Ohio, the windy state

It took me three days to get across the grand state of Ohio. The first day I got going around 1:00 after the hardest of the rain from that huge tropical depression that entrapped the entire northeast had stopped. I managed to get about 60 miles that day, and was more than a little dissapointed that Eastern Ohio resembled Penn a lot more than the plains I was sooooo looking forward to.

The next day I got up early ready for a great day and started out against some massive headwinds. About halfway through the day, I began hearing rumors that Ike was coming up through Ohio later in the day and that's what the winds were from. The sky looked clear so what could they know? It became apparent really quickly as the day went on that something was coming. Blown off the road! That's what happened to me near the little town of Iberia. I took shelter at a volunteer fire department for the night, and the next morning, Mark, an EMS worker/policeman, after enduring my body odor for a few hours the previous night, took me to his house where I got a shower and then took me to McDonalds, just about the only restaurant with power.

Yesterday, I finally did it. 101 miles!!! From Iberia to about 8 miles from the Indiana border. It was a great day--cloudy with a high temperature of like 78--and after a quick trip to the post office where I mailed another pound and a half of stuff back, I was light, clean, and feeling good to go. Of note was the St. Mary's/Celina area and the Grand Lake that is there. It's a really ideal setting and reminded me a lot of the lakes next to Madison.

So, I'm making this quick because I'm trying to make this another pretty long day. I've slightly changed my route and am now going through Marion, Kokomo, and Lafayette, Indiana rather than looking at cornfields the whole time. Take care all.