Day 78

Today was the last of North Bend Rail Trail. It was a tough ride, but it was worth it. After the trail I got on some back roads until I got lost so I had to get on the 50 to Clarksburg. From Clarksburg it was around 40 miles to the next trail. I thought that would be doable. That was before my route took me to the back-back roads of WV.

It started pooring while I still thought I was going the right way. After I got my raingear on and rode a couple more miles, I thought there was no way I was going the right way. During the storm I saw a bear cross the road about 30 feet in front of me(my camera was in my waterproof bag so no picture, bummer). It looked at me and went running off. I gave it a couple minutes and made a mental note about not camping for a few miles. I kept going for another hour or so hoping to see any kind of road sign. A better sign came into view. It was a lake and the lake had the name of the road I was supposed to be on. Wow, that was lucky.

I set up camp and these 2 ducks were hanging out near my tent.

Miless 63, total 3717, avg 8.8, max 30.6, time 7.04

Day 77

Today I would be on the trail all day. I got to Cairo, WV, the trail headquarters. The city has embraced the trail. There is a little bike shop, and almost all the stores are named after the trail. I saw 10 or so riders in this area. I talked with one that grew up in the area. He said when he was 12 he rode the train from Cairo to Tucsan, AZ.

The trail slowly gets worse the farther from Cairo. It was still good enough to stay on. It has some cool tunnels. The longest was 2297 feet. Before one tunnel I ran into a couple from yesterday and they had just visited Cumberland, MD so they gave me some info on the area.

For those wondering. Looks like DC will have to wait.

Miles 49, total 3654, avg 8.9, max 15.7, time 5.30

Day 76

Today I was looking forward to getting in another trail called North Bend.
Made it to another state today.

Before the trail I rode trough the city of Athens, OH. It seemed like a nice college town. Ohio University is in town. There were a lot of old buildings and some good looking eateries.

I rode by my second major college, West Virginia University, around a mile before getting on the trail.

The trail was nice and quite. After 10 miles I found a good place to camp for the night.

Miles, 59, total 3605, avg 11.2, max 33.3, time 5.10

Day 75

Got up early this morning to get out of the rest area. I had planned on getting to Nelsonville via hwy 33, but saw the no ped, bicycle, moped sign so I had to find a back road route to Nelsonville.

After Nelsonville the day slowed down. After getting a lot wet and working on my bike for a while I decided to stay in Athens, OH.

Miles 39, total 3546, avg 10, max 30.8, time 3.49

Day 74

Columbus seems like a nice city. It has a nice riverwalk and even though it is a big city there was not much traffic.

Out of Columbus I rode the backroads for 25 miles or so. The 33 seemed like a good hwy so I got on that for a while. I stopped at a rest area planning to stop for an hour or so. A big storm blew in that lasted for a few hours so I had to camp out in the rest area.

Miles 53, total 3507, avg 12.8, max 28.1, time 4.0504

Day 73

Got up around 6 this morning. I did not want to see another Ranger on the trail.

I had a nice ride to London, OH and met a great guy named Gene. He rides the Ohio Trails quite a lot. We rode from London to the end of the trail a few miles out of Columbus, OH. We had a nice time talking about the trail and many other trails throughout the U.S.

I stopped near downtown Columbus today. After last night I decided to get a room for the night.

Miles 44, total 3454, avg 12.4, max 25.9, time 3.33

Day 72

It was too much to ship my backup wheel to Cinci so I had to walk a few miles this morning to a bike shop to get everything up and running. On the walk there was a big storm. I stopped at a grocery store to get some shopping done and to wait out the storm.

I finally(about 3 days late) got to the Ohio bike trail. Ohio really has a great paved trail system. I might have been the first biker on the trail after the big storm. I took a lot of big branches off the trail, but ran into a couple downed trees that could not be moved.

