Days 30 to 32: Paulding, Ohio to near Peru, Indiana

Note: Dan is providing a brief update for Liz

Friday started with clear but smoky skies as Elizabeth started cycling on another 66 miles of rural Ohio farmlands. Elizabeth was looking forward to Saturday — a zero day — a day to rest and regroup for the next block of riding days. The route on Friday was relatively flat and very rural staying well south of Fort Wayne, Indiana.

With 20 miles or so to go, Elizabeth was ready to take a break. She spotted a shade tree next to a fire station where she could be in the shade to drink some water – she also assumed she might be able to refill her water bottles at the fire station. Before she got settled the fire chief drove in and invited her inside the big garage door where they could be in the shade. Elizabeth quizzed Scottie and found out how he ended up in Poe, Indiana as fire chief. Then Elizabeth explained what she was doing – riding across the USA. As she explained, another cyclist turned into the fire station. Scotty asked Elizabeth if that rider was part of the group — no, she replied, that cyclist is coming from the wrong direction. As they continued chatting the cyclist continued across the broad driveway towards them. About 20 feet away the cyclist pulled off his sun goggles — it was our son Daniel! Elizabeth dropped her bike and rushed over to give him a big hug as she had not seen him in almost a year – since before his deployment in October. Scotty looked on with understandable confusion!

Elizabeth and Daniel cycled the remaining 20 miles to the campground together and Elizabeth started rethinking her zero day. Since Daniel had a car, it meant that she could go shopping for a few bike supplies that she needed. Huntington was the closest town and it did have a nice bike shop but it did not carry some things she needed so Elizabeth and Daniel headed for Fort Wayne.

Fort Wayne proved to be a good destination for two reasons. First, Elizabeth was able to find a bike shop that carried what she needed. Second, they found a very good Vietnamese restaurant!

Daniel was concerned that Elizabeth was not getting enough carbohydrates each day for riding so there was plenty of Vietnamese food ordered including enough for Sunday’s lunch!

Sunday morning Daniel helped Elizabeth get her gear ready for her 56 mile ride before he left to continue his drive east. The smoke from Canada was back – Elizabeth captured the early sun and orange sky as she started out on her ride.

The ride was relatively uneventful thru the remote farm country on a very quiet Sunday. Elizabeth had “dinner duty” so she had to be at the destination by 4 pm to go shopping. Dinner was a Peruvian Dish that Daniel had suggested — fitting for Peru, Indiana. Cleanup, then the 7 PM map meeting, and an early bedtime followed since having dinner duty also meant an early morning start to get coffee, breakfast, and lunch supplies out for the riders on Monday.