Lower Michigan is most definitely flatter than central KY!
We left Dry Ridge, KY this morning about 9:15 am. It was misting enough that we put our jackets on for the first 3 miles. That's the only rain we felt all day although the sky was dark and it was raining in the distance but we didn't get wet! This was our lunch stop at yet another Baptist church. We had an exciting lunch of hard-boiled eggs, peanut butter sandwiches and juice. This little building was a great stopping point. Lower Michigan is most definitely flatter than central KY! We've ridden by a lot of tobacco farms and today stopped to take a picture. The barns are all black to soak up more heat but the sides and ends open up so the wind can blow through. This is a view from the top of one of the many hills we road. It's been a beautiful ride but we've not seen too many people. We arrived in Maysville at 4pm and road just over 58 miles.
0 Comments
We drove with Barry & Carol Ann to KY on Saturday evening. Barry & Carol Ann will drive the van to each of our stops on this three-day jaunt to Al & Sue Hamann's in Fayeteville, OH. We departed Cathy's at about 9am Sunday morning. It was overcast, a bit humid (it is Kentucky in August after all) and calling for a high in the 80s. Barry & Carol Ann went to church with Bruce & Cathy while we took off on our bike. There were lots of hills...the slowest we went going up was 3.5 mph and the fastest we went going down was 42 mph! We took a break in Bethlehem, KY and met these motor cyclists who were from Kokomo, IN and Peru, IN. They were trying to figure out where they were headed so we shared our maps and chatted for a few minutes. Barry & Carol Ann passed us while we were stopped so we knew we were all on the right road. The rain stayed away although it looked questionalbe at times. Cars were very curtious, they followed us and waited for a chance to pass and didn't get grumpy. We can now confirm that there are more hills in central KY than in Indiana! Most were rolling hills and didn't give us too much trouble. It was a very pleasant and uneventful ride! The last leg of this week's ride has arrived! We left Clifty Falls State Park and rode across the Ohio River on the bridge that was slid into place! Construction on the bridge really made it interesting as we went in and out of the closed-down lane to let traffic behind us pass. Somehow rivers always seem to be at the bottom of a hill...we've never seen a river at the top of a hill. Which means we get to enjoy a downhill but then have to pay the piper to get up the hill on the other side of the bridge! And the first hill in Kentucky went up and up and then up some more! As we rode across the river I took this picture of the power plant west of us. My oldest brother, Allen, attended Hanover College just southwest of Madison and I remember how as a young girl I was always fascinated by the three stacks with the steam/smoke (?) going up high into the sky. And how far away from the Ohio River you could still see those smokestacks!! We stopped in Bedford, KY for lunch at the Little Town & Country Restaurant. I think this is the first time I was in a restaurant where I had to go outside behind the store to enter the restroom! But we had a good grilled chicken sandwich with fries for lunch!! Our waitress, Beth, asked us if we wanted dessert and Phil and I both said "No". But as Beth walked away I said, "Just don't tell me you have chocolate pie with meringue!" She stopped dead in her tracks, turned around and sorta of bit her tongue...and I said "with meringue?" again. Beth sealed her lips and Phil just said "bring us a piece!" I told Beth she had just become part of our story so I had to take her picture. It was a goood piece of chocolate pie (with meringue)!!! After we left Bedford and 421 we found Bray Orchards and Roadside Market on 42. While I went inside and bought peaches Phil (always being the mechanic) walked over to the Chevy that had pulled in behind us making a weird noise. It was discovered that the fan belt was starting to fray and was making the noise. So Penny trimmed the frayed pieces and Phil told Lynette that she should be able to get back to Bedford where she could get it replaced! Cathy and the kids passed us as we went down 42 and then stopped further down the road. We put the peaches in the refrigerator...had a Hershey Nugget...and talked with Cathy for a few minutes. But we were in the sun and it was 95 degrees so we continued down the road again where we created our own little breeze! At Pendleton we found The Frozen Cow where we enjoyed a chocolate malt as we cooled off a little! Finally, here's the road sign we've been looking for...LaGrange, KY. and less than four miles from Cathy's house!! Our final break was at a fireworks tent where the kids were anxious