It was a good ride today. As it was getting late I was looking for a nice spot to camp. Around 8.15 pm I found the spot I was looking for. I rested for 45 minutes before starting to set up camp. About halfway through the setup a couple of lights came down the trail. The ranger asked me what I was doing. He told me to pack up and move to a campsite. He said there was one 9 miles away. I rode around 9 miles and set up shop again aroumd 10.30 pm, on the trail. I was checking all day for campsites and knew there was none on the trail I was on. He just wanted me out of his county, so I thought I would be ok if I got out early in the morning.

Miles 72, total 3410, avg 9.9, max 26.9, time 7.03

Day 71

Took the day off today because of the wheel issue.

My goal is to get to Cumberland, MD by the 28th or 29th so I can ride the C & O Canal trail to Washington D.C. It is around 450 miles so it is going to be close.

Day 70

I got another flat today after a few miles. It looks like there must be something wrong with my wheel. I was hoping to make it to Pittsburgh on this one, but will have to get one shipped from Boise.

I did get a cool pic of a mural in Glendale, OH, a suburb of Cincinnati.

Miles 7, total 3339, avg 4.5, max 22.3, timee 1.19

Day 68

Another one bites the dust. Made it to Ohio today. There was a welcome sign,  but with the traffic I was not able to stop.

I made it to Lawrenceburg, IN and was trying to figure the best route through Cincinnati. A biker named Josh stopped by to talk about my tour. After we talked rode with me out of town and gave me directions on the best way to get around Cinnci. I followed his dirctions until the last left, it was supposed to be a right. After 5 miles I thought it was the wrong way, but kept going to the next city. It turned out to be a good wrong turn. Google bike directions showed a way to Cumberland, MD that would be on 70 or so miles on a bike path.

I made it to Miami Whitewater Forest for the night.

Miles 49, total 3306, avg 11.6, max 29.6, time 4.10

Day 67

Last night was the longest t-storm I have ever been in. It started around 10 pm and lasted til 2-3am. In Ohio the lightning started a few homes on fire and the wind knocked over a lot of trees.
Not much going on today. I was trying to get to Verailles before another storm hit and found a cheap hotel.

Miles 63, total 3257, avg 12.3, max 33.2, time 5.03

Day 69

Today was a day. Too many flats, ran out of tubes, walked to Dick's Sporting Goods, more flats, walked to campsite. The end.

Ok not the end. I met a nice family at the campground. Had a nice dinner and heard stories until midnight.

Overall a good day.

Miles 26, total 3332, avg 7.1, max 35, time 3.41

Day 66

Got up and going around 9 am, after a good nights sleep on picnic tables.

I passed a biker that was going west that looked like he had been on the road for 10-15 years. He had bags coming off his handle bars, bags on the back of his bike, and a dog on top off the bags. I wasn't having much fun riding on the 50 today, I don't know how he was doing it.

After 35 miles on the 50 I found a country road that would take me close to my destination. What a nice change. No traffic and nice rolling hills. Just by luck I got to see and ride through the longest historic wooden bridge in the nation. The Medora Wooden Bridge spans 431 feet. It was built in 1876 and was fully operational until 1972.

I planned on getting to the Jackson-Washington State Forest, but a big black cloud was headed my way. I stopped at Starve Hallow SRA. I was able to get to the showers before I got too wet. The rain had almost stopped after a much needed shower.

I'm hooked on sweet corn, upped it to 4 ears, dry though no butter.

Miles 66, total 3194, avg 12.3, max 36.5, time 4.29

Day 65 (day off)

Got a good few miles of hiking in down to and around Martin Lake. I also found a nice picnic area with power so I was able to power everything up. It was also a nice shelter so I slept on a couple picnic tables.

Day 64

Another state in the rearview. I crossed into Indiana today. I am still riding hwy 50 in Indiana. I have been following a bike tour since getting on the 50 in Illinois. I haven't seen them, but have seen signs painted on the road for lunch and directions.

The flat roads of the last few days are gone. Today after 50 miles some big hills started. After about a 1 1/2 mile climb I got my first scenic overlook rest area for at least the last 1300 miles.

