Sunday, June 23, 1996
Day 43
Willard, Ohio to Doylestown, Ohio
Today's Miles: 66
Cumulative Miles for the Tour: 2846
Degree of Difficulty: Easy/Medium
Terrain: Rolling Hills
Find of the Day: Hot Air Balloon Chase
The area of Ohio we passed through today is called the Firelands. Numerous towns have names influenced by New England towns. During the Revolutionary War, many villages in New England were burned. After the war, to compensate families for their lost homes, they were given land in Northern Ohio. When the New Englanders moved out here, they brought with them the names of their villages...New Salem, New Haven, Greenwich. There are Quaker and Mennonite communities as well. The population is starting to get more diverse as we get closer to the coast.
After 6 weeks and 2800 miles, we have less than 500 miles to go. The 65 mile day we completed today was so easy, it made me think back to the beginning of the trip. Our first few days in Washington State were 50 miles each. At that time, I felt as if that was quite an achievement. Now, 50 miles is usually the warm up, morning ride. I never would have believed I would consider 50 miles a "warm up", but the consistent pedaling has built all of us into endurance machines. We might not go fast, but we can go as far as we want.We left the park in Willard, dropping south on Route 103 for 5 miles, turning left on a county farm road that headed directly east into a light headwind. We're not afraid to leave the main routes after weeks of taking chances on backroads and almost always coming up with jewels of a ride. Today was no different, passing through quiet, rural towns with no traffic for miles.
A tree, used as a head stone
I spent the day stopping whenever I felt like it...a 150 year old cemetery with no new gravesites since 1870...a farmhouse lawn full of Cleveland Indian ornaments...lunch of cold watermelon, fresh plums and nectarines eaten in the shade of the van while overlooking the newly planted cornfields of northern Ohio. It was a slow, lazy day with no pressure to do anything. Dave Blair told us to aim for a 5:00pm arrival in Doylestown. I pulled in at 4:59.
We're staying at Dave's sister's house for the night. Nancy and her husband Sherman set out a spread of lasagna and salad on the picnic table in the backyard. You could see the look of relief on Donna's face after realizing she didn't have to cook dinner tonight.Donna's got a tough job. There are eight of us that eat each night, all with different tastes, likes and dislikes. She has to come up with a satisfying meal each evening that will have enough substance to replenish the calories we have burned during the day and give us enough to start the next morning. She hasn't gotten enough credit along the way for the way she's handling it.Joann and Chuck drove up from Kentucky to say hi. We haven't seen them since leaving Byron, Wyoming. They've been traveling a bit on their own since leaving us to the expanses of the Great Plains. They said they've been following the journals and are keeping up with us whenever they get near a computer.After dinner, we were all standing outside when a huge hot air balloon cruised over the treetops, dropping fast. I asked Nancy where the nearest field was, thinking this was where the balloon was intending to land. She said it was six or seven miles away. There was no way that balloon was going to get that far at the rate it was dropping. Adam, Sarah and I jumped in the red pickup, becoming part of the chase team. That's how we got the "Find of the Day".When we were staying in Morrison, Illinois with Larry and Beverly Bealer, Larry got up at 4:30am to head a balloon chase crew. It had sounded exciting, but nobody wanted to get up that early. The balloon today gave us our chance.Adam jumped in the driver's seat and headed in the direction the balloon was descending. We had no idea of the roads or conditions, but as we took a right to keep moving in the general direction of movement, we became the tail end of the actual chase crew that was trying to bring the balloon down.The final descent looked as if it were going to take place in the high school football field. The chase crew trucks screeched into the dirt parking lot, two or three people jumped out of the trucks, sprinted towards the field and literally VAULTED over the five foot high, wire fence. There was no way Adam, Sarah and I were going to miss this. We took off across the field after them.The balloon settled in at the 50 yard line as the crew grabbed the gondola basket and pulled it to the ground. It took about 2 minutes for the canopy to deflate, then the crew asked us to help pack it into it's crate. Adam talked to one of the crew we had seen vault the fence. She was a college student who has been on balloon chase crews for the past 6 years. There was a fire in Adam's eyes as he was talking with her. I think he's going to start a new hobby when he gets back home..."Adam Iobst, Balloon Chaser".We finished the evening by watching "Dances with Wolves". Four weeks ago, we camped at the site of the movie location. We were excited about seeing the land of South Dakota again. It's going to be hard when this trip ends. We've seen so much and met so many good people, it will be difficult to avoid the "void" when this is over....but it's too early to worry about that. We've still got the Appalachians. 7 days to go and counting...
Bike America Tours
dblair@wtp.net
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