Big Ride Day 37

Photos from Day 37

What a fantastic day we had today! It was long and tiring but it was one of the most fun days yet. Each day of this trip just seems to get better than the last and I am already sad that it will be over soon. I'm already entertaining thoughts of doing this again someday, maybe this way and maybe self-supported.

After the festivities of the night before, most of the bikers were a little later than usual in getting up. I woke up early and got ready to go fairly quickly, but breakfast was late and we had to wait around for that. Larry, the guy from Laporte, was offering a tour of the factory where he works and by the time we finished breakfast, it was time to leave for that. We rode to his factory in a big pack which was fun and then got the grand tour. The factory makes die cast metal parts of various kinds and we got to see the whole process from start to finish (see pictures on Roll 16). It was really neat to see.

By the end of the factory tour, it was already 9 o'clock so we hit the ground running and cranked out about 20 miles in a pace line. We dropped a bunch of the riders that had taken the tour and eventually, it was down to Me, Doug, Mary, and Noran, a massage therapist from Hawaii. We were all feeling kind of crappy so we stopped in the small town of North Liberty for coffee. We found this great little coffee/gift shop and I bought a cute little box for Christine.

We put on about 20 more miles and then stopped for lunch at a cute little country restaurant. Finally, we made it to checkpoint at mile 60. Checkpoint was at Rosie's (one of the riders) brother's farm and it was great to see. It was a real working farm and we got to see some new calves that had just been born. It was soon after that that we realized the day would be a bit longer than we thought. The route sheet said we would be doing 88 but it was really closer to 100. On the way into camp, we passed two lemonade stands and stopped at both. It's just great how people have reached out to us in these small ways. The first one was a Mennonite woman and her kids and the second one was just two kids by the side of the road. They had a sign that read something like "Free lemonade for the bikers fighting lung disease." It was great. I will never forget those small kindnesses done to me on the road. We finally made it to Kendallville around 5:45. As we rode in, we got beeps and waves from many people as we have in a lot of small towns. I just love how friendly people are in the mid-west and in small towns everywhere. That's one of the greatest things that has happened to me on this trip. I have had my faith in humankind restored. In getting away from the cities and the bad news we get everyday, I have seen what truly makes America -- the people in the small towns and in the America most people never get to see. That is a lesson I will never forget. When we got to Kendallville, we went straight to dinner at the American Legion. The food was good and we laughed so hard as we talked about the day's events and why we never seem to be able to make it to camp very early. We ride hard and fast every day but something always seems to hold us up in the end. We always end up stopping for things. It's good because I really did come to see America and that's what we end up doing, but it is frustrating to get into camp so late every day. Anyway, we decided we should form "Team Dilly-dally" to celebrate our unique talent at always getting into camp about the same time no matter how many miles there are to ride. This is a special skill that most people on the ride don't have and they don't know what they're missing out on! We definitely see and do more than a lot of the riders. It's funny because I didn't start out the ride this way. I was a hard-charger and always trying to get into camp early, but then my knees went bad. I started getting in later and as I got more relaxed about it, I realized that you see much more if you don't worry so much about getting into camp. I am definitely more relaxed about it now than I was.

It's funny how a trip like this can change you. I am more relaxed about a lot of things now than I was. We were joking at dinner too about how we have managed to change Mary to our new way of thinking too. I think she has definitely changed some since she's been hanging around us.

Well, that was a long philosophical digression. After we had dinner, we went for ice cream and then finally made it to camp around seven -- a new record. On the way in, we saw so many people out on their porches enjoying the summer evening and they all waved and were so friendly. What a nice town Kendallville is -- very well kept, a beautiful downtown area, and friendly locals. Camp is really nice -- on a lake with a beach and everything. We went for a moonlight swim and then took showers and hit the hay -- a fun and relaxing day for all.

This page modified November 25, 2000