I stopped at Martin State Forest for the night. I had the whole campground to myself again.

Miles 72, total 3138, avg 13.6, max 32.5, time 5.18

Day 63

On the 50 again all day today, it has turned out to be a good highway. Today I passed about 20 bikers going west. They all looked dressed the same so it must have been some Illinois bike club.

I talked with some old-timers at Mcds today about the ride and my camping spot tonight, Red Hills State Park. The hill is the highest point of land between St. Louis and Cincinnati. I was mentally prepared for a tough climb into the park. It was a surprise after an easy uphill there was the park. I guess at 515 feet of elevation it couldn't have been that tough.

No tenters out so I had the primitive area to myself.
Hit the 3000 mark today!!!

Miles 70, total 3066, avg 13.6, max 27.4, time 5.06

Day 62

Planned a short day today. I went off route about 7 miles to Stephen A Forbes State Park. This lake is 180 degrees different then Carlyle Lake. Did not see any fishing going on. The lake has heavy tree growth everywhere I went, all the way to the bank. More of a relaxing, put your feet up lake.

Miles 43, total 2996, avg 14.4, max 26.2, time 2.55

Day 61

Today I would be getting on hwy 50 that would take me through Illinois and Indiana. I got a little lost taking the back roads out of Alton so I had to get on I-70 to find my way.

After a fairly uneventful day I made it to Carlyle Lake, the biggest man-made lake in Illinois. There were a lot of people fishing at the spillway. There were hundreds, if not thousands, of fish that had been washed down the spillway. It is hard to see in the picture, but the dark area is all fish.
Lots were jumping, but never did see one caught.

The limit for crappie, yes there is a limit, was none under 10 inches and a limit of 10 fish. No bucket fulls of crappie in Illinois.

Had a great dinner of fresh corn on the cob, bananas, and left over gizzards from lunch.

Miles 80, total 2953, avg 12.4, max 27.2, time 6.25

Day 60

Took today off to shorten my route. I am going to cut out Kentucky and go through Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to shorten the miles by a few hundred.

Day 59

I made it to Illinois today. No welcome sign because I rode a ferry over the Mississippi River from Missouri to Illinois. I rode a second ferry over the Illinois River. It is surprising how dry people say it has been in the area, then to see the amount of water flowing down these two rivers is really impressive.

I was on a nice greenbelt along the Mississippi and took a picture of a cool mural of a Piasa Bird.

Stayed in Alton, IL and had some fresh tomatoes and homade piccalilli relish for dinner.

Day 58

Last day on the Katy Trail. Today was the day for seeing animals. Saw a few deer, almost hit a raccoon, and saw a bunch of big turtles.

Along much of the trail there is a big cliff and it also has trees providing shade for most of the way.

I made it to an RV Park in St Charles, MO for the night.

Miles 71, total 2818, avg 12.4, max 25.9, time 5.36

Day 57

I wanted a full 3 days on the trail so today was a short one.

Along the trail there are many historical markers. This big rock shows the levels of the big floods that have happened over the years. It looked like the flood of 1903 was the deepest, it looked like it went about 10 feet up the rock.

Stayed the night in the historic town of Hermann, MO.

Miles 35, total 2747, avg 11.4, max 20.1, time 3.04

Day 56

Today I would be getting on a trail for 150 miles of no cars. The Katy Trail is a really nice trail. It is flat and going west to east has a very slow elevation loss. The trail follows along the Missouri River for much of the route.

There are a lot of birds on the trail I have not seen before, and also saw a bald eagle flying right above the river.

I was planning on camping at a bicyclists only area, but was surprised that it was an old house converted to a shelter for Katy Trail users. I was the only one there so I took the bunk right below the A/C.

I had one of the best dinners of the trip. A couple of fresh tomatoes from a farmer's market, pasta, and a little summer sausage.

Miles 66, total 2712, avg 12.9, max 27.7, time 5.12