(click on envelope at left for e-mail - go to www.Ohio.com for longer stories.)
Tonight we are in Coshocton, home of Roscoe Village and Whitewoman Road. Don’t know the background of Whitewoman Road, but I do know about Wayne’s. That’s the local homemade ice cream place and I can personally attest to the quality of the ice cream.
Today was really rugged, with many excellent hills to climb and vistas to admire – well, at least when the sweat wasn’t blinding us. Gotta love that humidity. Actually, we’ve been doing the majority of the riding before the worst heat of the day.
Tonight we are staying at the home of Brian and Tricia Pottinger, a nice young couple who are training to become missionaries. Akron residents until two years ago, the Pottingers are in Coshocton while Brian completes his apprenticeship to be a licensed airplane pilot/mechanic. With that in hand, he will join a missionary organization somewhere in the world where his flying/fixing skills can be used. The Pottingers are affiliated with The Chapel, in Akron.
If you think about it, this makes sense. In much of the world – Africa, South America, Central America – it makes more sense to use a plane to get in and out of remote areas. Brian and Tricia will be helping religious and humanitarian aid organizations in some faraway place by this time next year. Interesting people.
Tonight I’ll be sleeping in the bed normally used by one of their daughters, who is away at camp. Last night I slept in the top bunk of a kid’s bunk bed. When you are as tired as I’ve been lately, it really doesn’t matter where you sleep. I could probably fall asleep on this kitchen chair.
Tomorrow night, we sleep in the home of David Yoder, of Mount Eaton. Dennis and I will be “the English,” as they say in Witness. It’s doubtful that I will file anything for this blog tomorrow night, but I will write something Friday night after returning to Akron.
I've been getting lots of encouraging e-mail from my friends on the Virtual Readers Network. Thanks for being so supportive. (The Pottingers, mentioned above, are friends of VRNer Larry Kolb of Hudson).
Several of you have asked for me to share how I'm feeling when I'm riding and what I'm thinking - especially now after 18 days. It's odd. I have a lot of mixed emotions. On the one hand, I'm really tired - way beyond the point of fatigue. On the other hand, I fully realize how truly fortunate I am to be doing this adventure and I wouldn't trade the experience for anything.
When I'm riding, the heat and muscle strain sometimes do get to me. I've been stopping a lot these past few days for water and rest breaks. On the other hand, I'm working on this trip. By the end of the day, not only do I have to complete my miles, but I have to have a story to tell. I have to speak to enough interesting people to yield anecdotes that you will want to read.
There's a lot of pressure to produce there. So, when I'm riding, I'm doing two things. Most of the time, I'm looking for someone to interview or looking for interesting detail along the way. Other times I'm thinking about how I'm going to present to you in words the interview or experience I've just completed.
This morning I spent about 45 minutes with "that crazy bird man" - you'll have to read the next story to understand. I spent the next hour on the road constructing the story in my head - stopping twice to write down notes of what I was thinking.
In other words, I am totally focused on the journalism from 6 a.m. until 10 or 11 p.m. I just don't have the time or the energy to think deep and profound thoughts about life in general.
I suspect when I return to the routine of living, I might look back and arrive at some insight about the trip. For right now, it's all about the work.
And, once again, thanks for coming along for the ride.
10:15:03 PM 
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