Day 15 – Rensselaer, IN to Tall Sycamores RV Park, Peru, IN

Warning you will need 2+ cups of coffee to read this days adventure!

Logistics:

We got moving about 6:30 AM and got he RV ready to exit Camp Timber Lake RV park. Kevin analyzed the exit route and decided he needed to back out of the site, and then exit thru the site 2 places over. The strategy would allow him to miss a trees and a very narrow entrance guarded by large boulders on each side. In performing his ritualistic walk around prior to starting the engine he noticed that the steps would not retract into place. Over night the SmitTanic had slowly settled on its jacks and the bottom step was now resting fully on the ground. Kevin attempted to coax the steps back and up but to no avail. He realized that the SmitTanic had run aground and needed to be dug out. Theresa supplied a plastic stir spoon, and a kitchen knife for the delicate operation that was to take place. As Kevin carefully scraped the dirt/gravel from under the stair he struck bed rock. The knife came in handy as he was able to trace the outline of several large rocks and then prying them up and out of the way. Once freed the steps worked as designed. With the walk around completed Kevin was now ready to execute his exit strategy. This strategy was executed flawlessly as Kevin managed the maneuvers with Theresa giving the hand signals to guide him. This was just phase one of the movements today. We stopped to get gas in the RV and some b-fast. Next we made a heading for the campsite in peru, IN approximately 60 miles West. The RV GPS could not find the location so Theresa used her iPhone to get the path... seemed straight enough just follow HWY 24 for 50 miles. Kevin did not have a chance to read last nights blog post so Theresa passed the distance by reading it to him for his comments. All the sudden Kevin asked “Where are we?”. Theresa paused her reading and grabbed her iphone to validate. Yikes what happened? We somehow got way off route... We found an alternate way to get to the designated campsite. Lesson learned was to at least put in an approximate destination in the GPS to keep us close to an approximate location and route. We arrived at the Campsite at 9am and asked if we could move the RV into the site while we did our ride. The manager was not available but her son called her and got the OK for us to go ahead and park. Once we got into position, Kevin hooked up the Water and Electric (no sewer here). Theresa settled up with the Manager once she returned an then we loaded all the biking stuff into the Jeep to get to the start of our days ride another 60 miles away. By 11pm we finally made it to Walmart, Kevin went in to ask permission to park and visit the facilities and then it was Theresa's turn to go in and get Printer cartridges and some Aleve. All assembled and ready to roll by high noon, we will be lucky to make it back to the RV by sunset. This made us think of our joining Steve Cope on his x-country adventure and the race to the next town by dark (though that was winter and the sunset around 5pm, and these summer days are some of the longest of the year 8:30-9pm, and we are on the western edge of the time zone, so all was to our advantage). Accept the wind and sun.

The Route:

Kevin was craving a Cheeseburger and there was a McDonalds in eyesight from the Walmart. (do they always position the stores that way?) Theresa ordered 4 cheeseburgers, 2 for Kevin, one for her and one for Zin. After all cheeseburgers were consumed and rinsed down with water and dt coke we were finally ready to get on with the ride by 12:30pm. Theresa used MapMyRide to chart a 60 mile course that joined the ACA trail within 4 miles from the Walmart. Kevin relinquished himself to an all-day in the heat-of-the-day ride and a very late finish, Theresa remained optimistic and hoped that her back would not ache as bad as the previous days. Theresa pulled Zin for the first 12 miles. As promised by MapMyRide the roads where fairly flat, however we faced a stiff NNE wind that made any slight elevation a struggle. She held a 11 mph pace for as long as she could and mistakenly tried to push in the large chain ring up front which caused her back to feel the stress right off the bat. Whining, rhythmic breathing and painful sighs were heard as she tried to suck off any draft from Kevin's tire. You would have thought someone was giving birth with all that drama! Alas we made a turn south with the wind and Theresa was due to be relieved by Kevin but wanted to feel the push of the wind for the 1 mile until the next turn back East. We found shade to make the swap and let Zin get out and do her thing.

Kevin's turn to pull, and Theresa's turn to block the headwinds. There was nothing but corn and beans until Buffalo 14 miles away! Kevin drafted Theresa's back wheel intently as he became fixated with the yellow triangle reflector on her fender. Every so often his front tire would scrape the rear fender of the Green Machine, and shock him back to consciousness. Our path converged with a heavily traveled hwy. The ACA had warned 'Heavy truck traffic” and they were right. What they failed to mention was the trucks were hulling garbage to a landfill just out of town... man they stunk as each went by. We finally made it to Buffalo and only saw one cafe that did not look open and one convenience store that had constant in and out traffic. We spied some picnic tables across from the store so that was indeed the right spot. Theresa grabbed some soda, ice, sandwich and PayDay to help curb the hunger for the remaining miles. All was devoured as we tried to recoup. We were only 22 miles into the route. We filled up all the water bottles and asked for he keys to the restrooms before we proceeded on our way. Kevin continued to pull Zin as he knew how bad Theresa's back was hurting her. We continued as the heat of the day baked us and the roads, we know how hot is was when we stared hearing a pop, pop, crackle, pop, sounding much like bubble wrap when you twist it. Looking down we concluded it was tar bubbles ,that were oozing out of the pavement, that we were popping as we ran over them on the road. We tried to avoid them for miles but it was futile.

