Day 28 Monticello to Rensselaer, IN 49.3 mi Total 1299.9 mi

 Riders departed early to beat the heat and wind, and breakfasted at the USA Restaurant in Monticello.  The restaurant had a real stuffed lion in the entrance! The main town was actually several miles beyond the cabin where we spent the night.

They found the riding to be much less difficult because of the gentler wind.  We crossed into a new time zone just before the town of Rensselaer, IN.  This small town was spread out over a large area.   the south east area had a beautiful campus for Saint Joseph's College, which unfortunately is closed.  Allane spent time walking the grounds and enjoying the reflecting pool, hearing the clock chime on the quarter hours.



The center of town had a lovely old courthouse with a gazebo perfect for wedding party pictures, four lawyers' offices on the very short Main Street, and a good restaurant where we met up for lunch.  After lunch, Nancy found a tiny coffee shop with an owner starved for more liberal thinkers.  She could hardly pry herself away!

The northwest of town boasts a county fairgrounds and a couple of hotels near the highway.  Our choices at dinnertime were McD's, Arby's, Taco Bell, Burger King and Dairy Queen.  There was one small Mexican grocery store that had a few tables where they served seriously authentic Mexican food.  So we enjoyed a delicious spicy meal!


During the day's ride, they met up with a young rider named Lee.  He is riding the same Adventure Cycling route that Steve is following.  He is carrying all his gear and supplies.  Steve hopes they will meet up along the way.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 78 The FINISH! Snohomish, WA to Brackett's Landing, Edmonds, WA 22.2 miles Grand Total 3,820.5 mi

Image
STEVE HAS FINISHED HIS RIDE!!!!!! Son Ben, with great grandson Chip, grandson Elijah, granddaughter Briana, Steve, grandson Jacob, DIL Alison, granddaughter Alyssa and Allane celebrate at Brackett's Landing Steve dips his tires as Ben narrates for the Zoom participants and Brian Soergel, the editor of the Edmonds Beacon newspaper, gets the story. Like 67 other mornings this summer, Steve woke up and got ready to ride.  It was not a long ride, but it certainly was a momentous one.  I actually left before Steve for the first time, intent of finding my way to Brackett's Landing in Edmonds and ensuring a parking spot.  It is indeed a busy place for walkers, beachgoers, Tai Chi practicers, and scuba divers.   When the wildfires west of Winthrop forced us to find an alternate route through the Cascades, Steve elected to come through Stevens Pass along Rt 2.  We needed to find a place (originally supposed to be Anacortes) where he could dip his tires into the wate...
Read more

Day 1 - Belfast to Windsor; 35.7 miles

Image
My dear friends, John Williams and Judd Thompson, joined me for this first leg of the journey. John Benziger, who rode this leg yesterday because of the sketchy forecast for today, will join us tomorrow and onward.  Allane, bless her soul, got us to the start point and then drove the car back to Windsor. We dipped our tires in the Atlantic waters off the Belfast pier to not just officially start this journey, but to bless it for a safe and successful finish. The three riders for this day left Belfast under a partly cloudy sky. We anticipated colder weather, heavy clouds and winds. It turned out to be an almost perfect riding day. The clouds cleared, sun came out - we even lathered on sunscreen, and the winds were light. A remarkably nice day though we all went in with layered clothing, rain gear in our panniers, and a stiffened resolve to ride on regardless of the weather.  John, Steve and Judd The ride from Belfast to Windsor is one I've done several times in training. It's n...
Read more

Day 76 Leavenworth, WA to Skykomish, WA 51.0 miles Total 3,756.1 mi

Image
 The Enzian Inn in Leavenworth was above average in all respects.  When Steve learned that they offered breakfast, he signed up for the 7:30 seating and decided to sleep in.  Since he has not had a down day, this turned out to be a great idea.  He got a good night's sleep and filled up on a delicious breakfast.  They had an omelette station as well as fruit, meat, cinnamon rolls, pastries, muesli, and special yeast waffles with an amazing berry sauce.   He was off at 8:10am  for the last challenging mountain pass climb of the ride.  Stevens Pass was an elevation gain of 3,331 feet.  He stopped at the rest area after about 17 mies.  After that, he just climbed.   I was waiting for him at the top of the pass when he came riding up at about 12:40.   Finally reaching the peak! The ski area was all closed up, but there were a lot of day hikers all throughout the mountains.  Steve had a little lunch of tortilla, s...
Read more