RideTheLightning

On the road again. IL, IN, OH. Not for the taint of heart.

UPDATED: Now with Photos!!!

I feel like every post of ours begins with some kind of apology. Well, here’s no different. The dinosaur computer here in Ashtabula, OH, won’t let us upload our pictures so we’ve only got the one (taken via iphone). Luckily it’s a keeper. Grandma Kinsey met up with us in Syracuse, Indiana, and treated us to a fine feast in the park. It was both delicious and plentiful, the latter probably being the most stringent requirement here at RTL. We were downright stuffed and happy. Big thanks!

BJ and Grandma Kinsey behind a delicious spread.

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The past five days have been a whirlwind. We’re making decent time (ahead of our allotted 75 miles a day goal) and enjoying some hot mid-western sunshine.

The whirlwind effect has really come on for three reasons. The first, I just mentioned. It’s hot. And spending 13 hours in the sun bends anyone’s mind a little, but add in some pedaling, some marginal navigating (no names here) and the bumps and ruts that come with heavily trafficked roads and you’ve got yourself a recipe for madness. It hasn’t gotten there quite yet, but we’re bracing. The second issue facing us is one we anticipated but haven’t been able to come to terms with. In populated places you can’t sleep on the ground where ever you fall. I know it sounds unfair, we think so too.  Gone are the days of Nebraskan public parks beckoning us with their lush green grass and bountiful amenities (plugs, water, REAL bathrooms). Instead, we have been met by the law on consecutive evenings and found ourselves sleeping tentless on a tarp until dawn before slinking off to the absolute nearest available coffee where we then grace unknowing gas station attendants with our entire morning routine. It’s not terrible, but it ain’t the sheets and quilts of Glen Ellyn either.

Which brings me to the third and final issue plaguing this last stretch. We’ll call it “the softening”. The Chicago layover was fantastic. Wouldn’t have it any other way. But the effects of no bike riding for almost three weeks made themselves screamingly known the morning of our second day when we lowered ourselves into the saddle for the first time. Conditioning is still ok but the callousing gained through the Plains is long gone. Hopefully by New York we will be tough again.

Thanks to both BJ’s grandmothers for finding, and feeding, us on the road, and for hailing the local presses (we may have newspaper notoriety coming, check Edgerton, Ohio publications). Tonight we plan to ride another 40 or so to Erie, Penn, and meet up with Sam’s aunt and uncle. Maybe we’ll find a camp spot where ‘the man’ won’t hassle us.

We’ll get some pretty pictures up when technology permits. To let you know what you can expect, we’ve recently switched form corn to wheat fields (this is exciting) been graced with some Great Lake views and swim time, and of course, you’ll see all our tired attempts at “campsites.”

The photos at long last!