Blue Boat Home

Today my plan was to ride into Columbus in order to see the city and decide whether it's someplace I'd like to live.  However, I was unable to find good information about recommended bike routes or even bus routes.  So I rode into Westerville and visited the library, where I got sucked into the Internet for over an hour.  The librarians were also unable to tell me about bike or bus routes.

The ride into Westerville from Delaware State Park was uneventful, except that Jeff Kirn's place turned out not to be in Westerville.  When I got close to town I thought to call him for directions and found that he's on the east side of Hoover Reservoir, while Westerville is on the west side.

This morning I woke to find that my tent had dried thoroughly during the night.  I hurried to pack it away because the clouds (and the forecast) were threatening a day of rain, and sure enough, as I was rolling up the groundcloth the sprinkling started.

[posted to the Wheeled Migration Yahoo Group on September 7, 2004]

Hi, folks. As I write this it's the evening of Labor Day, and I'm at a beautiful campground near a swimming beach at an old limestone quarry south of Bowling Green, Ohio, but I'll probably send the message tomorrow from the vicinity of Findlay. My sister and I had a great time in Ann Arbor, catching up, seeing sights, and visiting friends. On Friday we walked rather too much around downtown -- Ann Arbor's downtown covers about as much area as Minneapolis's -- and then had dinner at Hei Wa House.

I took my time getting up this morning because I could hear rain falling on the tent.  When I did leave the tent, swarms of mosquitos chased me back inside twice!  So it was probably after 10:00 when I finally left Portage Quarry.

I knew I was overdoing it yesterday, but I couldn't seem to stop riding... so today in addition to a strong headwind, I had a lot of muscle cramps and that special kind of fatigue you get when yesterday's sunburn meets today's sun.

I got an early start because I kept mistaking the glow from my hosts' security light for dawn, because they hadn't offered me a restroom, and because I didn't want to still be there when they woke up.  I was in Ohio by about 9:00 and in Waterville (southwest of Toledo) by noon.

After breakfast this morning, I packed up my things and was eager to hit the road.  I said goodbye to 'Becca and went to church at the UU church southwest of town.  The congregation was not particularly welcoming during the coffee hour, but as soon as I was out in the parking lot with my rig they had a thousand questions.  Fortunately it takes me a long time to put on my sunblock.

[posted to the Wheeled Migration Yahoo Group on September 4, 2004]

A few stories to share:

[sent to the Wheeled Migration Yahoo Group on September 2, 2004]

Hi, folks! I'm safe and sound in Ann Arbor, MI, where I visited with some college friends last night, and where my sister will meet me for the next few days.

Battle Creek is much the same as when I interned there 7 years ago; the biggest change is that Kellogg's and Post have moved a lot of their manufacturing overseas, most notably Kellogg's Corn Flakes, which are now made in Mexico. That shook people up a bit.

September 2

I hung out at Bill & Anne's this morning while they got ready to leave for Worldcon, then headed into downtown around noon.  I ran some errands, then hung out at the library for most of the afternoon.