Day 70: Colon to Holiday City Ohio

August 9, 2021

Hot and Hilly

“As they say, be careful of the meatloaf, because they serve it until it is gone,” Patrick says. Our last day in Michigan is a tough one.

We know the weather is going to be hot today, plus there are thunderstorms and rain predicted for the afternoon. So very early we pack up our stuff in Richards out-building, have a quick cereal breakfast and roll out just as it is getting light out. Traffic on the road is fairly light as we make our way south and east. Our original goal for today was Angola Indiana where we had arranged a Warmshowers host, but it turned our Patrick did not count the miles properly and we would have been left with a very long day to our next destination.

So instead of spending the night in Indiana we only cut through the very northeast corner of the state where we plan to have a late second breakfast in Fremont. It is 35 miles to that town. We know we are in Indiana; both sides of the road have corn growing along it. To our disappointment the café in Fremont is closed on Mondays! A Subway restaurant just down the street saves the day, but it is not quite the same.

The highway out of town is pretty busy, we decide to alter our route and head south a little ways to pass by the point where Michigan, Indiana and Ohio meet. There is a marker, except that they placed the marker 130 feet north of the actual spot. Who knows why….. After that our joyride turns to nightmare.

The road we follow east again degrades to a pretty bad surface and rolls up and down hills and valleys. They are steep and wear us out quickly in this sticky heat. When we finally reach Pioneer we find a cold drink at a gas station, then push south for another 5 miles to get to the Ohio turnpike where we saw a couple of cheap motels. A rainstorm catches us just before we get there, and darkening skies threaten more rain. It does not cool off though, it only raises the humidity. After checking out both motels, we settle on the Rodeway Inn. It is only about 3:00pm but we are spent. Later in the afternoon we walk to the café next door where we have some homestyle cooking.

Patrick takes a chance on the meatloaf and it is pretty good.