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Here's an e-mail from Joan Zeeb-Roman:
Are you travelling ONLY on the bicycle? Or do you ride in a car at times in areas that may be challenging (hilly or lots of traffic) or if the weather is bad? I assume that you would be travelling only by bicycle, but was just wondering.
This is a very good question, Joan. All along we planned on having a support van and a third person to drive the van. Unfortunately, our driver became ill and we were unable to find another. As a result, we have a van that we must push along each day from point A to point B.
What do we do? Well, photographer Denny Gordon and I start out each morning on our bikes. After about 15 or so miles, one of us turns around and rides back to the van. That person drives the van until he catches up with the other rider. And then we do the same thing all over again.
The problem with this system is that we are separated for about half of the day. Today provides a good example. I rode through Pemberville and discovered the great old opera house. But Denny wasn't with me. So, I rode on ahead. Then, when Denny caught up with me in the van, we drove back to Pemberville and did the interviews.
Our daily mileage is honest, however, and we do not use the van to avoid hills or traffic. For one thing, there hasn't been any hills. The biggest hill we've seen in 4 days of riding has been the mound of dirt the Bowling Green ski team uses for practice -- or so the story goes.
Anyway, here's my frustration for today. Denny is taking great, great photos -- but we cannot get the photo album software to work on his computer.
Ok, tonight we are at the home of a Bowling Green journalism professor, Dennis Hale. I've never met Dennis before tonight, but he has opened his entire home to us ... and, trust me, we've taken over the entire house. These are very nice folks.
Lots of people believe there is a massive left-wing conspiracy among the media. There isn't. But there is an understanding among journalists to help each other out. We've kept their phone line busy for about 5 hours tonight. We're very thankful.
The riding has been good. Even with today's headwind, we're making good time on the bike. Nothing too sore yet.
It's interesting. Denny is a much faster and better rider than I am. In a long trip like this, it's a good goal to get into a riding rhythym that eliminates the need to think about it - the better to concentrate on the journalism. Unfortunately, our riding speeds are so different, either I have to think about keeping up with him or he has to think about slowing down for me. But, we'll work that out.
Oh, last night we slept on my friend Clyde Wright's boat at Marblehead. I slept like a kitten -- ok, ok, I slept like a dead man -- ok, I slept deeply and felt refreshed today. Let's see, it was 5:45 when I awoke and 6:30 when we hit the road. Hmmm, that's just 17 hours ago.
Time to call it a night.
Tomorrow we ride to Paulding -- though we will drive ahead to Versailles for the night. More about that tomorrow.
By the way, I had computer problems tonight (I HATE COMPUTERS). If you don't find a blog some night it's because of a technical meltdown, which I fear is near.
Is anyone reading the online stories.
Ok, read more tomorrow ... or come along for the ride.
11:19:57 PM 
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