You Can't Get There from Here... or Maybe You Can... Who Knows?- by Robin



It started out a beautiful ride...

 Many questions run through your mind while you're on a long bike ride because you have nothing but time to think.  Questions like: "Do you think that dog is friendly or hostile?"  or  "How did THAT get on the side of the road?"  or  "Why do the people of Ohio need this many miles of 'drunk bumps'?  or even more important questions like:  "Why do you suppose Google Bike Maps sent us down THIS road?"  or "Are you sure this is legal?"  but most importantly: "Are we in the right place, or did we miss something somewhere?" 

This last question was asked a lot today. David tested his riding legs for the first time today.  I rode with him, and we sent the kids ahead to get Emily's bike repaired and to set up camp.  The kids had no problems.

Somewhere in the middle of riding down 20 miles of 4 lane highway on a narrow shoulder made narrower by the presence of drunk bumps, we wondered if perhaps we had made a mistake, and if so, where did that mistake occur, and now what do we do?  When the highway became even more intense, and we still wonderd if what we were doing was even legal, we finally took an exit and went looking for answers.  David knew we eventually were supposed to end up on the North Inland Trail, but we had no idea where this might be.  Fortunately, we found a mail carrier who gave us directions.  Turns out, we weren't that far off.  We'd made it 45 miles.  I told David that if we were truly lost, I was stopping at mile 55, and he would have to carry me the rest of the way.  He didn't respond as enthusiastically as I thought he should have. :) 



My bike at rest while we await rescue.

 Long story short, at 48 miles, David was still uncertain, so we called Emily, gave her our current address, and had her put this into GPS to fetch us.  Trouble was, we didn't know if we were on CR 198 North or CR 198 South.  We flipped a coin, so to speak, and gave her the wrong address.  Eventually, Emily rescued us, and we found we were only 7 miles away from the campground.  The kids did a great job setting up the tent for us.  Alex even had a fire going in the fire pit.  Too bad we failed to put away the canvas chairs and zip up the tent windows when we rode to town for food and supplies.  After a day of perfect riding weather, it poured.  We're still having fun. Really. And after 106 miles of riding in two days, tomorrow is my day off.