...and then came Ohio

I've been asked to apologize for not updating the blog all that often... we've been riding 100+ miles a day, and any time not on the bikes has been spent eating and finding a place to sleep at night! We're sorry! Here goes Ohio...

Mike was probably particulary grateful that we reached Ohio, as I'd been riding behind him, singing a song (called "Ohio") that I made up. Needless to say, you will not hear it on the radio anytime soon. We got there at the very end of the day - a day we spent nursing some minor injuries and enjoying one of the last flat days of the trip. We stopped for the night in Celina, Ohio, where we found few hotel vacancies due to the annual "Amphicar" weekend. Celina is on the edge of Grand Lake, a beautiful 10-mile long lake that would be full of cars the next day. Yup, full of cars - we learned that there are around 300 of these boat/cars in the world and that 65 or so of them were convening in Celina that weekend. The hotel we stayed in was packed, and everyone was so friendly and very interested in our trip.

The next day, July 27, Lindsay turned 24. Happy birthday, Linds! We celebrated by eating breakfast, velcroing our shoes, and clipping into our pedals. On the way out, we talked with a few amphicar drivers who were about to take off to a nearby retirement community for the annual "take everyone out for a ride on the water" event. Sounds like tons of fun!! About 20 miles later, those nagging injuries cut our day short and we ended up in Lima. The Holiday Inn kindly donated a room, so we were able to shower, relax, and have some much needed time to catch up. (It's funny. You'd think that we'd do that all day, but when we're riding bikes for 11 or 12 hours a day, we spend a lot of time by ourselves...) The local Olive Garden helped us celebrate Lindsay's birthday with good food and, of course, free cake.

No day is easy. After an afternoon of rest, we felt good and rode hard to Upper Sandusky, OH. There, Josh and I stopped at a bike shop to stock up on tubes and tires, while Lindsay and Mike took off towards lunch. In response to our saying that we were "taking 53 to Bucyrus," the guys at the bike shop said, "Funny. You can't do that." So, after realizing that Josh and I had all the phones and both pumps for the tires, we decided to take the unplanned route to Bucyrus. Of course, Lindsay and Mike had taken the planned route to not-Bucyrus. Two separate 130-ish mile rides later, we all happily reunited in Findley State Park, just outside of Wellington, OH.

The next day, I learned that I should listen more carefully to Ben's precious words of wisdom. Evidently, the "Ohio is incredibly flat until you reach the mountains towards Pennsylvania" was shorted in my head to "Ohio is incredibly flat." Oops. We rode some crazy hills throughout the day, which ended in Mosquito State Park near Champion, OH. By the way, yes, the park is considering changing its name. Our night was completed by s'mores and sodas, and we got to bed to get ready for the hills that, this time, we actually knew were ahead of us.

We're coming home! ETA: August 4th or 5th, depending on Pennsylvania...
Chey