werestillrolling

having lunch at Table 9 in Morgantown view of the Monongahela River WV   concert pavilion in Morgantown DAY 15 Decker Creek Trail WV  We are finally home after 15 days on the road, 501 bike miles and 2378 car miles.  It was a lot of driving for Dennis.  He could have let me drive but I fell asleep periodically in the car and I don't think he trusted me to be fully awake.   Neither of us expected much from this last trail even though it's listed as a hall of fame trail in "Rails to Trails".  First of all it's downhill for almost 13 miles and I mean a 3% grade.  We flew down to Morgantown at about 15 mph.  Of course that means it's uphill most of the way back.  We are so grateful for the e-bikes.  We pretty much kept to 14 mph on the way back passing everyone on a regular bike.  It didn't use that much battery either which was a pleasant surprise.  I think because of the grade it wasn't very crowded even though it is very scenic following the Decker cree

Memorial sculpture dedicated the the Challenger crew and passengers who lost their lives in 1986 when the spacecraft disintegrated on lift off America  I took Stars and Stripes, and placed them on the mountain I rang freedom's bell, and I played freedom's tune. Day 14, July 21, no birthdays These are the only two photos today.  But we had quite a day.  Anxious to leave the Super8 (don't ever stay in a Super8 even if it has a good location) we started our ride on the Alum Creek Trail in Astronaut's Grove, Westerville, Ohio at 8:15.  We were the first to arrive.  Before I talk about the ride I would like to mention waffles.  Just about every one of these motels has a waffle iron in their free breakfast bar.  So we have come to enjoy these little treats, telling ourselves that they're almost healthy.  Today we passed up biscuits with sausage gravy (no sausage) for the waffles.  Back to the ride.  The Astronaut Grove was very nicely done.  Everyone who died in the Chall

sculpture bench Dennis answering a call quilt garden tree of life tree of life mysterious tree carver sculpture Day 13 July 20 PumpkinVine Trail   We expected this trail to be really nice and it didn't disappoint.  It was named after the curvy, twisty vine by the same name.   The trail was paved and again nicely maintained.  Midway through the 16 mile trail was Middlebury Indiana where there was a beautiful garden, a quilt garden, and a tree of life sculpture.   The stone sculpture of the mysterious carver was installed in honor of an unknown carver who apparently carved some faces in the woods.  Along the trail many of the trees planted had identification plaques.  We've never seen that before, a tremendous volunteer effort.  Again the weather cooperated and we missed the threatening rain entirely.  We rode the length of the trail to Shipshewana, 16.8 miles, which was an Amish community full of shops and restaurants.  Lots of Amish buggies and huge, beautiful Amish farms dotte

sand dune beach at river walk look for Chicago in background  sand dune beach stairway to Mt Tom the highest peak in the Indiana Dunes National Park   more stairway sand dune trail to Mt Tom wish I knew how to delete when it downloads twice snowy owl at nature center (stuffed) Day 12 July 19 Indiana Sand Dunes A belated happy birthday to Saniah Simms July 14.  Hope you had a great day Saniah!  And thank you Terra.  You are the only person who has been able to figure out how to leave comments on the blog. Chesterton, Indiana was a pleasant surprise.  Dennis found the best coffee of the trip and we stumbled on a really nice paved rails trail called the Prairie Duneland Trail.  It was only 10 miles each way but covered by a thick canopy of trees, well maintained and not very crowded.  We did pass the track team twice. On a high from riding that trail we were really excited to climb at least one dune in the state park so after several u-turns we found the nature center in the state park (W

  Day 11 July 18 Lakefront Trail Chicago First I have to thank Ramona and Jerry for putting us up for 2 days.  It was great to see them again. Chicago really makes good use of their lakefront.  There are miles of wide sand beaches with lots of parking, unbelievably large marinas, many large parks, pedestrian bridges and two paved trails, one for walkers and one for bikes.  On a Tuesday morning there were people everywhere enjoying everything.  It's a very alive city.  I wish I could have taken more photos, especially of the skyline which is just jaw dropping.  Also there were large sculptures along the trail but it was too dangerous to stop for photos every block.   We started at Foster  Beach and rode about 16 miles and turned around to head back to the Navy Pier area so we could ride downtown to the original Uno's Pizza (the red dot on the map).  Dennis grew up in Chicago and had been there before.  I had actually been there before as well with my husband many years ago on a

