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Day 1 (Monday, June 14,
2004): Peter Matthews arrived in Newark Liberty Airport (NJ) from
Dublin, Ireland, on June 8, and we spent the days prior to the start of our
ride moving our home from Montclair, NJ, to Verona, NJ, which is adjacent to
Montclair.
On the morning of June 12, we were up at 5:00 AM so that Irene could drive
us with our ordinary bicycles to the Harbor at Perth Amboy, NJ, arriving in
time to start our ride by 8:00 AM. We started this journey across America by
dipping the rear wheels of our bicycles into the Atlantic Ocean as it washes
the shores of the Perth Amboy harbor. Then we rode down the main street of
this seaport town that was so important from colonial times up into the
beginning of the 20th Century when the ships got too big for this shallow
harbor.
We were rewarded by shouts of encouragement from the many pedestrians on the
street of this early Saturday morning in Perth Amboy, and we rode away into
the urban environment of the Greater New York City area feeling very good
about our having started this adventure. The day was sunny and it became
very warm as we traveled along the New Jersey highways that skirt the City
of Newark. We crossed over 8 different major highways including the NJ
Turnpike (the busiest highway in America) and the Garden State Throughway
which gave us a reasonable test of our hill climbing abilities. While the
entire route was through built up urban areas, we did pass through some very
nice residential areas with grand parks and magnificent trees. If you take
the time to get off the freeways, you will find that NJ has some beautiful
places.
We arrived back at Gary's home in Verona, NJ, at 1:30 PM having ridden 35
miles. We had no breakdowns or unpleasant experiences. Our ride across
America had started.
Day 2 (Tuesday, June 15, 2004): We started this day's ride from
Gary's home in Verona, NJ, at 9:30 AM. Packing was only finished this
morning so we hope that we remembered everything that we will need on the
road. Irene will follow us after about a week after which we will have the
advantage of a sag wagon, but in the meantime it will be self contained
traveling.
It was hot (about 80 degrees F) as we started out down the road west on Hwy.
17 to Why 206 when we turned north. There was heavy traffic and urban riding
conditions all the way this day. we thought that we would get out into the
country by the end of the day, but so far there has been only a lot of
traffic and not all of the roads have shoulders meaning that we were out in
the traffic much of the time. We got to our motel in Andover, NJ, about 2:30
PM. Our mileage for the day was 55 miles (90 miles for the trip to date). We
were very tired. NJ is definitely not flat, and we are not in the best
riding condition. Gary walked up most of the hills today, but Peter rode all
the way.
The manger of the motel says that Hwy. 206 is almost flat all the way to
Port Jervis, NY, (tomorrow's destination), but he is not a cyclist so we do
not trust him. In any case, we will take it like it is.
Day 3 (Wednesday, June 16, 2004): We started from Andover, NJ, at 8:30
AM this morning. About 8 miles our of Andover on Hwy. 206 the road seemed to
level out a bit. We had our first interview with the press today: "THE
NEWTON PRESS" stopped us on the road for a story.
We feel like we have finally got into the countryside. there is still a lot
of traffic, but the scenery has definitely become more woodsy.
The weather was sunny and warm, but not hot. Peter manages all the hills,
and rides all the way. Gary has a hard time with the hills, and he walks
many of them. All in all, it was a very pleasant, but short riding day (only
41 miles) that ended about 1:30 PM in Port Jervis, NY. Tomorrow will be a
hard day with lots of hills so we decided to stop early and rest up for the
test. Besides, this motel has a great swimming pool.
Day 4 (Thursday, June 17, 2004): Today's news comes via Jenny Bakshi,
Gary's daughter, who took the daily phone message with news of the day's
ride. Because of the short day yesterday, there was pressure on the riders
to travel more than the average number of miles on this day.
The riders left Port Jervis, NY, at 8:00 AM, on a hot overcast morning with
heavy thunderstorms forecast. From Port Jervis, the riders followed NY Bike
Rt. 17 which proceeded westward along the Upper Delaware Scenic Byway. The
road went along the Delaware River so at times they were riding alongside
the river on a level road, but at other times they were climbing over
substantial hills through which the river flowed. The scenery was
spectacular which made the effort worthwhile.
The plan was to get to Hancock, NY, for the night, but because they
encountered two heavy thunderstorms, they made alternate plans. A stop for a
coffee at the Shamrock Inn (owned by a Norwegian) in Long Eddy, NY,
coincided with a thundershower, so the riders decided on the spot to forego
the 15 mile trek over another mountain and stay where they were for the
night. As a result, the day's ride ended at 5:30 PM after having covered 59
miles for the day and 184 miles covered for the ride to date.
