Surprise!...Ohio’s not flat.

So as I said earlier, Ohio has been the light at the end of the tunnel for us because people kept telling us once we got out of Pennsylvania we would have smooth sailing from there ‘till the Rockies. Turns out that’s not exactly the case.

Our ride into Sandusky was awesome. 42 of our most flawless miles of the trip so far. My group had one flat tire and I think that was the only issue of the entire team. We just cruised along Lake Road for the entire ride, and it was all flat and next to the water. The weather became cloudy and windy as the hours passed, but we got into the host super early because of the short mileage and flat, uncomplicated route. My group rolled in at noon sharp.

We stayed at the Huron Township Conservation Lodge, which is basically a small building people can rent out for events, meetings, parties, etc. It was just a big room, two bathrooms, a kitchen, and some nice picnic tables in the back. It was the smallest place we’ve stayed so far, and once everyone’s bikes, duffels, and backpacks were inside, there was barely room to walk. But it was cozy. The lodge was also located in the middle of nowhere.

All 25 bikes stored in one corner of the room.

Upon finding that the lodge did not have showers, we were about to take makeshift showers with the cold hose, but I decided to be a princess and call a few places to try to find real showers for us. After all, we had tons of time and nowhere we had to be. A quick look on our best friend Google Maps revealed there wasn’t very much in the town, so I called the fire station. I talked to the chief on the phone and he said it was a “very unusual request” but he was very nice and said they are bike-friendly. He said to come on down as soon as we were ready. So, we got to shower at a fire station! It was pretty cool because while in the showers we could hear the police blotter coming from the speakers, and loud beeps before the announcements made us jump out of our skins a few times.

Chilling in the fire station's giant lounge chairs while waiting for showers.

We were thrilled to have gotten in so early and have so much time to relax…but we quickly got bored! Many people took the time to nap, and update their blogs. And of course eat lots of food. We always have leftovers and snacks in our vans. For the rest of the evening we relaxed at the lodge as a team, playing games and getting to know each other better. It was kind of a late night but we had a rest day the next day. CEDAR POINT!!!!!!! :) :)

Andrew Porter flying a kite in the cornfield behind the lodge.

The next morning we slept in (8 am! Woo!) and then we had a lot of logistics to take care of. We were switching hosts, because the lodge couldn’t host us for both nights. So, some of us biked to our new host (about 10 miles) while the van made two trips back and forth shuttling people, duffels, bikes, and bags. It was very disorganized and people were getting frustrated because we were nowhere near being ready to go at 10 am, when the park opened. Also, not everyone wanted to go to Cedar Point (these people are obviously crazy).

We finally got going and crammed 20 people into our 15-passenger van to get to the park (shhh). The parking attendant’s face when he saw how many people were in our van was priceless.

Jen outside of Cedar Point

At the park, we split into smaller groups and had a great day riding what are supposedly the best roller coasters in the world. Highlights of the day for me were Millenium Force (my favorite roller coaster I’ve ever been on), sitting next to Gavin on his first roller coaster ride ever, and sitting next to Dave Wolfe on some of the rides – his shrieks and near panic attacks were more entertaining than the ride itself. We didn’t get to ride Top Thrill Dragster (one of my other favorites in the world) because it was closed, but that’s okay. I’d been to Cedar Point before, when my brother decided all he wanted for his 16^th birthday was to go to Cedar Point, so we made a special trip from Maryland.

At around 8, I was in for a special treat. Our family friend Ellie came to pick me up and take me out for dinner. She and her husband lived across the street from my family when I was ages 1 to 5, and they were BFFs with my parents and took care of me a lot when I was little. For example when my brother was born I remember going into my parents’ bed and finding them sleeping there instead of my parents. I always loved hanging out with her because she was so much fun… oh and always took us to the candy store. Anyway, Ellie and her family live in Ohio now, and I told her we were going to be in town, so she and her daughter Tatum came to hang out with me. It was great to see them :)

Today we rode 68 miles from Sandusky to Butler, Ohio. Yes, this route was basically due south, which is a little frustrating. Our route does a lot of zig-zagging and random north-south movement when really we only need to go west. That’s because we have certain places we need to be. I.e., we wanted to go to Sandusky for Cedar Point, and the Cleveland area for Jared’s and Dan’s houses, but we also have to get to Columbus, because we have a big service event to do there. Anyway, the ride’s going to take us 70 days regardless, so it’s not a big deal. We’re not in a hurry.

