Day 87 - Kokomo, IN to Rochester, IN - Two Far 2020 - NTF (Not Two Far)

August 25, 2020

Day 87 - Kokomo, IN to Rochester, IN

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Today we rode the Nickel Plate rail-trail from Kokomo to Rochester. It is a nice trail, well-maintained trail. We rode most of it in 2013 on our single bikes, but neither of us remembered anything about it.

From our motel, we went through an older part of Kokomo to reach the trailhead.

Just north of town, there is this beautiful overpass over Hwy 931.

This is the way a bike trail should cross a major highway.

Just across the highway, there is a huge manufacturing plant. They make transmissions for Chrysler. Between the enormous parking lot and the plant was this tent. I figure it is a COVID checkpoint for workers entering the plant.`

The trail quickly enters the country and runs through a mixture of woods and agriculture.

Coming into Peru, the trail crosses the Wabash River.

A really heavily wooded section of trail

We got off the trail in the tiny community of Denver, IN. My feet hurt and it was time for a snack break. We were watching for the store we knew was there when the back tire started losing air. Kerry decided to stop and fix it before we got to the store. As soon as we stopped, Richard came over from his house across the street to see if we needed help. Kerry had everything he needed to change the tire, but we had fun talking to Richard while he did it. Richard travels to festivals and shows in the summer selling kettle corn. This has been a slow summer for him with all the cancellations due to COVID. He said he also had five other jobs during the year, in addition to the kettle corn vending. We loved talking with him. It took the annoyance out of the flat tire. This is the first flat we've had on the tandem on this trip.

Richard - he was great entertainment while Kerry fixed the flat tire.

Once we were rolling again, we stopped at the little store for a drink and got back on the trail.

Somewhere along the way, we crossed this former railroad trestle.

Near the end of the trail, we came across this big shrub full of red berries.

Here is a close up of the berries, or are they drupes? (I'm showing off the botanical word I learned from Scott earlier this year.) What is it?

We arrived in Rochester and checked in to the motel. We were quite aggravated to find that there was virtually no WIFI in our room. The front desk clerk was unconcerned and no help at all, so we had to do with no internet last night. I did get a reasonable rate reduction when I complained this morning, but it is hard for us to go without internet access. We have such important stuff to do, like blogging!

Today's ride: 48 miles (77 km)
Total: 2,827 miles (4,550 km)

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