Day 5 (Friday, June 18, 2004): We started out at 7:30 AM this
morning from Long Eddy, NY, and we had a big mountain to cross before
getting into Hancock, NY, about 9:00 AM. Hancock was our original
destination for the previous day so we had some distance to make up.
The excitement of the day occurred as we were entering the town of Deposit,
NY. Peter was a few hundred yards behind Gary and climbing up a hill to get
into town when his front tire rolled off the rim. The tire gathered in the
forks, and Peter took a classical header. A man in a pick up truck saw the
accident happen, and he stopped to give assistance. Peter was not hurt, so
the man drove ahead to give Gary the news and bring him back to where Peter
was trying to deal with his immobilized bicycle. After getting the front
wheel on Peter's bicycle running again, the bike was loaded into the pick up
truck and taken the ½ mile into town to a garage where Peter could borrow
tools for the repair that was needed. It took about 30 minutes to shorten
the tire by 4 inches so that it was tight on the rim, and we were on the
road again.
There were more hills to climb and a long steep downhill run into Kirkwood
(near Binghamton), NY, for the night. Our riding day ended at 7:00 PM with
66 miles covered for the day, and 250 miles covered for the trip to date. We
were tired so we ate in the restaurant connected with our motel (a Super 8
Motel) where live western music started at 9:30 PM: We stayed for two songs
and then left so that we would not fall asleep at our table.
Day 6 (Saturday, June 19, 2004): We started out from our motel in
Kirkwood, NY, at 7:10 AM this morning. It took some time to get trough the
town of Binghamton, NY, which lies along the Susquehanna River that flows
along our route going east to west. The good news is that Binghamton has a
well developed network of bicycle routes that made our traveling through
this large town fairly easy. One of our pictures shows a beautiful bridge
over the river near the center of town that is for bicycles and pedestrians
only. We will be traveling up this Susquehanna River and then the Chemung
River for the next couple of days.
In the town of Endicott, NY, I noticed that I had a loose spoke so I stopped
at what I thought was a hardware store to buy a pair of pliers to make the
adjustment. However, the store was a lawn care equipment dealer and they had
no tools to sell. After I explained my problem, I was invited to bring my
bicycle into the shop in back of the store where the entire staff helped me
tighten the errant spoke: No charge.
Soon we came to the town of Owego where a Strawberry Festival was going on.
We had to push our bicycles through the crowd that had taken over the main
street of town. I indulged myself with a fantastic helping of strawberry
shortcake with whipped cream while Peter answered questions by a reporter
from the local newspaper.
In Chemung, a recumbent bicycle rider attached himself to us as we were
climbing up a long hill. This person, Denny Voorhees, was a very
knowledgeable cyclist, and he showed us some shortcuts to NY Bike Rt. 17
that avoided some of the hills in the area. Also, he recommended a motel in
Elmira that we tried to get into only to find that the last room had been
rented 30 minutes before we arrived. The next try was the Holiday Inn at
twice the price, but that was full also. The last remaining possibility was
the Mark Twain Motel on the far north side of town so we rushed off in hopes
of finding a room so that we would not have to sleep in a field. Happily, we
were in luck and ended up with a fine room at a reasonable price.
Our riding day ended at 6:30 PM with 62 miles ridden for the day and a total
of 312 miles for the trip to date.
Day 7 (Sunday, June 20, 2004): Our start was from our motel in
Elmira, NY. We decided to sleep in this morning so our start was not until
9:00 AM. We rode 2 miles into town and had breakfast at a diner in the
middle of town. It was a beautiful day for cycling: So cool, but sunny, that
Gary forgot to put sunscreen on, and he got well burned before the day was
over.
While it seemed that the terrain was fairly flat, we were climbing gradually
all day long. We must be getting stronger because Gary is cycling up some of
the hills that he was walking up at the beginning of this ride.
We seemed to meet more than the usual number of people on this day. There
were the usual questions (How do you get up? Why the big wheel? Is it hard
to ride?), but we also had technical questions (What kind of bearings does
this bicycle have? How are the bearings adjusted? Etc.) which I attributed
to the fact that we were talking with people who were associated with farms
and farm equipment.
