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Wasn’t able to write in my blog last night. Know why? No telephone line.
Actually, Monday night’s accommodations were very nice – we slept on the floor of the Trinity United Methodist Church in Chillicothe. More precisely, it was the Youth Room, which included a small office, a kitchen, a big-screen TV and two large couches. The only thing it didn’t have was a telephone line.
For us to send out stories and photos, we must have a dedicated phone line. The church was wired for a multi-line telephone system, which doesn’t work for us. Normally our next option would be a fax line. Except the church did not have a fax machine.
As a result, we went back to the home of Stephen Steele, one of our interview subjects from earlier in the day. He allowed us to use his phone line, but I didn’t want to tie up his phone any longer than it took to send my stories to the Beacon Journal.
Incidentally, talk about serendipity, Steele was randomly selected for the interview simply because he was out working in the yard of his beautiful 150-year-old home. Turns out, he owns 17 bicycles, including a “big wheel,” the kind of bike used back in the 1800s. I had never seen one before and it was really quite interesting. I don’t know how people managed to ride them, given the state of the roads back then.
Well, I almost bought the farm yesterday morning. I was riding alone up state Route 104 (Denny had gone back for the van) when I noticed an interesting situation developing in the oncoming lane. A slow moving delivery truck was being passed by a semi, both of them coming at me. I’m on the far edge of the 30-inch berm.
As I saw the semi coming at me, I figured it would have plenty of time to pull over before reaching me. What I didn’t see until it was too late and panic had set in was the second semi following very closely behind the first semi.
That semi was giving a wide berth to the small truck he was passing – so wide that he was over the edge line on my side of the road – and he didn’t see me at all. Can you imagine a semi-tractor-trailer zooming at you in a situation like this?
Looking back, I should have been smart and simply dumped my bike into the weeds and rocks on the side of the road. Instead, I held on for dear life. That truck came within a whisper of hitting me.
Well, there’s not much suspense here because obviously I survived. But it was my most harrowing experience on a bike in many a year. I’m still not sure why the tremendous draft from the truck didn’t blow me right off the road. I might actually have been flying for a few feet.
This morning, again, I was riding ahead while Denny went back to get the van. But, after waiting at the designated meeting spot for 45 minutes, I knew there was a problem. Even if Denny had had a flat tire, there was no way he would be this late.
We were on state Route 159 coming out Chillicothe and the truck traffic was incredible. A large truck every 30 seconds, at least. If any of you readers are bike riders, don’t ever take 159. I had made it about 22 miles to Tarlton on that terrible road and I really didn’t want to turn around and go back.
But, that’s what I did. About 10 miles back I met up with Denny in the van. Turns out, he did have a flat tire. Then, after putting on his spare tube, he had a second flat tire. After patching the original tire, he took off again … and had a third flat tire. Suffice to say, he was quite tired of fixing flats after that.
Speaking of tired, I have to tip my helmet to Denny. I’m carrying very little with me on the bike. Denny is carrying a 13-pound backpack, which includes his camera and three lenses. It’s a great backpack, but on a hot and humid day like today, I’m not sure I know how he does it. I was barely able to survive today’s humidity.
Tonight, however, we were able to relax on Buckeye Lake. Our host, Ron Van Atta, took us for a tour of the lake on his pontoon boat. This is a lake with a lot of history. Talk about local lore.
He’s also putting us up in his incredible home. Ron owns funeral homes in Newark and surrounding communities, though he’s lived on the lake full-time for the past 6 years. Very, very nice home.
He also has two huge Dobermans. We had to laugh, even though the dogs were friendly to the point of being affectionate to us, Ron told us later that his dogs absolutely hate bicycles. One time they attacked a bike (unoccupied at the time) and ripped the tires right off the rims.
Ron, who appears to be about 65 or 70, has done a like of bicycle riding around Ohio and England. I continue to be amazed at the kindness of strangers – people willing to put up with a couple of smelly riders who take over a house with computer equipment, cameras, clothing, etc. Right now, Denny is doing our laundry in the Van Atta’s washer and dryer. We’ve really been treated royally wherever we have gone.
Finally, I will admit to you that fatigue is starting to be a factor – but not with the bike riding. Were we only riding the bikes 50 miles a day, this would be a snap. It’s the interviewing, writing and photographing that is getting increasingly difficult. Maintaining the kind of energy level needed to do a good job journalistically is tough to do for so many days in a row.
Looking back, I would do two things differently. First, I would know more about architecture before starting out. Second, I would have scheduled a rest day or two in the middle of the trip.
Mind you, I’m not complaining. I continue to be thrilled at my good fortune to be able to do such a project. Without question, this has been a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Oh, I almost forgot. My third and final live interview on WCPN in Cleveland is scheduled for Wednesday morning at around 7:45.
I hope to write more tomorrow. Thanks for coming along for the ride.
10:08:41 PM 
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