Last night we treated ourselves to some pork nachos from Pike 40, just a half mile from the hotel. Then we spent a chunk of time patching up our flat tubes. Hopefully the patches hold this time!
We awoke in time to catch the tail end of the hotel breakfast offerings. They were worse than you’d imagine hotel breakfast in southeastern Ohio to be. Fruit options included blueberry and strawberry nutrigrain bars. No fear, we have our trail mix!
We got on the road around 10:30, knowing today would be a short day. 35 miles to Cambridge where we’d meet our WarmShowers hosts. I’ll spare you the details of the hills, but spoiler alert, they were hilly. I spent most of the ride with my head down trying to stay on the road, but not in the road. From what I can tell we mostly passed trees and farm land. Our top speed hit 30mph. We were cruising. (At one point a car coming towards us tried to pass the car in front of it, but when it came face to face with Maddie it backed down, swerving out of the way. She’s intimidating!)
Just 7 miles from our destination we stumbled across a neat basketball court in Lore City, OH. We’ve been recording ourselves making a shot in each state we pass through; so far we’ve hit shots in MD, PA, WV, and now OH. We’re saving our NJ shot-making for Jadwin next year. After just one take each we nailed our shots and coasted down a paved trail to Cambridge.
In Cambridge we stopped at the Park Circle Cafe. Tell me that doesn’t sound like a cute place to grab a cup of coffee and a scone. It turns out Park Circle Cafe is really Park Circle Bar. Heavy metal music and the stench of cigarettes surrounded us as we ate our fries and corn balls outside. Maddie tells me that they were giving her dirty looks when she went in to order. I guess she’s not the type of biker they’re used to.
Our hosts for the evening, Dave and Kathy Moor, arrived soon after. We loaded our bikes into the back of their van and set off to their home in Corning, OH. Dave and Kathy are longtime Ohioans, parents of 5, and grandparents of a few more, who have a homestead southeast of Columbus. The drive was full of great conversation and plenty of hills. The hills were much more fun in the car than on the bike.
Dave built most of their house himself. It’s a beautiful home with log cabin vibes. It’s very cozy; I’m writing this from the nicest recliner I’ve ever sat in, in a living room just meant for a family to gather around the fire on a cold winter night. We took a brief journey to the rec room where I kicked Maddie’s butt in a game of ping pong. Afterwards, we spent most of the evening in the kitchen, eating chips and homemade salsa, hummus and pita, homemade banana nut bread with cream cheese and homemade freezer jam. I feel like we’re at grandma’s house. We are at grandma’s house, in a way.
Dinner was lasagna with salad and garlic bread. We ate until we were stuffed, then talked for a while longer. Dave and Kathy told us about their trip across Florida on a tandem bike, their bike trip in the south starting in San Diego, their kids, their grandkids, where they’ve camped, what they’ve seen. This is probably our first real connection with people we’ve met along the way, and it’s been awesome!
We also discussed whether we thought of bike touring more as a challenge or vacation, which is something I’ve been thinking about a lot. It feels like a vacation, since we have no responsibility, we’re traveling the country, staying in new places and seeing new things. But it’s mentally and physically difficult. Should it be difficult? Is it ok that it is difficult? Difficult things can still be a joy, they’re not mutually exclusive.
Columbus tomorrow. More importantly, Maddie’s birthday tomorrow! Everyone send her those bday texts!
-Charlie