You Can Call Me Al

Rennselaer, IN to Ashkum, IL

June 28, 2019

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Rennselaer, IN to Ashkum, IL

Hey look, a straight road in Indiana!

Yesterday’s short ride would seem long compared to today’s efforts. It would be safe to say that I’m not setting any cross-country records with the pace I’ve been setting lately. But as I learned the other day, there’s more to the trip than just covering distance … although, that’s still a pretty crucial element.

On the upside, the short ride went well and SHOULD lead to a somewhat succinct update. SHOULD.

Hello, Illinois.
Hmmmm … kind of looks like Indiana.

Today’s big event was that I would be leaving Indiana behind and moving on to Illinois. State number four of this tour. Sadly, just like the previous state crossings thus far, the passing from one state to another came with no fanfare, no signage, and no indication that anything had changed. Particularly in the scenery. It would seem that Illinois is also flat. VERY.

That flatness made for a pretty easy ride. Sure, there was some wind but that’s not really news. Fortunately, it didn’t hinder my progress TOO much … although I had to work fairly hard to maintain a decent average speed on the day. And yes, the temperatures continued to climb today which certainly took a toll. I’ll admit, I did seek shaded shelter a couple of times along the way.

Sadie. Who’s a good puppy dog?

My host for the night was Dave. He has a great cottage in rural Ashkum, IL. And it’s right on the Iroquois River which would be great for those looking to go for a swim after a sweltering bike ride into the wind. Well, it would be great if you’re someone that doesn’t sink like a rock. Not surprisingly, I opted not to take my chances in the river but I did enjoy taking a boat ride to drop off some brave, water-faring souls up river to float back to the cottage. I was perfectly content with my decision … plus I got to hang out on the boat with Dave and Sadie (an 11-month old puppy).

As for Dave’s cottage, I learned it has a long history in his family and the area itself has had some notorious residents. Apparently a few houses down from Dave’s place is a house that was sometimes used by Al Capone. I don’t remember all the specifics but it was pretty fascinating. As the stories go, there were lookout houses, tunnels, and apparently an incinerator … I could go into more detail but if you really want to read more about it you can do so HERE. (Thanks for the link, Dave)

Look at me being succinct. And yes, that’s the last time I’ll be using that word for a while.

Today’s totals:
Distance: 67.51 km
Ride time: 3:14:57
Average speed: 20.77 km/h
Maximum speed: 33.55 km/h

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Times Are Changing

Royal Center, IN to Rensselaer, IN

June 27, 2019

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Last shot at Frances’.

To say that I’ve fallen a BIT behind is like saying it’s been a BIT hot and windy on the road. As such, I will attempt to be a bit more succinct in these next few posts in an effort to get caught up again. I know, I know … I don’t typically do succinct very well. Then again, maybe the same could be said for my ramblings.

After a fantastic Hoosiers themed afternoon and evening, it was time to leave Frances’ Indiana paradise and hit the road again. I should mention that the looming storm clouds as documented in the previous update’s photo gallery blew past without incident. However, a new set of clouds clearly moved in through the night and they decided to stick around. I really don’t know how long it rained but it seemed to continue for much of the night – or at least every time I woke up. By morning though, it had moved on … either that or the clouds just ran empty.

And last shot at Frances’.
Look at that vertical leap!

My goal for the day was Rensselaer, Indiana. It was to be another very manageable distance (under 80 km). As always, it would come down to the wind and temperatures as to how manageable that distance would actually be. Spoiler Alert: Both were relatively cooperative. Relatively.

Oh, and I know I’ve posted this video already but I’m posting this revised version because I like the ending SO much better than the original. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it sooner. I blame fatigue and, well … I have no excuse. Better late than never though, right? Anyway, I would’ve just replaced the first version but YouTube doesn’t allow that sort of shenanigans.

The big news of the day was that I would be changing time zones. Apparently the time zones get a bit confusing in this part of the country but, bottom line, if all went well I would be ending the day in the Central Time Zone.

Indiana. It’s pretty flat. And straight. Did I mention flat?

Usually when I set out each day, I have an unofficial goal of reaching my destination by 4:00 PM. Given the day’s short distance, I didn’t expect that to be a problem … well, except that I was gaining an hour along the way. And progress along the way went well so I found myself arriving in Rensselaer shortly before 2:00 PM local time. I felt that was a bit early to arrive at the home of my Warm Showers hosts so I headed to the library. I figured I could use their WiFi and maybe top up my water bottles – which I have been doing much better at emptying throughout the day (yes, by drinking it!).

