Month: September 2017 Page 3 of 4

According to the Cambidge Dictionary a Campground is an “area of land for lots of people to put tents or RV’s while travelling or on vacation”. But not always so in America – I can’t member when in my trip I found out that some campgrounds only take RV’s (big campervans) or campers (caravans) and NO tents – you have to be contained – now when the zip is done up on my tiny wee tent I’m feeling pretty well contained but what they mean is I need to have facilities, ie running water and toilet. So some RV sites will take tents but not all campgrounds will take tents.

So why am I boring you with this information? I was tired today. Didn’t sleep well last night due to the cold. Nice cycling today – more quiet roads and cycle trails but lots of stops and rests. At 4pm I decided to stop early and aim for “The Lake Campground” –  only 7 miles away – clues in the name you would think but despite advertising that they have restrooms (toilets) and showers you can’t camp there – luckily I checked online and instead cycled 25 miles to “The Countryside Campground” which does take tents. Another mostly good but long day × tired × making a few stupid navigational errors at the end of the day = a grumpy cyclist! But all good now. Showered and cosy – feels warmer tonight – and about to go to bed.

On a completely different note I’m now in Amish country – not seen any Amish people yet or their horses and carts – now I know very little about the Amish people but I believe they live very traditionally – their clothing, housing, equipment, etc and I assumed they were a fairly peaceful community but the folks I might at the campsite last night have advised me not to go to Lancaster in Ohio due to the Amish Mafia! This I had to look up – according to Google there is an American reality TV show called “Amish Mafia” but there seems to be some debate as to how “real” it is. Anyway dont think im going near Lancaster but hopefully more quiet roads tomorrow and maybe I’ll see some horse and carts on the road.

Night all.

Doesn’t look like much but hard work pushing Bertie up this ramp.

Blooming cold last night. Got all my layers on just now. Will warm up when the sun gets up. I’m told it’s at least 10° colder than the norm for this time of year.

Not had chance to blog much lately – not enough time or not being in the right place at the right time but I’m still here and pedalling away and thought I’d tell you about my wee adventure last night – hopefully later I’ll tell you about the other stuff I’ve done / the folks I’ve met, etc.

Fab days cycling yesterday from Lansing in Michigan to Toledo in Ohio – about 100 miles of lovely gentle cycling mostly through farmland. Got a flat towards end of day but didn’t take long to fix – I must be getting better – bike need a good clean though – any volunteers out there.

I was aiming for the Miakondo Campground I’d found on Google maps but it turns out to be a Boy Scout private campground and all security fenced off – getting late now and no other campground nearby so a wee bit of stealth camping required – the nearby Rest Home had a nice area of grass tucked away but that seemed a bit inappropriate but I could hide behind the abandoned greenhouses next door – not ideal from a noise point of view – busy road on one side and noisy motorway on the other but got off to sleep……..until the 1am (ish) wake up call from the police – he was doing the rounds and always checks on the greenhouses and had spotted my bike and then my tent – I explained the situation and apologised and he was cool (quite cute as well once he stopped blinding me with his torch) and left me to go back to sleep – very glad he didn’t ask me to move on.

So on the road again – campground I’m aiming for tonight is definitely open and hopefully I’ll not get any wake up calls in the middle of the night.

Well the title sounds good – don’t you think? I’ll drop the athlete bit thought – that gives an indication of speed which I definitely don’t do – I’ll leave that to the Mark Beaumont’s of this world (who is in North Dakota as I type this).

Can’t speak for anyone else but in my case the legs are turning, the wheels are spinning but I’m not necessarily thinking about anything, just enjoying the scenery I’m passing through. Of course when you are tired there is that mental conversation between brain and legs – “yes you can get to the top of that hill” / “yes you can do another 10 miles to get to the campsite tonight” / etc. And then every now and again my brain goes into over drive – yesterday was a perfect example (possibly fuelled by a large can of high energy drink). Sane brain and not so sane brain kicked in and I couldn’t shut them up and it went something like this – you’ll figure out which is sane brain and which is not so sane brain.

I think I’ll go to Australia next.

Why?

Cycle round the coast – do you think they have any lighthouses?

You’re 1/2 away across America and you’re tired and you want to go Australia!

I’m planning ahead.

How would you get the time of work?

I could retire!

What would your parents say?

Etc, etc

(And then it got really random)

I could learn to surf.

You can barely swim and have no coordination (I have to agree with this).

I could take more lessons

Both brains are now thinking of a much younger (much more alive in fact) toned and rugged Patrick Swayze in Point Break.

And so sane brain and not so sane brain carried on for a couple of hours.