Day 12

We woke up to a wonderful breakfast of oatmeal (with fruit and nuts and granola and honey, yum) and scrambled eggs that Kyle's sister, Christy, made for us. We enjoyed our breakfast and got out the door slowly. We were planning on doing a halfday of riding so we weren't in any big rush. We left at about 12:15, and wished we had left earlier when we felt the headwinds. With a combination of wind and sore legs from sprinting to Kyles house the day before (oops!) we were tired and wanted to stop as soon as we could. We saw a very sketchy sign for a motel on the side of the highway that we chose to pass up...

Probably a good decision! While stopped taking a picture of that sign I got a message from somebody riding his bike across the country west-east and was currently in Ithaca caught in the crazy storms there! He got my number off of Warm Showers (which shows I am available to host in the Ithaca area) and it was fun talking to him briefly. Unfortunately by the time I called him back he had already checked into a hotel, but if the storms persisted we told him he could stay with Alec's fraternity brothers the next night. Nice to know there are more of us cross country bikers out there somewhere, it was fun to get his call. 

Alec was excited about this sign reminding him of his home in Westport. The scenery is quite different here, but was still fun!

And we were slightly confused at this sign as we were trying to ride AWAY from Indianapolis..

Luckily it was a sign for a highway going the other way! Although with our directional skills I wouldn't be surprised if we were accidentally headed the wrong way..

We checked into a Super 8 motel for the night. Despite the good rest we got at Kyle's and the short mileage, we were exhausted from the winds, and anticipating thunderstorms during the night. It was a good choice to stay there, and after Alec talked the price down (woohoo go Alec) it was only $5 more expensive than the campsite a couple of miles away would have been. 

Daily stats:

Mileage: 42.5

Average speed: 9.5 mph

Elevation gain: 1154

Oh, and I love this barn in Ohio that we forgot to put in before. We really enjoyed Ohio, it was great. 

Daily haiku:

Strong winds from the west,

Bring our biking speed way down,

But spirits stay high. 

- AW