I've started dedicating specific days to people affected by cancer. The first one went to my grandfather, aka Pop Pop, who was an amazing person, and is my main connection to the cancer community.

The ride was pretty great today. Perfect weather – low 70’s and partly cloudy. We were all feeling good and happy to be on our bikes again. We left kind of late but still covered 40 miles by noon. We were on a busy 4-lane highway for a bit getting out of Sandusky, but there was a 10-foot shoulder, and for most of the rest of the day we were on small country roads and saw very little traffic. HOWEVER: Everyone that told us Ohio is flat is a liar. Ohio has hills. This was a very unwelcome observation as we definitely had unexpected rolling hills for most of our ride today. On the bright side, I will admit they are not nearly as bad as Pennsylvania’s. In the meantime I will hold on to my hope that Indiana is indeed as flat as a pancake.

Tom and Jen.

The highlight of my group’s day was when we came upon a horse and buggy. We approached it from behind, and realized it was going too slowly and that we needed to pass it. As we sped up and began passing, the drivers of the buggy (Amish people) cracked the whip on the horse and made it gallop! They were trying to race us!

At the time it was scary and annoying because we were in the lane of oncoming traffic and couldn’t get past them… but afterwards it was hilarious. We did win the race and get past them, but they made us work for it! After we were a safe distance ahead of them, we took some pictures…that may have been a little rude but oh well.

Later on in the day, half of my group blew past a turn. I tried to catch up and yell out for them to stop, but they couldn’t hear. So Sarah and I relaxed at the turn and waited for our clueless teammates to come to the realization that they were alone and turn back. While they were on their little detour, Tom actually got attacked by a dog. Apparently the dog came out of nowhere and was charging at a high speed at Tom, barking and howling. Tom was going very fast but the dog was able to keep up. Tom clipped one foot out and kicked the dog in the head. The dog ran away.

I wasn’t there to see this but I was scared just hearing about it! We do see a lot of dogs each day, many of them barking at us. They are usually tied up, but you never know when one will be off its leash and hostile. But you can’t really prepare for a situation like that because it depends on a lot of factors. I carry pepper spray, but if I were getting attacked by a dog I don’t know if I’d have the time or the composure to get my pepper spray out of my jersey pocket and spray it. Hearing this story definitely scared me!

My final observation for the day is that Google Maps NEEDS to have an “avoid ghetto” option. Today we went through our 4^th ghetto – this time it was Mansfield. It’s truly scary. You’re getting stared at by everyone you pass. You’d better remember your directions because you don’t want to attract more attention to yourselves by stopping and taking out 4 iPhones.

When we arrived at our host, everyone was super hungry because we didn’t have a lunch stop on the road today. Groups arrived between 1:30 and 3 and we were ready to nom. We set up our food on some picnic tables outside and were soon joined by some unexpected guests: three goats. They were adorable… until they started attacking our food. They were running everywhere and jumping up on the table trying to eat anything they could get. We all jumped up and it was Operation Keep Food Away from Goats. It was a 10-person job because they were so sneaky!! We grabbed all the food and took it inside, holding it above the goats’ reach, while Dave Wolfe chased one and tried to stop it from eating a packet of plastic silverware it had grabbed.

Tonight in Butler, our accommodations are an outdoor education center called Mohican Outdoor School. It’s really awesome! For those of you from Harford County: it’s exactly like Harford Glen. For those of you not from HarCo: It’s a place where school groups go for 4-5 days at a time to teach kids about conservation, the environment, and have a camp experience. We are in their dorms, which means that again everyone gets BEDS again! This is my 4^th bed of the trip and seeing as this is day 13, the bed frequency isn’t too bad!

Mohican Outdoor School beds

The place had these recycling toilets that composts waste. It was kind of creepy. There was like a cool draft and a faint mumbling coming from the depths below. Not a pleasant feeling....although the concept is cool.

What happens when there's one working outlet and 25 people.

Tomorrow we head to Columbus and then we have our first service day. I’m pretty excited for what we’re doing but I’ll save that for a surprise :) Until then, XOXO, Mary