We were stopped outside of Elmira, NY, by reporters from the local TV
station that is affiliated with NBC. It is possible that we were on TV news
in some places around the country this evening.
In the afternoon we encountered a strong headwind that made our last few
miles very difficult. We arrived in Hornell, NY (our destination for the
day), at 5:15 PM having cycled 59 miles for the day and 371 miles for the
trip to date.
Day 8 (Monday, June 21, 2004): We left from our motel (Econo Lodge)
in Hornell, NY, at 7:50 AM. The day was sunny and cool in the morning and
became sunny and hot in the afternoon. We rode over hilly terrain in the
morning and our way became fairly flat in the afternoon. About 11:00 AM we
stopped at a small convenience store in Kossutch, NY, for lunch. Three young
men (about 12 to 14 years old) rode up on bicycles to talk to us about our
bicycles. We had a very interesting conversation for the next 20 minutes,
about bicycles and their importance in our lives. We left the store with a
feeling that we had been with kindred spirits.
At 4:00 PM it appeared that we would finish our day's ride early, so to
reward ourselves we stopped in Portville, NY, for an ice cream. Portville is
only about 6 miles from Olean, NY, which was our destination for the day.
When mounting to leave, my bicycle broke at the small of the neck of the
backbone splitting my bicycle into two separate parts. Peter had left ahead
of me and was already 200 yards down the road when this happened so I had to
shout to get him to stop and return to the scene of my accident. We enquired
in the ice cream shop as to where we might find a welder, and Peter rode off
to see if the welder would stay at work long enough to make the required
repair to my bicycle. Soon after Peter was out of sight, a man in an old
sedan stopped to ask if I needed help.. It turned out that this man had a
friend who had a shop around the corner, and this friend could do welding. I
was taken to this friend, and the friend agreed to stop his work and attempt
to fix my machine. Then the man with the car raced off to find Peter who was
off looking for another welder. To make a long story short, Peter was found,
and my bicycle was repaired with two hours of intensive shop time. I was so
appreciative that I could hardly thank the people involved enough.
With the repairs to my bicycle completed, we were on the road again by 6:00
PM, and we were speeding to Orlean, NY (our destination for the day). We
were already in the town of Orlean when Peter remembered that he had left
his rucksack with his special dietary supplies back at the ice cream shop. I
went on to our motel on the west side of town, and Peter arrived one our
later (8:00 PM) having retrieved his belongings from the shop in Portville.
This was a very tiring day for all concerned, but it did have a happy
ending. We were well, we had a very nice room at the Country Inn and Suites,
and our bicycles were repaired and operating as they should. We had ridden
61 miles for the day, and 432 miles for the trip to date.
Day 9 (Tuesday, June 22, 2004): We started out from our motel in the
rain, and we rode in the rain (a soft rain) until about 1:00 PM when the sun
came out. The terrain was reasonably flat in the morning but it became hilly
in the afternoon when the temperature was warm and we were getting tired. As
usual, Gary walked up many of the hills while Peter rode slowly up most of
them. We were stopped by a son of the owner of the newspaper in Salamanca
NY, and we made a date to be interviewed the next morning before we started
our ride for the day.
We have seen deer in the wild almost every day. Today we saw three deer
together in a meadow below the road and we got very close before they
bounded away into the woods. Also, we have seen a lot of road kill on this
ride including deer, possum, raccoons, porcupine, a couple of snakes, and a
fox.
Irene, our webmaster, arrived at our motel in Lakewood, NY, at 8:30PM. It
was a happy reunion, and we will be traveling together for the rest of the
ride. Of course, this means that Peter and Gary's packs on the bicycles will
be a lot lighter since Irene will be carrying everything in the car that is
not needed by the riders on the road each day (such as tools, water, rain
jackets, camera, cell phone, and snacks. We were not able to update our Web
Site on this night because we could not find a motel with a telephone in the
room in the town that we were staying. In the future, a telephone will be a
priority when we are selecting a pace to stay for the night.
Day 10 (Wednesday, June 23, 2004): The reporter for the "Salamanca
(NY) News" came to our motel at 7:30AM and spend about 45 minutes
interviewing Gary and Peter. We are promised copies of the newspaper article
(with pictures) so there should be some reward for the delay it caused in
our departure for the day's ride.
