Spring 1997 - Cincinnati to Yukon
Journals - 26 April 1997
Day 26 - Harrison Lake, OH
26 April 1997 (sunny; cool in AM; warm in PM; mileage = 103.6) -- A - A
100 MILE DAY! We got up at 4:45. Chris was trying to get me up at 4, but I
just wasn't ready to get up yet. We packed and left right at 6. Fingers and
toes were pretty cold for a while, but riding in the dark was OK. There was
still a lot of moonlight and daylight started pretty soon also. I think we
rode 25 miles or so before we made a quick stop to eat. We were taking
advantage of the windfree state as much as we could. We made another,
longer stop at 50 miles. It was supposed to take 60 miles to get there, but
of course, it took 70. We went through Defiance, which would seem to have
good Mexican food somewhere, based on a high Hispanic population, but we
didn't see any. We followed the river out to the Independence Dam and rode
seemingly forever once we got into the park. We finally found the camping.
There was a narrow strip between the river and the street we were on (X -
between the canal river and road and the river; * Picture). The canal and a
busy road were on the backside of that and NO SHOWERS! No water even. I
decided I could go a little further if I had rest. I think it was less than
2:30 when we got to the camping. We checked out maps, ate, decided what to
do and cooked some potatoes/corned beef hash, then I laid down for a bit.
We took off again shortly after 5:00. The ranger (Lenny) stopped and talked
to us for a bit. He was trying to be very helpful in our journey to
Harrison Lake. It was a little windier by then, but not too bad. We stopped
at a little bar-like place next to a huge church and got some drinks and a
gallon of water. That was a big improvement! (X - We stopped at Delphos
where we mailed pictures out and saw a dog step off a trailer and get
lost.) We still managed to ride above 10 mph the whole way. The muscles in
my leg/butt joint were really struggling and as always, Chris could have
been going much faster (X - not too much!), but we made it to Archibold to
go to the 16A. We went straight into the wind for about 1/2 to 3/4 mile and
found the 16A as promised by Ranger Lenny, but it had closed at 7 and it
was now around 7:15 or so. Great! We went on down a little further -- saw
Burger King and McD's down Route 66 and a "food store" which was a
convenience store on the corner. Chris went in and got some milk and pies
and a couple other things. I checked voice mail and heard a message from
Grandma. She sounds good. We headed off for our final 10 miles. Chris took
my picture when we hit 100 miles. Quite unbelievable to me! The sun set
right about the same time. We found the park and the campsites at the same
time. They have it broken up: non-elec with pets, non-elec without pets,
elec, etc. We chose the non-elec without pets and as we rode in saw a bunch
of tents with bikes. It was a group of scouts. They were very nice. They
seemed interested in what we were doing. It was a shame I dumped my bike as
we stopped. We chose our site after figuring out that the showers were over
on the other side with the electric sites. I was too tired to walk over
there. We set up and I got undressed as fast as I could. I had a nerve in
my neck that I just had to lay down to relax. Chris didn't take a shower
either, though I think he really wanted to.
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