June 3, 2021
Day 29: Wabash, IN to Dream Acres Campground West of Buffalo, IN
Sylvia and Mike, & a Conversation With Jim
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Climbing Today; 560 ft Climbing to Date; 50,452 ft
We enjoyed the breakfast at the Holiday Inn express, but by the time we got rolling it was 07:00 which is a very late start for us. Yesterday's rain produced fog this morning, which is magical when you’re riding in it, but at the same time it’s a danger from the denizens trapped in steel cages who roll along with no concern other than the fact that they’re late for work. My bicycle lights are the most advanced in the world, and I always have lights as long as the front wheels are turning and the dynohub is producing power. In bad fog conditions like this morning, I also have a battery powered blinker that I use so I am well lit up to approaching traffic.
Leaving town on Highway 15 was OK because the traffic was light, but the road conditions were bad. The rumble strip design is the worst possible, in that it prevents you from riding on the shoulder and because there’s a rumble strip in the center line also, approaching vehicles have to decide to cross the rumble line or to crowd your space. Everyone was careful this morning and crossed the centerline and gave me plenty of room. I would not recommend cyclists diverting from the ACA route into Wabash for a hotel. But if you do, you need to be experienced and confident with your urban writing skills.
The fog always makes for pretty pictures and this morning was no exception. I could bore you with a lot, but here's just 1 more.
We found second breakfast in Denver. Denver, Indiana, not Denver, Colorado. The local café is doing a great job remodeling and they make a great breakfast, stop in if you get the chance.
Leaving Denver we found ourselves on the Nickel Plate trail for 3 1/2 miles, and it was great. I noticed that my back lights weren’t working, and after fiddling with things a bit discovered that there was a short in the wire that prevented power from getting to the light. The most advanced bicycle lights in the world won’t work unless the electricity gets to them.
Somewhere between Fletcher and Royal Center a voice called out and said "would you like some cold water?" And that’s how we met Jim. He’s quite a character, to say the least. I had just turned on the GoPro right before he hailed us, and so I ended up recording the entire conversation. It’s not something for the kids to hear, because Jim uses a lot of four letter words. It's not hard to guess Jim's political leaning either.
We stopped for a cold drink in Buffalo and wandered out to a nearby picnic table. Interesting initials describe the donor.
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Arriving at the campground, we quickly set up camp and showered. My cousin Sylvia and husband Mike live about an hour and a half away and were driving up to meet us and take us out to dinner. That was very nice of them - they had to drive 3+ hours to take us out to dinner! Our first real night of roughing it wasn’t going to be very rough as far as dinner was concerned anyway. It was great seeing Sylvia and Mike. They brought us some cold water and gatorade and we each took several - we were pampered campers that night!
I’m already in the tent, and I’m dictating this using voice to text. It’s going to be hot tomorrow with a low of 62 tonight and a high of 87 tomorrow. So the heat is already on. I’m shirtless and sweating in the tent, but the night is starting to cool down. A movie is being shown by the campers adjacent to us using a projector screen outdoors - no kidding - it was loud, but Doc talked to the camp manager and he got them to turn it down a bit - it's a bit of a Wally-world campground. Eventually it got quiet enough to sleep. All is well here at the Dream Acres campground, I hope all is well with you too. Good night...
WARNING!! The following video contains a snippet called "A Conversation With Jim" which contains raunchy language not suited for kids - it is flagged before you get there so you can mute it or skip past it if you want. One of the risks of recording our adventure is that you never know what will happen. Jim happened, OMG! You have been adequately warned.
Today's ride: 62 miles (100 km)
Total: 1,443 miles (2,322 km)
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