  Day 10 or 11 no one's birthday the Des Plaines River Trail Check out the first photo.  Dennis and I hit 2000 miles today on our bikes in less than a year.  Soon we'll have Pedego's 2500 pin.  Yay!!!! We both loved this trail.  It connected 6 forest preserves and 1 nature center which were just beautiful, so peaceful.  Lots of wildflowers, meadows, lots of trees, all kinds of water areas from the river to ponds and lakes, lots of little bridges and a couple of tunnels under highways.  If you were to draw a line of the trail there wouldn't be too many straight areas.  It wasn't a rail trail so it was carved to follow the lay of the land, trees and water.  So much fun!!!  The only problem with it (nothing is perfect) it wasn't paved.  The surface was crushed pea gravel, but still very well groomed and wide in most areas.  We rode over 23 miles getting a little worried about finding a place for lunch when I smelled food.  So we left the trail through a parking lot

Day 9 July 16 Jay Hoffman's birthday (Hi Jay) Today we rode to Milwaukee WI from Cedarburg and back, a distance of 20 miles.  Dennis was really looking forward to this ride.  He loves an urban ride where we can see neighborhoods and backyards and we were both looking forward to seeing the downtown waterfront.  Unfortunately we didn't know that there would be a Harley Davidson convention of at least 1000 bikers which closed the downtown trail and most of the waterfront.  They were just setting up when we got there but it was very difficult getting around.  Also the trail was a bit dull, lots of overhead wires and very few back yards.  Then there were the seams.  The trail was paved but there were these nasty little crevices every 20 feet where they joined the sections, not the total 20 miles but a good part of it.  Bump, bump, bump, it became annoying.  I do have to say that Wisconsin has the most considerate drivers that we have come across.  Every time we came to a crossroad a

  DAY 8 July 15 We had a most amazing day (actually yesterday).  It started out with an hour+ drive from Green Bay to that narrow peninsula of land sticking out in northern Lake Michigan pictured above, Door County Wisconsin.  Our first stop was Egg Harbor a cute little town with lots of shops and cafes.  We bought some very fancy infused olive oils and balsamic vinegars.  So we'll be making some great salads! Then we drove up to Fish Creek, an even nicer town.  Barbara, you and Bob would love this town.  There were so many really interesting art galleries and tempting cafes.  It had a good size beach and its own park.   The next picture up from the map is of a tiny yard full of Hollyhocks and a small house selling seeds and yard stuff.  Dennis and I had seen some encaustic photos in a gallery at Egg Harbor and we were looking for more of the same here but were told to go farther out of town to a private gallery.  So it was time to take a bike ride in the park.The top picture is a

  DAY 7  July 14. Green Bay WI Today was one of our longer drives.  It took us 4 1/2 hours to drive from St Ignace around the top of Michigan on Lake Michigan's shore line.  It was an interesting drive, a few really nice houses on the water  and so many trees!!  Sometimes they form a wall which looks impenetrable.  They changed in density once we hit Wisconsin.   We were able to check into the Hampton Inn at noon so we did and immediately went for a bike ride on the Fox River Trail which stayed paved for 11 miles and then changed to crushed stone.  The top photo expresses city pride.  They have a very nice waterfront area, bars and restaurants and lots of condos. right on the trail.  We rode through some neighborhoods of million dollar homes complete with tennis courts overlooking the river and some condos and townhouses, a real mix.  Outside of the city limits the trail left the river and passed by some big farms.  At mile 6 we took a detour to see a working lock that allows boats

DAY 5 July 13 (Melody's birthday) We enjoyed a different kind of day today.  Mackinac Island does not allow cars even for residents and it seems they don't allow e-bikes with a throttle even the class 2 bikes which we have.  So we ferried over to the island at 9:30 without our bikes.  Very disappointing.  The irony is that there are thousands of bikes on the island .  They're just everywhere and no one locks them up.  It's hard to walk, there are so many bikes and inexperienced riders.  Little kids and grandmothers wobbling down the street.  We saw 2 accidents both old ladies.  Made me nervous.  We rented step thru cruisers for 16$/hour so we could ride the 9 mile  perimeter, the last 3 photos.  The ride was spectacular as you can see.  My camera didn't do it justice. We also paid 15$ each to tour the fort and it was actually worth it, a very impressive fort and display.  Lots of pictures and info on all the buildings.  It was surprisingly interesting.  It took a wh