Today was thoroughly delightful. Even though I pedaled 131 miles, I felt like I didnt work very hard. I have a "final exam" coming up in a couple of days, when we go over the appalachians in West Virginia, so I was happy to rest my legs. Wabash is in the eastern time zone, so we lost an hour last night, but started off in 55 degree temperatures. It stayed cool until lunch, and even though the temperature once again hit over 90, some cloud cover kept it less than that for part of the afternoon.
We got to the Ohio state line by mid morning and had lunch in the town of Coldwater. Two of the guys on this tour, Dan and Doug, live in this area and their friends and relatives came to the lunch spot to greet us. Tonight they are hosting a cookout at the home of a relative near Troy, which should be fun. Dan raises poultry on an industrial scale and Doug is an expert at repair of farming equipment. Both are great guys. Neither had seen any of the west prior to this trip. My life path had not previously crossed with a combine mechanic or a turkey farmer, but now it has.
Ohio is remarkable for a couple of things. The roads are superb, very smooth and in great repair. The crops are obviously suffering from a drought. The cornstalks are only 4 feet or so tall here, compared to more robust 6 to 7 feet farther west in the farm belt. The soybeans in Iowa and Minnesota were 3 feet tall, but are only 1 foot tall here. There is no irrigation here so the farmers totally rely on rainfall.
The internet connection here is very shaky, so I am going to publish this post before I get signed off involuntarily. Tomorrow we angle east and a little south to the town of Athens, then head into West Virginia on Monday.
131 miles. 1500 vertical feet
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Almost Heaven...or "West-By-God Virginia" will be beautiful but better have the inclinometer hooked up. Say Hi to all the Hillbillies back there for me! really enjoying the Blog!
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