I had actually intended to write an update at that time but, well … the air conditioning at the library was far too chilly for my liking … probably emphasized by my cycling in what had become VERY hot conditions. On the upside, they had a great water filling station which I used a couple of times.

A good place to quietly mind my own business in the shade.

In lieu of hanging out in the chilly library, I made my way across the street to a park with a gazebo. While it was still crazy hot outside, I found it quite comfortable in the shade of the gazebo. I was hanging out there for a while when I ended up having a short conversation with a local mid-20-something guy who had wandered into the gazebo. He started talking about trying to find a job and such things. I really had no idea how to respond so I went with the smile and nod approach. He then asked what I was doing. I told him of my trip and he looked at me like I was crazy. Moments later, he was gone. It was kind of funny actually.

I covertly took this as he drove away.

Fast-forward about 15 minutes later. I was still sitting at that same gazebo, minding my own business – just using the high-range WiFi from the library across the street. So engrossed was I with whatever I was looking at (most likely maps) that I didn’t notice the arrival of my next conversation source. This one wore a uniform. Yup, it was a police officer. He assured me that I wasn’t in trouble but he just wanted to check in. While I believed the part about not being in trouble, he was clearly there under orders. Moments later I was providing my ID and he was radioing it in to the powers that be on the other end of the radio. It would seem no red flags came up and I was able to return to what I was doing – which was, you know, minding my own business.

In all honesty, I really didn’t care that I had such an encounter – as I said, I wasn’t doing anything wrong – but I think that’s the first time I’ve ever been “randomly” carded. I also can’t help but think that the real source of the encounter stemmed from my earlier encounter with the young guy.

Some might say this horse looks a bit tired. I won’t. But some might say that.

With my legal status cleared, I resumed my travels and made it to Jodi and Chris’ place (and Hero the dog). They were all incredibly welcoming and generous. And the pasta casserole concoction (clearly, I don’t know exactly what to call it) was so incredibly good. Incredibly. I ate far too much and yet wanted to eat more. SO good. It was like the polar opposite of what happens when I make pasta.

The remainder of the evening was spent chatting, watching a movie, convincing Chris that he should get a drone (admittedly, that didn’t take much effort), and, oh … laundry. My hosts graciously offered to let me do some laundry. For the record, other hosts have also made such an offer … hmmmm … perhaps I should’ve taken that as a hint!

Oh, and yeah … I know, I know … so much for being succinct.

Today’s totals:
Distance: 76.27 km
Ride time: 3:28:10
Average speed: 21.98 km/h
Maximum speed: 32.70 km/h

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Today’s Lesson

Wabash, IN to Royal Center, IN

June 26, 2019

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This is my fourth long tour and sixth overall … seventh if you include the round trip between Kitchener and Philadelphia in 2017 – which I guess should count since it was longer than my first ever tours in BC (2010) and New Zealand (2013) – both of which were under 1,000 km. ANYWAY, after all that time on the road I think I may be learning a thing or two.

For instance, yesterday I felt a bit guilty for my short day on the road when, really, there was no reason for guilt. I decided to make it a short day. Period. And it was a good day – which is kind of the point after all. Today, I had another short day on the agenda so, again, I was feeling a bit guilty over my lack of distance-ual (SO not a word) accomplishments. However, that guilt was VERY short-lived as today turned out to be a really memorable day – even though only 70 km were covered.

My destination for the day was Royal Center, Indiana and, as just mentioned, it was only 70 km away. As noted in my previous post, today would be the first day I would be setting up my tent on this trip. Admittedly, as much as I’ve enjoyed my bedded accommodation thus far, I was actually looking forward to tenting out. Even though I would be camping, it was still going to be a Warm Showers experience … except that my host (Frances) wouldn’t be there. Despite her absence, she said I was welcome to camp on her farm property, as her profile reads, “in the middle of nowhere”. So that was my plan.

Jason and Amy

For the most part the plan went off without a hitch. Prior to hitting the road, there was a great breakfast courtesy of my hosts Jason and Amy to start the morning. There were sunny skies and not-brutal winds from the southwest to accompany me on my ride. And a few times along the way there were rows of trees on the left side of the road which were very effective in reducing the effect of the aforementioned southwest winds. The only problem on the road came about halfway along the route. Before I get to that though, I’ll mention that up until a couple of weeks ago Indiana has been getting a LOT of rain. So much so that pretty much everyone I’ve talked to in Indiana has mentioned it – granted, I don’t talk to that many people but you get the idea. Bottom line, signs that read, “High Water” aren’t always to be dismissed.

