Day 10 – Fremont, OH Walmart to Vermillion, OH

Logistics:

Today we stage our leap frog vehicle, the Jeep, at a Walmart in Fremont, OH. The route takes us right thru the center of town and the Walmart is on north side. So there will be a short way to get back on the trail. To our liking this is a Super Walmart which is open 24 hours, which means the Jeep will be a bit safer and when we get done tomorrow we can get supplies. Kevin checked in with the manager on duty to confirm we could leave the vehicle over night and with a thumb up we were rolling by 7:45. Got to Love Walmart.

The Route:

see this link Day 10 – Fremont, OH Walmart to Vermillion, OH

The temps today were suppose to be 95+ with a heat index of 103, the good news was the storms were off to the north and east and the winds were from the W at 7-10 mph. We lathered up with sunscreen (yes even Zin got some on her nose), stuck an American flag in her trailer just to show our spirit and began our planned 54 mi day. South of Fremont we caught an 8 mile bike path which was a converted RR track. There were a number of bikers and joggers out getting their morning work out in before any celebrations that we greeted as we rolled by. There was not much of a view on the trail as it was encased with trees and bushes. This kept the sun off but also blocked any tail wind advantage. Once the trail ended we turned onto some country roads that were smooth and were unexpectedly lightly traveled for a holiday. Kevin counted One Tractor and 6 cars in 2 miles. Corn was the main crop and was head high on this 4^th of July. Theresa had charted the route with Google maps using their bicycling transportation mode, this was mostly good, but did change the route unexpectedly even when you force a path using the tools provided by Google. Needless to say her printed directions were a bit confusing and did not jive with the Adventure Cycling instructions. One needs to ask why we don't just use the maps we paid for. Oh, because Theresa loves maps and just has to do map work. This caused a few stops to validate we were on course. (which map should we follow) Even with all that checking and rechecking Theresa still turned to left on one road when it should have been right... this took us 2 miles off route ( a 4 mile total out and back). By that time Kevin had pulled Zin 20+ miles and was ready to be relieved. Theresa then pulled Zin the 2 mile back to get to the correct turn and was then able to maintain a 14mph pace with the wind pushing the trailer like a sail. After a long hot but flat 20 mile pull Theresa was done, Zin was whining and Kevin confirmed that he too was hungry! Theresa already had the look in her eyes that suggested she needed food or someone would DIE, and it was not going to be her. At a junction we found shade at a Subway and shared a 12in Club and washed to down with Ice Tea. Zin did get a few bites and drank lots of water. We also poured water all over her just to get her cooled down a bit. That seemed to do the trick! Kevin took over pulling the remainder of the route. We cruised North-east for about 5 miles until we where once again hugging the shores of Lake Erie. This section of Hwy 6 was nice and had a wide shoulder but was rutted along the white line. While these rumble strips help drivers, who wander off the road, know they need to stay awake, it was a pain for Kevin with the trailer as he tried to thread, like a needle, the rumble strips and the edge of the road. He tried several times to use the shoulder of the road to let cars go by but he finally gave up and just stayed in the main road and let cars go around him. (Observation – cars will give a bicyclist more room if the bike rides on the road than on the shoulder). Finally we hit our last turn with just 3 miles to the campsite. It was none to soon as we were all exhausted and ready for the relief of AC in the RV. Kevin was just on the verge of a BONK. Upon completion he checked his Blood Pressure and it was 104 over 61 the sign of a BONK.

Stats:

Kevin went thru 1 water bottle every 10 miles (including using it to douse Zin on several occasions)

Day 6 of riding, 54.12 miles, 12.7 mph avg, total trip miles 290, and 3225 calories burned

See Kevin's garmin stats here: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/195809192#.T_SxpsFvYV4.email

After the Ride:

Beer on Ice was poured and enjoyed inside the RV out of the sun. A short nap, some munchies then we were able to tackle putting stuff away as we need to prepare to move the RV tomorrow to another campground. Too much heat today, so we will just chill in the RV and eat Erky-learky (Whatever Theresa can come up with from what is in the frig).

Tomorrow's plans:

We leapfrog where the jeep is parked and take the RV to MaryJane Thurston Park about 100 miles away. In order to get an early start we will disconnect the RV tonight bring up the jacks and bring in the sliders so we are ready to roll by 6am (right - like that will happen).