to hear about our bicycle ride through Indiana....all the way to Kentucky!!! We enjoyed their youthful enthusiasm while we cooled down with a Coke! And now we are just minutes away from Kinlock Road with only one hill to ride up! WE HAVE ARRIVED!!!! Safely at Cathy's in LaGrange, KY about 2:45 pm after riding 43.4 very hilly miles. A total of 314.3 for our week of riding, with only two very short sprinkles, one almost encounter with a dog, lots of short breaks to catch our breath and cool down a bit, lots of hills with our fastest downhill at 37 mph and our slowest uphill at 3 mph. We spent six nights in campgrounds thanks to Barry and Carol Ann Gulliver driving the motor home and van all week. We could not have done this ride without their great help! We left the motor home for Cathy to use over the 4th of July and departed for Sturgis in the van early afternoon! Today's our longest day of the week...60+miles...so we started at 7:30. We rode a couple miles on US 421 until we came to CR 700 W. This road was a great road so we changed our route and stayed on 700 W for most of the day. Our first adventure was to stop someone mowing the ditch alongside the roadway and offer him one of our Oreo cookies. We stood and talked with him for about 20 minutes before we moved on down the road. Down the road a bit we came across Poseys & Pumpkins which had a fruitstand out by the road. We stopped to see what they had and wanted to buy a tomato or two but they had them packaged six to a box. A lady came down the road on her golf cart and stopped to help us. We were able to buy two tomatoes as that was all we had room for. We spent another 20 minutes talking with Judy before we once more headed south. We rode until we came to a bridge across Sand Creek where we decided to take a break and eat one of our tomatoes. Pretty soon we saw two girls riding up on a yellow tandem and we knew it was Judy's granddaughter, Makaela and her friend Emily. Nana (Judy) had suggested they try to catch us and take us some water. We learned that the tandem was one of the things on Makaela's Bucket List!! A few more miles down the road we had a man walk across the road in front of us and I noticed a camera around his neck. When he took several pictures of us as we rode up to him I had a pretty good idea he was from the newspaper. He asked if we could spare a few minutes and he asked questions and took more pictures. We learned Bryce was from the North Vernon Plain Dealer & Sun and someone had called the paper and told them about us riding by. When Judy's daughter, Jim, drove up and stopped we learned she was the one that called the paper. We rode into North Vernon where we stopped for lunch. Tracy was a great waitress and was so excited that we chose her restaurant. I even got to shake hands with Mayor Soup Campbell. We ran into about two miles of gravel road and decided to ride the gravel instead of riding an additional 2-3 miles to stay on the asphalt. Since the temperature was in the 80's we started to watch for a good place to take a break. We came up to a cement block building with a couple of trucks parked outside and stopped. I went up to the door and it was locked but I pulled a little bit and it opened right up. I went inside and there sat Jarrod who is an engineer for sei communications. He said it was okay for us to borrow his A/C and to use the restroom. That was a great stop. We finally arrived at Clifty Falls State Park about 4:45 after riding 68.7 miles. But we had many fun stops, a great lunch and the wind at our back most of the day with only rolling hills to deal with. Our grandson Alex drove up from their house in Kentucky and dropped Cathy, Cady, Cara and Nick off to spent tonight and tomorrow with us as we rode to their house. Seeing the water tower in the distance reminded us how much fun it was to spot a water tower. There really is civilization nearby...we aren't out here all alone! We decided to take a break after we had ridden 15 miles. We reached that mark at the corner of Rushville Road & 500 N. We turned the corner and there was the Jackson Township Community Building just setting there waiting for us to arrive!! And you thought The Kickstand was disorganized!! We found Tom's Bicycle Repair near Milroy and just had to take a look. And this is only one of three pictures taken there! Had B/L/T's today in beautiful downtown Milroy at the lovely Takathemoke Restaurant. We then headed northwest towards the Thorntree Lake Campground on Old US Highway 421 outside of St. Paul. We arrived at camp at 2:35 after riding 54 miles with the wind mostly at our back. We again did not have a drop of rain until 3:45 after we had gotten to camp when a quick rain shower moved through. Everyone taking a break after supper...hot dogs over the fire tonight. We left