This day's ride was characterized by many miles of road construction along
our route. However, the traffic control people were very helpful and we
traveled over several miles of one way roads, and roads with no shoulders,
without mishap. The road along Lake Chautauqua is quite hilly, and at the
end of Hwy 394 (through Mayville) there is a very long hill with a road
under construction that leaves only two narrow lanes for traffic (this was
not easy to negotiate). Once we were on Route 5 along Lake Erie the road
became a series of small hills and gullies through which creeks run carrying
water to the lake. Worse than the rolling roadway was the headwind. We have
had headwinds for the past 4 days, and we are ready for some wind on our
backs.
We rode through the city of Erie, PA, on Route 5 Alt., and we were impressed
at how pretty this city is along this roadway. We are staying in a motel on
the west side of Erie, PA, and trying to update our Web Site from our motel
room on the road for the first time. If you are reading these comments, you
will know that we are successful with our "on the road" program.
Also, we are going to try to get some more pictures to Karen Turner so that
she can post them on The Wheelmen Web Site so wish us luck with our efforts.
This was a milestone day for us. We passed the 500 mile mark on our ride, we
entered the third state (NJ, NY, and now Pennsylvania), and we are still
well and getting stronger.
Day 11 (Thursday, June 24, 2004): Irene is with us now with the van
which means more stuff to get organized each morning before we take off on
the road. Also, it took some time in the morning to try to get our pictures
transmitted to Karen Turner at the Wheelmen web site so you can see some of
our trip and not just read about it. After all this, we were on the road out
of Erie, PA, at 9:10 AM.
We were worried that the headwind which was fairly strong would be a
problem, but it only bothered us when we were going across very open spaces.
Apparently, at our speed (our average speed is only about 11 MPH) the wind
is more a cooling factor than a n impediment to our forward motion.
Since leaving NY Bicycle Rout 17 at Westfield, NY, yesterday, we have
followed US Route 5 along the south shore of Lake Erie using an Adventure
Cycling bicycle route map. We have occasional views of the Lake which is has
some magnificent sandy cliffs and with waves breaking on a rocky shoreline .
Alongside the road the day lilies are in full bloom adding their color to
the green of the trees and grasses. The battery in my digital camera gave
out this morning so no more picture taking until we get this replaced.
The road was mostly flat with many downs and then ups over creeks. I have
learned that the best way to negotiate these obstacles is to use the
downhill run to get up speed to charge up the uphill part of the dip as far
as possible. With this technique, I can avid walking up most of these little
hills.
We ate an early lunch at an open air hot dog and turkey sandwich place
called the White Turkey in Conneaut, OH. I recommend that you stop at this
wonderful place is you are ever in the area. See http://www.whiteturkey.com
The end of the day was a mad dash for about 6 miles down US Route 20 to the
only motel that Irene could find in the Perry, OH. The traffic was terrific
and the road has no shoulder so we were in the middle of it. Anyway, we made
it safely to the end of our longest riding day , and we had a very nice
dinner in the nearby town of Painesville, OH.
Day 12 (Friday, June 25, 2004): This day's ride began in the rain,
and the rain lasted until after lunch time. Peter got so cold that he had to
put on his long sleeve shirt and tights under his rain suit. Gary got by
with only a rain jacket over his riding shirt, but he was chilly.
We rode about 5 miles to Painesville, OH, for breakfast. Then it was on to
Perry where we sought out the Dobbs' Camera shop. The battery in my Sony
digital camera died yesterday, and I needed a battery charger so that we
could take more pictures of our trip. At the end of this shopping excursion,
it was lunch time and we had only traveled about 10 miles.
We ate lunch in Mentor. After lunch Irene went ahead to get us a motel room,
and it was good that she did because she got the last room available in
Lakewood (on the west side of Cleveland) where we wanted to stay for the
night.
After lunch our ride continued on Route 342 near the south shore of Lake
Erie. We had occasional glimpses of the lake, and we passed through some
grand residential areas (especially in Bratenahl on the eastern edge of
Cleveland). We missed a turn on the Adventure Cycling cycle route that we
were following as we entered the city of Cleveland, and we ended up riding
through the very center of the city at the end of a working day. We got a
lot of attention from the people on the street, and the cars treated us with
respect. The biggest problem was the numerous traffic lights that seemed to
always be red when we arrived at the intersections. To get to our motel in
Lakewood, we rode through several residential neighborhoods on the west side
of Cleveland where our ordinary bicycles attracted a lot of attention. One
boy about 13 years old got on his bicycle and followed us about 20 blocks to
our motel. After telling him about the bicycles, I took his picture and
promised that he would be on our web-site by tomorrow.