Kevin soon discovered that the water from the last stop was undrinkable leaving him without anything to drink. The water smelled and tasted like rotten eggs. (Maybe there is FRAKING going on somewhere near by). Theresa had used the Ice instead of the water form the last stop so at least they had enough fluids to make it to Royal Center. Continuing East against the wind Theresa was anticipating taking her turn with the trailer when we joined up the bike path just outside of Royal Center in about 11 miles. The directions to the Panhandle Pathway were flawless as this was now off the ACA maps. The path was delightful and everything that Theresa had hoped for and provided some shade to boot! This path was a Rails to Trails path that was somewhat down hill, smooth and headed SE with the wind! This allowed Theresa to set a blistering 13mph pace pulling the dog! We were in need of water so we pealed off the path in the Royal Center of friendliness (hey that is their motto). We found the local Marathon station and got water and a dt coke with lots of ice! Kevin found a mail box to send a payment that was do. A bank across the street had a sign that flashed 4:30pm and 93 degrees! What happened to 85 for the high! No wonder we where going thru the H2O! After a bit of a rest and drenching of water over ourselves and ZIN we rejoined the path and cruised to the end of the trail (8 miles total). The end of the trail was just that a dead end, no warning, nothing but a picnic bench and a bike racks .... now what? We did recall seeing a parking lot a ¼ mile back. Theresa had accomplished the objective of pulling Zin the entire length of the bike path and was more than ready to allow Kevin one more turn at the pull. The trailer was swapped to Kevin's bike and we retraced our path to that point and took a map check on the iPhone. Theresa figured out how to get to hwy 24 which would lead us straight into town so off we went. It was straight up a steep hill so she was hoping she was right on her directions (MapMyride did not have a very accurate exit instructions from the bike path, so that was abandoned). After one more left turn down a hill and to Theresa's relief there was hwy 24.

This was a very heavily traveled route with little to no shoulder where we entered. There was a break in the traffic so we reluctantly entered. Bikes had no place on this road, but it really was our only option at this point. The shoulder widened in a short time giving us a bit more leeway as traffic zoomed by. Kevin remained on the road commanding his share of the hyway. It was 6pm and trucks as well as a continual line of cars where screaming past us. It was quiten time and they were headed home from work. Thank goodness it was a slight downhill grade so we could get the 5+ miles over quickly. Just as the main hwy was about to leave our route, Theresa felt her rear tire dragging... she looked down and yes a flat tire! Theresa hollered at Kevin and they spied a pull out on the other side of the road that would provide a safe area to fix the flat.

Once they were off the road Kevin commented on the fact that Theresa tended to use the shoulder so much that that is where all the debris is that caused flats. To Theresa's defense she would rather have the flat than deal with traffic on her butt. Kevin was well past any civil discussion on the issue, and was extremely over heated, saying nothing more he poured water over his head in preparation to fix the flat. The repair took about 10 min and we were ready to get the last few yards of hwy 24 insanity over with, and into town. In about .5 miles the hwy turned and we where in a less intense Market Street in Loaganport, IN. All we had to do is follow this road thru town, then on the East side look for road 600. The town went on forever! Fast food chains, root beer stands, churches and malls all repeated before we finally got to the East side of town. Kevin announced we had reached the planned 60 mile point as we rounded yet one more unfullfilling bend. Alas a street sign and a camper sign, please let this be our corner! With relief it was! We pulled into the RV site at 7:15 pm beating sunset by 2 hours! We paused at the picnic tables with the celebratory Ice beer, before we unloaded and headed to the showers.

Stats:

Day 11 of riding, 62.1 miles, 12 mph avg, total trip miles 576, and 3426 calories burned for the days ride.

Kevin's Garmin stats:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/197648941#.T_uqJjvvAQE.link

After the ride:

Showers, eat, blog, bed.

Tomorrow's plans:

Theresa is working tomorrow so NO Biking! We will chill at the campsite as Theresa catches up with some work, Kevin cleans bikes and we figure out the next location as we progress west to Iowa and Ragbrai.