Sign not to be taken lightly

As I dismissed the “High Water” sign along my route, I kept merrily pedalling my way west. Ok, maybe not “merrily” but, again, you get the idea. That merriment became significantly less merry when the road ahead of me had a BIT of a puddle on it. This was not a puddle to be taken lightly. For the record, I certainly could’ve pedalled through it – the question was, “How wet would my panniers get?” More often than not, I’m glad I chose the panniers I have; however, every now and then I see the benefit of TRULY waterproof bags. Given the amount of electronics I’m carrying, I opted to head back about 2 km to the previous intersection and seek out a drier route. Spoiler Alert: Despite the backtracking, it was an excellent plan.

Sign taken lightly

With the puddle being the only real obstacle on the day, I arrived at my destination before 1:00 PM and part of me considered continuing on as it really was a nice day for a ride. However, those considerations quickly disappeared when I saw the property on which I’d be camping. For starters, there was a large green space complete with playground and swings and a picnic table. And there was a large “tool shed” in which I was told I could sleep should the weather not cooperate. Just to be clear, this “tool shed” was more than a little large. Personally, I’m more inclined to call it a barn … so that’s what I’ll be calling it from now on.

The other amenity (which I didn’t initially notice) was a basketball hoop. Here I was, in rural Indiana, staring at a basketball hoop. Of course, if you haven’t seen the movie “Hoosiers” then this setting likely won’t mean anything to you. I HAVE seen “Hoosiers” (multiple times) and this setting was clearly not lost on me. All I needed was a basketball. Fortunately, the aforementioned barn was able to oblige.

Being in the middle of nowhere meant that I had to fend for myself for supper. I did. I won’t pretend that today’s supper was the best of the trip so far … it was undoubtedly the worst. Although, part of that is because I’ve been fortunate enough to have some incredible meals at Warm Showers hosts along the way. That said, I always get a kick out of cooking up pasta in my small camping pot. As such, a kick was had tonight.

With dinner and my Indiana basketball experience taken care of, there was just one thing left to finish off what had become a great day. I figured, “What better way to end this day than to actually watch “Hoosiers”?” Of course, my plan for the screening wasn’t that simple (it usually isn’t with me!). I needed to wait for the sun to set. This was to be an outdoor screening.

The wait for the sunset ended up being a couple of hours so by then I was very happy to see darkness starting to fall. Just as that was happening, I actually ended up meeting one of my host’s sons. He had stopped by the house briefly and we ended up talking about, well … a wide range of things. Bottom line, it was really too bad I didn’t get to meet his mom, Frances. She sounds like a great host (and person).

When that conversation ended, I was once again left to my own devices … and one of those devices was particularly crucial for my outdoor screening.

Is it wrong that I’m travelling with a mini-projector?
After this experience I can clearly state, “No!”

I never really thought of shooting hoops on a farm in Indiana as being one of those things I’d ever have the opportunity to do. Combine that with an outdoor screening of “Hoosiers” on the wall of a barn in Indiana and, well … today was quite the “Indiana” experience. At least, stereotypically anyway.

So, getting back to the title of this blog … what did I learn today? Well, for starters, a good day isn’t necessarily dependent upon the number of kilometres pedalled. As a wise man once said, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once and a while, you could miss it.” I’m SO glad I didn’t miss this opportunity.

Today’s totals:
Distance: 70.71 km
Ride time: 3:21:21
Average speed: 21.07 km/h
Maximum speed: 35.88 km/h

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Don’t Judge Me

Yoder, IN to Wabash, IN

June 25, 2019

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Yoder, IN to Wabash, IN

You can’t see the wind but it’s definitely there

After yesterday’s long ride in the wind, I took a look at the weather forecast to see if there was any reprieve from the wind in my future. There wasn’t. At least, not today. As such, I decided to be a bit lazy and opted to make today a short day. I mean, I have no doubt that there are long, headwind-filled days still to come … so I figured, I’d try to minimize the impact of at least one of them (i.e., today). As I said, don’t judge me! (I do a good enough job of that for myself!)

With my plan for the day set, it didn’t take long for the wind to announce its presence. Well, it didn’t take long once I got on the road, anyway. With my planned short day I didn’t actually get onto my bike until 11:30 … which still left plenty of time for my shortened ride. And speaking of my ride, my goal for the day was a forested nature preserve – a mere 50 km away. I know, I know … that’s an embarrassingly short ride. Again, don’t judge me!