As usual we are very tired at the end of this day's ride, but we arrived at
our motel in time to charge our batteries, bring our web-page up to date,
and do other housekeeping chores. Do look for more pictures of our ride:
Karen Turner and I are making progress in getting our pictures to The
Wheelmen web-site where they will be published.
Day 13 (Saturday, June 26, 2004): The night was spent in a
Travelodge Motel in Lakewood (west side of Cleveland), OH, on Edgewater Rd.
We ate breakfast in our motel room and rode out of the motel at 8:50 AM. The
first 40 miles of this day's ride was along the south shore of Lake Erie on
Route 6. The road was mostly flat but sometimes very rough. Fine homes lined
the first half of the way, and the beautiful lake could be seen between the
grand houses on our right.
In Huron, OH, we turned onto a road going southwest into the heart of the
country. Our route lead us onto quiet country roads with well kept farms on
either side of the road. The corn and other crops are growing up to the sky
although they have a way to go at this time of the year. In many places, the
roadside was full of wildflowers including blue chicory, knapweed, and some
patches of beautiful purple thistle. We rode into our motel in Bellevue, OH,
at 5:15 PM to find Irene waiting for us with a reserved room and
refreshments. The total mileage for the day was 67 miles bringing our total
ride mileage to 726 miles.
The weather was sunny and warm (but not hot). The headwinds were generally
gentle with some wild gusts. All in all, it was a great day to be out
riding. The weld on the neck of my bicycle (See my notes form Day 8) is
holding, and I do believe that my bicycle is as strong as it ever was.
Peter's bicycle broke another spoke in the front wheel today bringing his
total for broken spokes to four. The main thing is, "We are still rolling."
Day 14 (Sunday, June 27, 2004): Traveled from Bellevue, OH, to
Findlay, OH. Mileage for the day = 54 miles. Total ride mileage to end of
day = 780 miles. We rode out of our motel in Bellevue, OH, at 8:50 AM after
eating breakfast in our room. It was cool and clear, and the day promised to
be good for riding except for the persistent light headwind. The land
appears to be flat, but in fact we had a steady gradual climb all the way to
Findlay, OH (our day's destination).
The day's ride was rather uneventful except for getting lunch. We arrived in
Tiffen, OH, at lunch time, and we could not find a place to eat on our route
until we spied Renoa's Italian Restaurant in the middle of town that
appeared to be open. When we went inside, the owner informed us that the
restaurant would not open until 4:00 PM, but when he heard that we were
hungry cross country bicycle riders he volunteered to fix us some lunch
himself. If you are ever in Tiffin, we recommend that you visit Renoa's
Restaurant.
Please add the following wildflowers seen alongside the road to the list
that I gave for Day 13: campion, wild phlox, hawkweed, and several that I do
not know the names of.
We arrived at the Balcomb home in Findlay, OH, at 5:30 PM, having ridden 54
miles for the day Bob and Ruth Balcomb treated us with warm hospitality, and
we had a great time talking about bicycles and making arrangements for our
onward journey. Peter replaced the rubber on his rear tire and two more
broken spokes (this makes about 10 broken spokes for Peter on the journey to
date). Gary discovered that one of his seat springs had broken at the weld
(from the breakdown on Day 6), and we used the yellow pages to find a welder
that we would approach tomorrow for help fixing this problem. With all this,
we did not get to bed until 11:00 PM which was too late for us tired riders.
Day 15 (Monday, June 28, 2004): Traveled from Findlay, OH, to Celina,
OH. Mileage for the day = 73 miles. Total mileage for the ride to end of day
= 853 miles. After breakfast and picture taking, we rode away from the
Balcomb's home in Findlay, OH, at 8:30 AM. Bob Balcomb accompanied us on his
recumbent bicycle as far as the welder's shop. The owner of this business
agreed to repair the weld on my seat spring which he accomplished in a short
15 minutes.
We said goodbye to Bob and rode off towards Celina, OH, which was our
destination for this day. The sky was threatening rain although the forecast
was for sunny weather. Again, our way was mostly a gradual uphill with a
headwind that was slight to strong at times. We appreciated groups of
buildings such as you find when going through the small towns, and wooded
areas, where we were sheltered from the headwinds. By 11:00 AM it had stated
to rain, and the soft rain continued for about 3 hours. Towards the end of
the day, we encountered about 5 miles of road with recently applied tar and
some chips: With the head wind, and the slight uphill grade, this made for
some of the hardest riding we have had so far.
