8/14-I Found the Blue Sky!

It took me all day, but I finally found it!

Almost forgot what it looked like!

Here’s a couple of photos from Dayton. My hotel was right next to the ball park. 

I was somewhat nervous about today. I really didn’t want to have another day in the rain. I was concerned because my dry bag isn’t keeping my quilt dry. I came up with a solution! I put the quilt and my pillow in the dry bag. Then I put the dry bag in a plastic bag, then in a thin plastic trash bag from the hotel. I secured it closed with the Titan strap I picked up off the side of the road in Montana, and then buckled into the harness on my handlebar. Knowing my quilt would stay dry eased my mind about the rain. 

When I left the hotel, it was actually not raining! I knew I couldn’t go down by the river where the route was, so I just rode straight across town until I intersected with the Creekside Trail, and the route. After awhile, there was even a bike lane! 

I was also a little nervous about a trail that had “creek” in the name. Would there still be flooding, or flood damage? Turns out, it was fine. Almost all the time, the trail was well above the creek. Plus, the creek was not that flooded. 

All good in the underpasses

This was a maybe a river, but notice it’s not a torrent. 

Things had really settled down, even though there was some rain overnight. 

I stopped in Xenia for a snack break at a BP station. I’d had chocolate milk at breakfast, so I just did a good ol’ sugar dump of Dr. Pepper and a honey bun. I saw these signs at the trailhead. 

I followed the orange one (the USBR 50 part). Not going to Columbus.

I think maybe my friend Stephanie did the red one back in June with Bebeth. 

After Xenia, the trail was called the Jamestown Connector Path. You can guess where it went. It continued through Jamestown for a bit, then it was out to the road until Washington Courthouse. 

Another one of those one lane sly dog roads.

Yes, the town is called Washington Courthouse!

By now I was almost at 50 miles, and wanting another snack. Right at a turn, there was a gas station. Perfect! Refueled for the last 20 miles, I worked my way through WA CH (for short). I have to say, it was a weird route through the town! For a moment, I thought I was just going in a circle!

Bike path

Oh, and here it felt like I was riding in someone’s backyard!

Eventually, I came to the final trail for the day, the Painted Creek Trail. There’s that word “creek” again, but it too was fine. Turns out they painted the creek…brown.

I would have gone with a more exciting color…

Nice covered bridge

I think this is one of Phil’s cousins. I saw three of these groundhogs today.

The final town was Frankfort (yes, there is Frankfort, Illinois AND Frankfort, Ohio…there’s much more to the one in Illinois). Since I didn’t need to go into the town, I just stayed on the trail for another couple of miles to the turnoff for Lake Hill campground. There’s operative word for this campground is “hill”. It was a steep climb! I had to ask where the office was. It is in a round house! I talked with Julie, the owner. It’s $40 per night. She asked cash or card. I said let me see how much cash I have. I only had $35. She said that was fine, and she even gave me a dollars worth of quarters for the shower (I only needed one).

This site had a platform. I figure if it rains, I’ll be good!

Today was 71 miles, and I finished at about 2:30. Tomorrow there will be some climbing, but I only have 60 miles. Now I’m under 600 miles to go!

Day 64 11 riding days to go (there is a cushion day, so 12 to DC).