Breakfast at the Layfayette Hotel. Loaded omelet and french toast “to die for”. The french toast was topped with pecans and syrup. We purchased some special bicycling maps of Ohio. Their route to Marietta was the hilliest, but least amount of traffic. Some motorcyclists we met recommended that we go a different way out of Marietta because the mapped route has been recently chip sealed. So we took off on State Route 7 along the Ohio River. Sore and tired from yesterday.
Stopped at Wayne National Forest Recreation Area for a popcorn break. Only rode 22 miles, but the campground looked too inviting. We are the only tent campers. Everyone seems to know each other. Several people came over to check us out and give us advice on what route we should take.
Large barges go by in the river. A local told us, “I’ve lived here my whole live and I never get tired of watching to the river. Sometimes you’ll see two barges of coal passing each other. One going one way and the other going the other way.”
We joined a family campfire for the evening. They’re from West Virginia and have been RV camping for a week. Great-grandparent, grandparents, and grandchildren, with others coming to visit. The grandfather is a principal at an elementary school. He commuted to work from the campground during the week. Camping here seems to be more of a social event. Hot dogs, sloppy joes, s’mores, soda, watermelon and campfire pies.
I experienced my first campfire pie. There’s a special holder, kind of like a small waffle iron. You put one piece of buttered bread on each side, put cherry filling on one side, close the sides together, take the extra crust off the sides, and stick it in the fire.
A neighbor camper showed us some meteor rocks he found. He said one of them is from Mars. In the fall, he uses a leaf blower and a metal detector in the woods to find them. Some other discussion topics: how is freon destroying the ozone when it is heavier than air, operation of large chicken farms, driving to Yellowstone before there was air conditioning in cars.
For the first time, someone asked why we were riding to Maine. I don’t know how to answer that. I don’t know the answer myself. I think I’m looking for a rhythm. Eat Ride Sleep Eat Ride Sleep… But at the same time it's an escape from the everyday. Desire to become physically strong and emotionally independent. Or maybe Mac and I will become dependent on each other. I can already see how we are finding our own yin-yang niches. Desire to see how other people live and what we all have in common.
I didn’t realize how approachable you are when you are riding a bike. Its an easy ice breaker. A tandem makes it even easier to start a conversation. Although in one small town gas/grocery store, we ate lunch and watched people come and go and not one person even made eye contact.
Why am I doing it? To experience the journey. I don’t know what I’m looking for or what I will find.
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