The riding day ended in Celina, OH, at 5:45 PM with 73 miles added to our
miles ridden on this trip: This was our longest riding day so far. We are
staying at a Comfort Inn that has a big sign at the entrance saying, "NO
BICYCLES" which we ignored, and no one seems to be bothered by our presence.
We were tired as usual, but showers helped to revive us enough to enjoy our
supper. Then it was time to do journaling and bike maintenance before
turning in for a good sleep.
Day 16 (Tuesday, June 29, 2004): We rode out of our motel in Selina,
OH, at 8:45 AM, and onto the bike trail (a rail to trail conversation) to
Coldwater, OH. The 7 mile long bike trail is delightful. It is paved, it is
shaded by large trees, and it is wide and level with many rabbits crossing
the trail in the early morning to amuse you.
Upon leaving Coldwater, we had a long slight downhill run, and I thought
that we had crossed he continental divide. However, I was wrong. Ups and
downs characterized the entire day's riding. I have concluded that the
"flat" Midwest is not flat at all. In fact, this part of the country is
simply a mountainous area that has been flattened over time leaving hills
and valleys that are nearly flat but distinct enough to be very noticeably
by ordinary bicyclists.
We rode into Fort Recovery, OH, at 11:00 AM for our first lunch of the day
(we have taken to eating two lunches each day about 2 riding hours apart),
and I struck up a conversation with a local person who turned out to be the
owner of the coin shop in town. We ate our lunch at the restaurant next
door, and learned when we had finished that the coin shop owner had paid for
our lunch. We proceeded to thank this man profusely, and you can see his
picture in the picture gallery associated with this web-site.
The road became very rough as soon as we entered Indiana. Signs indicated
that road work was in progress, but there was no sign of work going on
although there was much evidence that work was needed.
Our riding day ended at 5:45 PM as we rode into Muncie, IN. Our mileage for
the day was 62 miles and our total mileage for the trip to date is 915
miles. The weather was sunny and warm (not hot), and we had headwinds of
varying intensity all day. We are staying at the Roberts Hotel in downtown
Muncie, IN, and we can recommend this town for a visit: It is historic, and
it has great accommodations.
Day 17 (Wednesday, June 30, 2004): Start from Muncie, IN, at 5:45
AM. Finished day's ride at Tammy Haley's home in Indianapolis, IN, at 5:00
PM. Weather: Sunny and bright, cool in the morning going to warm from midday
on.
We had planned to start our ride for the day at 7:00 AM in order to get to a
point on the north side of Carmel, IN, where we were to meet Tammy Haley who
was going to lead us to her home on the west side of Indianapolis, IN, at
2:00 PM. We forgot that we had left the Eastern time zone and entered the
Central time zone so we had gotten up an hour early. As a result of this
mistake, we were on the road at 5:45 AM, a full hour ahead of our planned
departure time.
Riding so early in the morning was a real pleasure. The day was sunny and
cool, and the traffic was very light. We rode 50 miles over roads that were
mostly flat to the meeting point with Tammy Haley. The roadbed varied from 2
lane to divided 4 lane highways. Most of the time we had good shoulders on
the roads that we rode on, but occasionally we had to ride out with the
traffic, but the cars were generally very tolerant of the two of us on
ordinary bicycles.
We arrived at our meeting point with Tammy 2 hours ahead of time. The first
hour was taken up with conversation with a man who has a Star and a New Mail
ordinary bicycles that need restoration. I advised him to join The Wheelmen
to get the information that he needs for the work that he wants to do on his
bicycles. Then we went for lunch, Tammy Haley arrived with Cigdem Tunar in
time to proceed on our way to Tammy's home at 2:00 PM. Our route followed
bike paths most of the way including some miles on the old towpath along the
Grand Canal (a favorite bicycle path for Indianapolis Wheelmen in the
1890s). The last 10 miles of our ride was on major Indianapolis streets with
heavy rush hour traffic. We were often on the roadway with the automobile
traffic and sometimes moving faster than the cars. This interesting ride
fished at 5:00 PM when we arrived at Tammy Haley's home. The day ended with
a soak in the swimming pool and a fine pizza dinner + a trip to the local
ice cream parlor.
Total mileage for the day was 79 miles. Total mileage for the ride to date
was 994 miles. The weather as sunny, cool in the morning to warm by midday.
A good long day of riding.
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