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 Challenger explosion had a plaque in the ground.  I remember the day very well when it happened.

We started out about 8:30 expecting an interesting ride, not a rails trail, so curvy and hilly, along a very large creek.  About mile 8 we ran into a road closed sign and thought we could detour around it but after at least a mile and a half of detouring using google maps we decided to go back and make our way through the closure.  It turns out the bridge was completely out and being reconstructed so we returned to the car (8 miles) and decided to drive around it and leave from a different trailhead.  That worked beautifully.  It turns out we could have ridden our bikes on the highway for a mile and a half and arrived at the same place.  However it was a fast no shoulder road that we considered to be too dangerous.  So we started out again about 10:30 from Innis Park to ride another 12 miles one way.  We had a few more problems.  There weren't enough signs at least for me.  I was in the lead.   So we rode several more miles out of our way before completing the ride.  We did better coming back.  Stopped for sushi somewhere.  Dennis got the fish and chips Japanese style and really enjoyed it.  We ended up riding a total of 49+ miles instead of the planned 45.  Also the trail was loaded with tree debris due to last night's severe storm and we had to dodge sticks and puddles.

We then had a 2 and a half hour drive here to Washington Pa.  A Hampton Inn, SO MUCH BETTER!!!!

Tomorrow we drive an hour to Reedsville, West Virginia for our last ride, Decker's Creek.  We have to ride at least 37 miles tomorrow to get our 500 miles for the whole 2 week trip.  Then home where we can rest up.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
  April 19, Day 6 Gatlinburg No bike riding today😢.  Dennis and I played pairs bridge in one of the biggest regional bridge tournaments on the East coast.  We didn't do very well in the morning game but scored 63.45% in the afternoon game for a combined earning of 4.6 gold points.   Some interesting people and some very strange people attend this event.  Two women came all the way from Kauai.  One woman had the cutest support Boston Terrier.  I have never seen a dog so well behaved.  She was never on a leash and followed her person everywhere.     We had a very nice dinner with some bridge friends, Lynn Jones and Paul Benedict, two exceptionally good bridge players and enjoyed the day.  Gatlinburg is like Ocean City without the ocean. speaks for itself  
Read more
Image
Sunday, April 14 Virginia Capitol Trail between Richmond and Jamestown We decided to make our first ride 52.4 miles (Dennis decided this) so we arrived at the trailhead in downtown Richmond around 11:30 and were so very lucky to find one of the 15 parking spots in the lot.  Someone was just pulling out.  We needed something to eat and there was nothing on the trail so we picked up  Subway take-out. remains of old warehouse in front of new condos view from lunch spot lunch spot on the James river Boy were we lucky to find this great lunch spot (I found this).  The James river is a fast moving river full of tree debris with a few boats docked in private slips.  It eventually feeds into the Chesapeake Bay. The trail is below down by the docked boats. It is a nice trail, paved and maybe 8-10 feet wide, well used and well kept.  It's not a rail trail so it was a bit hilly and curvy. map of trail watch didn't record entire ride I forgot to hit resume We had a heavy cross wind so it w
Read more
Image
  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
Read more