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Friday, July 14, (105 miles), 3780 ft of climbing, Day 11
Wake up call at 5:30, load luggage at 5:45, breakfast at 6:00, off at about 6:45. Beautiful morning, ideal for cycling except there is a front and cluster of thunderstorms in northwest Illinois and it is moving southeast. With any luck it will pass behind us as we head east.
Lots of turns today, yesterday and today's rides are taking us through some beautiful senic Ohio countryside. Rolling hills, big and little farms, hundreds of acres of corn and soybeans. Because we are traveling on country roads there is very little traffic.
Typical small working dairy farm
More nice sceenery
At 68 miles, just 7 miles from SAG 1, we hit some of the biggest, steepest hills I've seen. Last year on my ride from Erie, PA to Portsmouth, NH I was quite upset with myself because I didn't have a third chain ring, which is very useful for climbing. I didn't think I would need it this year 'cause people had been telling me that the midwest was relatively flat - not so! I did all the hills, but a third chain ring would have been a big help!
The skies kept getting more threatening as the day went on, a few raindrops came down as I finished the last 2 miles. I arrived at the Econo Lodge at 2 PM, (106.6 miles, 16.4mph, 6H 29 min ride time). Checked in, showered - boy did that feel good! At 3 PM, I started some laundry and a thunderstorm hit. Heavy rain, and not all our cyclists had arrived yet. Thunder, lightning, wind, there was a tornado watch in Canton, 25 miles from here. I went to the front desk to get change for a $5 and asked the desk clerk for a one and 5 quarters. She looked at me and said "you must be very tired"
At 7:00 Cheryl Ellis, Board of Directors, arrived to pick me up and take me out to dinner. We went to a restaurant called "The Amish Door." When we got there, a reporter from the Daily Record here in Wooster, OH, Heather Rutz, interviewed me. An article will be in tomorrow's morning paper. Also attending from the Alzheimer Chapter Canton area chapter was Ruth Wright, program director, and John Schantz, BOD and his wife Marilyn. I talked to them about my ride, why I was doing it, my progress and my "Vision."
Horses by a meadow creek
Rolling countryside
Typical large farm
What is this?
A) a wire cage full of trash
B) a corn crib
C) a silo
D) a gorilla cage
Would you like to use 50-50, call-a-friend, or poll the audience?
This is the storm that produced a tornado warning in Canton
and baseball-sized hail
Left to right: Ruth Wright, Program Director; John Schantz,
BOD; Marilyn Schantz; Cheryl Ellis, BOD; and me. They took me
out to dinner at "The Amish Door."
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