Sunshine, rail trails, hills, and tornado warnings.

August 12, 2023

I left my overly generous WarmShowers hosts this morning around 8 after running my mouth too much. A mile and a half down the roads I noticed my rear tire was low. Stopping to pump it up I discovered my pump had somehow failed and was no longer functional. In the process I was able to let even more air out of the tire so that I could no longer ride it. Luckily there was a fire station a few hundred feet away and one of the on duty guys let me use their compressor.

By this time Bruce was 25 miles into our route so there was no way to catch up quickly. The sun was out and puffy white clouds floated about as I happily pedaled more of the best trails Ohio has to offer. Tree tunnels interspersed with farm fields of beans or corn were my companions as I listened to my music via my bone conduction head phones. I sometimes forget others can’t hear what I’m listening to as these things allow me to hear music and my surroundings. So I occasionally serenaded others on the trail as I did my best karaoke. Hope I was at least on key.

I bid good morning or hello to all I passed but very few responded in kind. The only ones who did so consistently were others also touring.

Bruce and I texted a few times and I was gradually catching up to him…..and severe storms were gradually catching up to us….and we were loosing. As rain and thunder came my way Bruce sent a text stating he was hold up in Killbuck waiting out the storm. I met him a few minutes later and a few minutes after that the tornado alarms started sounding. Folks in town warned us to take shelter and offered to take us in. We parked our bikes and ourselves in the local grocery while the storm brewed overhead. We took off for Millersburg after waiting a couple hours for things to improve.

I had arranged a BNB for the night just 8-9 miles down the road from Millersburg but not near any food. So we hit the local Subway before heading there. As we left a second wave of storms was brewing. It did not take long before we were riding in rain with lightning all around. A few miles down the road a beat up pickup truck pulled along side me. It was a gentleman I had talked to at the Subway during lunch, Alvin R. He offered us a ride and just in time as a tremendous downpour was fast approaching. After waiting that out by the roadside, he drove us the last several miles and delivered us to our overnight lodging….and just in time as the rain was again coming down in buckets. We offloaded our bikes and took refuge under a porch awning as the wind picked up to near hurricane speed. I thought for sure we were about to visit with Dorothy and Toto!! Thank you for saving us Al!!!!!

Our BNB host greeted us and took us inside until things again calmed down and we were able to get into our room. Type Two Fun was had by all!!!!!