enjoying the comfort of a nice hotel after a night sleeping against a wall behind a church. I considered taking a rest day, but in the end I decided on a late start. Once I got started, I headed north into Indiana and started way-finding using various online mapping tools. There was a lot of urban riding and the stiff headwinds made my legs feel like mashed potatoes. I rode 51 miles and arrived at Clifty Falls State park and set up my test after 4 pm. I didn’t feel like cooking, so I rode an extra few miles and had Arby’s for dinner.  Making miles, but not a memorable day. I had a good sleep in my tent and was ready to go the next day.

Day 18 – Madison Indiana to Oxford Ohio – 86 Miles

I camped in Madison Indiana, but I never saw it. Apparently, it’s on the Ohio River and has a very historic downtown. I just got to see the rural areas to the west and then the industrial (busy) area. I never caught a glimpse of the river.  Today was another way-finding mission with varying results. Kamoot, a bike specific route building app was more aggressive in it’s suggestions and Google Maps was more conservative. I used suggestions from both and then used my common sense to make the final decision. Early in the day, Kamoot took me to an open gate that gave access to a smooth double track. It looked really enticing but after looking more closely, this was an Army proving ground and some of it had been turned into a wildlife refuge. Where I was, it was unmarked. The map showed a few ways out, but there was a tall, barbed wire fence around the perimeter. This time, I turned back, I knew it could be a rabbit hole that ruined my day if I had to turn back after many miles. I cut my losses and backtracked a mile. I rode adjacent to the east perimeter fence for 11 miles and there was just one open gate. It would have probably worked out and saved me some miles on a busy highway, but I think I made the right choice.

Later on in the day just north of Versailles Indiana, Kamoot found me a route that Google Maps did not. It led me to an unexpected covered bridge and a ride through the State Park. I told the nice lady at the entrance station that I was just passing through, thinking that there was an exit on the other end. She let me in for free. She’s probably still wondering what happened to me because the only way out turned out to be a rocky double track behind a locked “Authorized Vehicles Only” gate. This time, I took the chance and after some mountain biking I came out the other side and saved myself a bunch of time.

I rode the rest of the afternoon through nice rural roads through places like Penntown and then into Brookville. The ride into Brookville was an especially nice wooded river valley. A nice change from the flat farm land. After visiting the grocery store in Brookville, I rode the Oxford Pike to Oxford Ohio where I promptly went to a pizza parlor to replace some calories and then straight to a motel to recharge. On the backroad I arrived on there was no “welcome to Ohio” sign but I had entered my sixth state nonetheless.

Day 19 – Oxford Ohio to Caesar Creek State Park east of Waynesville Ohio     68 miles

I toured around Miami of Ohio University and visited a bike shop in the morning and thus had a later than anticipated start. Oxford is a beautiful college town and I enjoyed my customary oatmeal breakfast on a picnic table downtown. In general, there were more people around driving the backroads in this area. There were some good climbs and there were more estate like homes and people driving fast to get from the their big homes to wherever they were headed next. My destination was Caesar Creek State Park and I headed out for the final 10 mile stretch at around 4. I soon found that the road to the park was jammed with cars and trucks and there was no shoulder at all.  I spent 2 miles pulling over all the time and then sprinting forward in those breaks between cars but this was the worst road of the trip and luckily I found another way and happily rode the extra 6 miles on safe back roads. 

At the campground I met two other bike tourers. It turns out these younger guys were just out for a four day trip between Cincinnati and Cleveland. They had done 107 miles that day. They were interested and impressed with my trip and we had a number of nice conversations.  Nice to share the adventurous spirit with others who have it and understand it.

Day 20 – Caesar Creek State Park to Deer Creek State Park.  59 miles 

I have felt safe throughout my trip. There haven’t been any situations, other than a few busy roads, that I have felt uncomfortable with. Until the raccoon mafia at Deer Creek State Park. The harbinger of things to come was the teeny tiny baby raccoon who visited me during broad daylight. He was getting way too close and didn’t flinch when I tried to scare him away. His older cousins were resting up and made their visit around 1 am. I was awakened with a vocal squabble between raccoons right in my campsite. In between screams I heard chewing (have you ever heard a raccoon eat? Let’s just say eating quietly isn’t properly rewarded within the species) and knew that somehow they had gotten into my food bag which I had hung from the installed pole designed for the purpose. I shook the tent, yelled and then peeked out with my headlamp. I saw four sets of eyes still in the vicinity. I went out in my boxer shorts and reclaimed my front pannier with the food in it. I then walked up to the trash can to throw anything touched away and then came back to bring everything into my tent.  About a half hour later I heard another “thump”. I peaked out and saw a raccoon up on the roof of the covered pavillion hanging upside down ready to leap onto where my food bag had just been. Now I knew how they did it.

Eventually the mob moved on and terrorized other campsites. When I left in the morning, the campsite just next door had trash strewn all around. In the morning, my stove didn’t ignite right away and I reached for the plastic baggie that holds my lighter, spork, first aid kit, stirring spoon and leatherman knife. I couldn’t find it. Hmm, I had it last night when I made dinner. But after looking through each of my bags and in my tent four times, it was nowhere to be found. I searched the woods, nothing. It must have been the raccoons! They took the entire bag.