Hoosierland at 8:30 with no wind but the threat of thunderstorms all day. We ran into our first dirt road about four miles down our route and jogged south a road early. About 9:45 we stopped and asked a couple having their morning coffee in their garage how to get to Yorktown. When we got there we found a brand new bike path that had just been finished the day before. We lay claim to being the first bicycle to ride the new asphalt!! In Middletown we decided that since this was our 50th Anniversary Ride we would stop for lunch. We stopped at Greg's RBI restaurant and had a great lunch of ham & bean soup with cornbread and hash browns. Unfortunately, we should have placed only one order. Our waitress, Julie, said that she had never been asked to prepare the doggie bag to be carried on a bicycle. Phil ended up with the glass of Pepsi in his jersey pocket and we stuffed the rest of the leftovers into whichever bike bag we could! This is a picture of the sky behind us where we had just ridden. This shows the sky ahead of us where we are getting ready to ride. And this is now directly above us and is the sun peeking through the clouds and following ahead of us! God really is watching over us this day! Fifty miles later we arrive at Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park without seeing a drop of rain all day. BUT! While dinner was being cooked over the fire it started to rain so Phil held the umbrella over the fire and Carol Ann. AND! Then it poured and blew and poured and put out the fire. So the potatoes were finished in the microwave and the pork chops were fried in a skillet!! Another GREAT meal by Chef Carol Ann. We left our site #25 at Mississinewa Lake at 8:30 am riding southeast to Hoosierland Campground outside Alexandria. After riding twelve miles into head winds of 13mph we took a snack break in Converse. Lunch stop at Hackelman proved interesting - we forgot the flat bread so we had to improvise! I spread peanut butter on the top of my banana while Phil sliced his banana and spread the peanut butter inside! Eight minute shower stop fifteen minutes after lunch...but we stayed dry under the trees in the front yard at Maple Farms! The storm moving in on us! We had only ridden three miles when it caught up with us! Fortunately we only stood under a tree for eight minutes before it cleared off enough to ride. We arrived at the Hoosierland Campground at 2:15 after riding 48 miles. Unfortunately, Barry & Carol Ann and the motorhome & van didn't arrive until 3:30! Phil and I went wading in the pond to cool off...we walked around the pond...we explored the campground...we borrowed a couple chairs from one of our neighbors while we enjoyed our last Coke and some of our Chex Mix! After we talked with Barry we learned they were about 30 minutes away. So we walked around the campground again and then walked down to the road where we waited on the bridge to take this picture to prove that we beat them to the camp! Carol Ann made her famous "One Pot" dinner using whatever ingredients we had such as leftover shish kabobs, pork, chicken, beef, and summer squash, corn from the cob, carrots, potatoes, green pepper and onions along with Jiffy biscuit mix dumplings. Dessert was her cherry pie filling, crushed pineapple, Jiffy white cake mix, and pecans cooked in a cast iron pot in the coals. Delicious!! After all of our trouble getting in last night, the campground staff told us to come in the morning to pay...she thought we'd had a rough enough day. This morning, in the course of conversation I mentioned it was our 50th anniversary ride and we were from Sturgis, MI. She shared that it was their 50th anniversary this year as well and that they were from Buchanan and Niles, MI. We quickly realized that Phil and her husband Jim were classmates from the class of 1961 in Buchanan. We walked down to the garage where Jim was working and Phil said his name and Jim said he had just been thinking about him a couple days ago and wondered what he was up to. I then found out that they also knew Phil's neighbor who introduced Phil & me and set us up on our blind date that led to us getting engaged and married. The guys enjoyed catching up a few minutes before we headed out on the road. Meeting up with old friends certainly made up for the trouble we had yesterday and if we'd not had trouble and gotten in late we probably would have never met the office staff. God does work in mysterious ways sometimes. If you'd like to see where we were, visit the website Lakeviewcampingfun.com. Since we missed the first part of this route, we'll visit with our new old friends when we ride the route. Barry & Carol Ann are tent campers so each day they will be setting up camp with their tent. They are our SAG support if needed and our "camp staff". We are thankful