Indiana Didn't Want Us

Today was going to be a short day. It started out with a long conversation with two Delta employees who were staying in our hotel. They were so interested in the details and kept asking us questions. They kept my mind distracted enough that it was at about 1 mile mark of the ride that I realized I didn't have the time the mirror attached to my glasses. So we turned around and went back to the car and I put the mirror on and we started over. 

By the way, those conversations are some of the most fun of the trip. We had another similar conversation at our lunch spot in Pennville, Indiana. As we were paying someone asked Thom where we riding to and he pointed at the map on the back of my jersey. That got the whole restaurant talking. When someone said "I'm 72. I'm too old to do that." we quickly told them how old we were.

There wasn't much excitement in today's ride. We did run into 2 road closures. At the first we just carried our bikes over the bridge they were resurfacing. (I also used the Port O John at the construction site.) At the 2nd closure we walked our bike across someone's front lawn (yes they were sitting on the porch and gave us a big hello). 

It was warm and the sky looked threatening but nothing materialized. If you look really hard in the picture you can see me on my bike.

I took this shot of laundry day at one house in Indiana.

Here is the ride on Strava. Please not the 15.6 MPH average speed. Not bad for two seventy year olds who have ridden 13 days in a row.

The day ended with a visit and dinner with my friend Todd from high school who was driving from Chicago to New Jersey. Claudia couldn't go to dinner. Todd had a series of questions for Thom and I at dinner. It was fun to hear the differences and similarity in our answers.  BTW Todd seems to know how to take a selfie without grimacing.

Who knew that suntan lines could be so entertaining? If you look at the picture above of the three of us or the picture below of my hand, you can see my tan lines. I have three dots on my forehead from air holes in my helmet and a distinct line on my wrist where my gloves end. Thom has a neat pattern on the back of his hands from his gloves.

A little comment about road conditions. I know it was days ago but Illinois while having good weather had some roads that tested our patience or bottoms. They all seemed to be concrete roads that caused our bikes to jolt at each expansion joint. They also had chatter strips that made the shoulders not rideable in many cases. 

PROGRESS

We have now been in 10 states. We are just a few miles short of 75% done. My high school cross country coach would say the third quarter is the toughest part of a race. While this isn't a race it is challenging our minds and the third quarter was tough on the minds. 

TOMORROW

We are doing a short 67 mile ride to Findlay, Ohio. We are not starting until 11:00 AM. Thom has some work to do and we have a friend of ours from Columbus who is driving up to meet us for breakfast.

MORE BIRTHDAY WISHES

May 24 is this weird day which a lot of people I know share birthdays. Happy Happy to the Moose, Aunt Susie, and Steve.