Back in some hidden lair there must be a 70 pound cartel boss who sends out his highly trained troops each evening to prey upon the unsuspecting campers. He must be surrounded by a cache of shiny trinkets of all sizes and colors. I would suspect that an operation of this scope has a warehouse and an eBay store specializing in used camping goods.  The raccoon mafia 1, Neil 0.

In other news, a bolt holding my front rack onto my bike broke early in the day. I was able to come up with a solution with a zip tie and some tape. I took most of the weight out of the bag and the temporary fix held.

The riding today was beautiful back roads and the headwind had shifted to a cross wind allowing me to cruise along at 15 miles per hour for the first time in the trip for the morning segment.

Day 21 Deer Creek State Park to Buckeye Lake Ohio. 60 Miles

The morning riding was beautiful and good and the afternoon was not that great. The good news was that by 10:30 in the morning I had replaced my first aid kit, my leatherman knife, my utensils and had fixed my rack. The first major town I came to had a Kroger and a large hardware store and at the hardware store I was able to buy a broken screw adapter and then borrow a cordless drill from the store. Within five minutes I had it fixed. I had thrown in some extra screws and one of them worked great!  I’m thankful that I’m pretty handy.

The roads leading into Lancaster Ohio were busy and I really needed to pay attention. As I was just about to leave town I heard some strange motor sounds and saw that there was a Farm and Tractor show at the fairgrounds. The sounds that I was hearing were the “hit and miss” engines and I went in to see the engines in use and all the tractors.  I love finding stuff like this!

I ended up at a KOA campground, my first private campground on the trip and it had a different vibe. I didn’t have the privacy I was used to as my site was really close to others and after dark I felt a little like I was sleeping in a parking lot with all of the car lights shining on my tent.  But, I got to do my laundry and there were no raccoons!

Another bonus was that Randy Cobb, a friend from college drove over from Columbus and took me out to dinner. It was fun to see him and to get caught up. Always fun to see friends along the way.

Day 22 – Buckeye Lake Ohio to Barnesville Ohio – 86 miles

I actually slept well in the KOA campground, especially after the loud party turned off the music at the property next door at 11.  Much of the morning was spent cycling along Hwy 40, an I-70 alternate which parallels I-70.  I feared the worst and was pleasantly surprised. It was a wide, smooth, well engineered road with a designated bike lane running most of the way to Zanesville.  It was fun to cruise along at a pretty good clip!  Zanesville wasn’t thriving, but it wasn’t dead either. I had a meal and then road out of town on smaller roads. It became hillier as the afternoon progressed and it was clear that I was no longer in the farmland of the Midwest. I had experienced a shift in just a few hours. South and west of Columbus you find fertile farm land and now east of Columbus it was rolling hills, more wooded and less land used for agriculture. 

In a small eastern Ohio village I went into a small store (no gas) to get something to drink. While I was at the store a young lady who worked there walked up to me and gave me as a gift, a package of local beef jerky. She said she liked what I was doing and that I was going to need some extra energy. I went outside to finish my drink and saw her having a smoke on the side of the building. I walked over and thanked her again.  She said that she has a good bike, but it doesn’t get much use anymore now that she has two kids. My guess is that she was 23 years old. She had an accent and brown teeth. The clerk inside didn’t have any teeth. She said that she used to ride all through these hills and she would ride 11 miles a day to town. It reminds me that sometimes life clips your wings.  I hope she gets back on her bike someday.

The last twenty miles I rode through little hill towns like Derwent and Quaker City, not much going on up here, no agriculture, no industry. They reminded me of little Appalachian towns, at least what I have pictured in my mind. It was late afternoon and I was tired. I only had a few miles to go until I reached my accommodations for the night. But I didn’t know that the last few miles were up a steep hill. I fortified myself with an apple at the bottom and rewarded myself with a Dairy Queen treat at the top of the hill. I then coasted down to my cute Airbnb in a historical home. I was tired, cozy and I ordered pizza delivery. The best part was being safe and warm when the thunderstorms started rolling through about midnight.  Talk about gratitude!

Day 23 Barnesville OH to Steubenville OH via West Virginia 60 Miles

I started late because of some morning rain and then continued riding back towards the Ohio River through windy, wooded backroads. I then came into the steel producing region of Wheeling West Virginia and Steubenville Ohio. Neither were thriving towns filled with old brick buildings and rusted metal.  Once over the bridge into wheeling and rode mostly along a bike path up to Steubenville for the night. This area doesn’t have the pedestrian or biker in mind and I had to lower my bike down a long set of stairs to get into town. After checking into my motel I went across the street to get some Chinese food.  I ran home in a heavy rain.  I have been really fortunate with the rain.  I haven’t been stuck in my tent once in the rain.

The next phase of my trip will be mostly on rail-to-trail paths.  I look forward to the different scenery and the different routine. The paths that I will ride will be the Panhandle Trail, the Montour Trail, the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) Trail;  and the C&O tow path trail which will take me directly into Washington D.C.  All of these trails were former railroad lines.  Until my next dispatch, here are a few more photos.