they were able to join us on this fun adventure! We got on the road about 9:30 am and rode back into Rochester. Shortly after we left the campground we had to stop to take a picture of this barn that had a large bicycle in the shingles of the barn roof...not sure the day could have gotten off to a better start! You might have to zoom in on this picture...it's a little hard to see the bike! We found the trailhead for the Nickel Plate Trail - A Rails to Trails path from Rochester to Kokomo. This little bit of art was along the trail..three bicycles hanging from an old telephone pole. We stopped for lunch in Macy, IN, which is about the size of Burr Oak for those of you from Sturgis. We enjoyed our lunch of peanut butter sandwiches, chex mix, bananas and oreos in a nice little park just off the trail. It was a beautiful day with a high of 84 degrees and we rode the trail with the wind at our back, a few minor grades and NO dogs! This is the bridge over the Wabash River. There is a railroad track painted on the bridge since the rails are no longer there. We saw lots of wildlife and little critters and even a white-tail deer. It was a beautiful ride and we arrived at Mississinewa Lake Recreation Campground about 4pm after riding just over 50 miles. We enjoyed shish-ka-bobs for dinner and are relaxing and enjoying a quiet evening playing Chicken Feet Dominoes! Tomorrow we head to Alexandria, IN, about a 45 mile ride. Day 4 did not go quite according to plan. The plan, was to leave Sturgis at 9am after doing safety checks on 45 bikes for the Sturgis kids triathlon. BTW, friends, Barry & Carol Ann are accompanying us on this bike trip and are providing support. They are driving the RV and van each day from stop to stop, setting up camp and having the bottle of wine opened for us when we arrive at the campsite. Back to the plan... Kouts, IN to Rochester, IN 9:15 am - Depart Sturgis, MI for Kouts, IN to begin this leg of the trip. There were 5 customers in the bike shop when we left town...thanks Chris for taking over the store for us this week! 11am – Phil & Barry drove the RV and called us to tell us they blew the left front tire on I-80, west of South Bend. Carol Ann and I continued on in the van to Kouts. 11:15 – Called State Farm for Roadside Assistance, tow truck was dispatched. 12:15 – Driver cancelled call because couldn’t find RV. State Farm sent out another tow truck, driver can't change the tire on the side of the road and didn't have the right kind of tow truck to tow to safer location. 2:30pm Called State Farm for the third time. Didn’t know mile marker at this point, ended up calling Phil in RV to find out where they were. Both Phil & I told them they were only RV parked on the side of the road with a flat tire. Shouldn't be that difficult to find between South Bend and LaPorte! 4:00pm Third guy arrived and had the tire changed in 20 minutes, on the side of the road. 4:30 – on the road again to Kouts. In the meantime, Carol Ann and I have enjoyed visiting with Charlene, hung out at Bud & Christi's, visited nephews and my brother at the farm, went to a garage sale…a.k.a. open the barn doors, find what you want, make an offer and generally had a relaxing afternoon. 5:20 – Phil & Barry arrived at the farm...there were rain and storms in Kouts by this time. We'd decided to drive to Rochester tonight and ride this route another time. Left for Rochester. 7:00pm – RV ran out of gas in Rochester, IN. It seems the gas gauge doesn't work but now we know that you can drive 170 miles on a full tank of gas! We paid $11 for an empty gas can at Kroger to fill to take to RV. Finally figured out how to get past all of the safety features of the new fancy gas can and put gas in the RV. On the road again... 8:06 – arrived at camp site, had dinner in a bag (thank you Carol Ann) in the RV. It's raining in Rochester... Tomorrow should be uneventful as today was full of adventure! Praying for a nice quiet and pleasant ride...stay tuned! Day 4 (1)
Saturday, June 21- Kouts to Lakeview Campground 62.3 miles Rochester, IN Day 5 (2) Sunday, June 22 Lakeview to Miami State Recreation Area, Mississinewa State Park 48.1 miles Peru, IN Day 6 (3) Monday, June 23 Mississinewa to Hoosierland 46.6 miles Alexandria, IN Day 7 (4) Tuesday, June 24 Hoosierland to Jellystone 41.2 miles Knightstown, IN Day 8 (5) Wednesday, June 25 Jellystone to Thorn Tree Lake 44.3 miles St. Paul, IN Day 9 (6) Thursday, June 26 Thorn Tree Lake to Clifty Falls (812) 273-8885 67.2 miles Madison, IN Day 10 (7) Friday, June 27 Clifty Falls to Cathy’s 40.8 miles LaGrange, KY 352.2 Total miles |
Phil & Carol AnnIt is now our 55th and after a 4 year break, we are back to continue our ride! Join us as we work our way across Michigan...going a little backwards! Archives
June 2019
Categories |