In the absence of a long cycling day, I had some extra time on my hands – time which I decided to fill with some drone practice. Admittedly, I wasn’t entirely sure if flying the drone in such windy conditions was a great idea but I figured there was only one way to find out. And find out I did – about halfway through my ride.

What I WANTED to do with the drone was have it follow and orbit me. The “following” part went okay and it certainly gave its best effort to orbit around me but the winds were just too strong. I think it would’ve worked (or at least worked better) had I been cycling with the wind – but that wasn’t today’s reality. Watching the drone try to orbit my moving bike reminded me of hang gliding in strong winds … very slow progress into the wind and then when you turn down wind … WHOOSH … you’d be at the other end of the field in no time.


In the end, the orbiting test was only minimally successful … but not successful enough to include a full orbit in the video above. On the upside, I did get at least a couple of shots that were moderately usable. And, it was a fun experiment.

Happiness is chocolate chip cookies.
Happier-ness is chocolate chip cookies along the way.

With the drone once again stowed in my pannier, I resumed pedalling into the wind. But, with time still in my favour, I found time to enjoy a few of the cookies that Dave had sent along with me. And when I say “a few” I mean “all”. So good.

As for detailing my actual ride today, there really isn’t much to report. It was hillier than I expected but that’s mostly because my expectations were based on the flatness of the previous days. I was a bit out of breath at the top of one of the hills but all things considered I think I fared pretty well. I’m not ready for mountains yet but those are still more than a few days (maybe even weeks) away. As for the weather, the wind continued all afternoon. As did the sun. Fortunately, I was more liberal with the sunscreen today. Sadly, there was no sort of wind repellant – I could make a fortune from that.

Looking ahead to tomorrow, it looks like it will be my 2019 inaugural night in a tent. There likely also won’t be any internet access so the next update will likely be delayed.

Today’s (embarrassing) totals:
Distance: 52.18 km
Ride time: 2:49:16
Average speed: 18:49 km/h
Maximum speed: 43.32 km/h

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Insert Wind Sound Effect Here

Defiance, OH to Yoder, IN

June 24, 2019

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Defiance, OH to Yoder, IN

First stop out of the wind.
Picnic tables are still great.

My plan for the day was to leave Ohio behind and reach Indiana. More specifically, Yoder, Indiana … about 110 km away. And the plan (Spoiler Alert) went well. The distance really wasn’t at all a concern but the same couldn’t be said about the weather – which was filled with wind. From the southwest. If you haven’t deduced it by now, yes, I was travelling southwest today. For 110 km. Did I mention it was windy?

However, before I would hit the road, there would be breakfast. Not particularly (or remotely) noteworthy but when I woke this morning, my hosts were gone. This had no impact on the breakfast portion of the day but it made things significantly more difficult to get a photo with my hosts – perhaps I should’ve considered that last night. Inspiration (in its loosest sense) struck me when I went to the fridge for some milk. Photo problem solved.

In lieu of my hosts’ presence this morning, I improvised …

With breakfast and requisite photos taken care of I was ready to roll. And as “things to report from road” go, today provided very few things. It was very much a day of just working through the wind. The thought of pedalling for potentially six hours into the wind seemed more than a little unpleasant so it was definitely a day of mind games. Instead of biking 110 km to Yoder, I decided it would be easier to pedal 31 km to Paulding, OH. Then 15 km to Payne, OH. Then 20 km to Monroeville (crossing into Indiana in the process). Then 32 km more to Yoder. And finally 8 km to my host’s place. (There MAY have been an additional 4 km detour thanks to questionable Google routing. On the upside, I had a glorious tailwind for about 1 km of that detour.)

To say that crossing into Indiana from Ohio was unremarkable would be a gross understatement. There was no signage. At all. Clearly this was a bit unfortunate from a photo point of view but it was also the norm. When you’re cycling along back country roads there generally aren’t any “Welcome” signs along the way. Today I entered my third state on this tour and I’ve yet to see a “Welcome to …” sign. Again, not particularly important but kind of a bummer. The best I could do was take a couple of photos at the state line road and resume pedalling into the wind. And that’s what I did.

Goodbye, Ohio

In the end, my tactic of breaking the day into smaller segments worked well. The wind continued as per the forecast but I just kept pedalling. Rather than focussing on the wind (and despite the very flat terrain) I just kept telling myself, “It’s just a hill. It’s just a hill.” Sometimes, it’s all about the mind games.

Today’s totals:
Distance: 109.20 km
Ride time: 5:37:04
Average speed: 19.43 km/h (my first sub-20 km/h day)
Maximum speed: 33.65 km/h

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