The month of June was spent in Ohio (and Chicago for a friends wedding) at Ryan's parents house helping get Patty (Ryan's mom) back on her feet as she broke her leg at the beginning of May. It was a nice change of pace to be with friends and family and to enjoy the luxuries; pillow, bed, shower, laundry, refrigerator. All the things we at times miss and think about when we are drinking warm water out of our metal water bottles on hot days. Where we will go from here? Do we look for jobs again? Research ways to extend our transient lifestyle by means of another transportation? Keep riding? And if we continue riding, where to?
After a few weeks back with the parents, we decided to start planning more roads to ride and places to visit on the bicycles. Before long, we had a route in mind and a departure date. June 30 we packed our gear and set off from the Secrest's abode in Silver Lake, OH. Lucky for us, a bike path started a mile from their home. Heading east through small, rural towns, we slowly made our way back to Buffalo where we left the route taken from Minneapolis. A heat wave was making us stop every so often in the shade to cool down and drink as much water as we could hold. At one point in late afternoon, the tiny farm road we were on started to melt beneath the bike tires, making it feel as if we were pedaling through glue. This became a reality as the tire treads filled with tar and tiny bits of asphalt and made a horrible noise rubbing against our fenders. Ryan spent about an hour with a screwdriver cleaning out the treads... After that, a nice shady bike path led us almost through all of Ohio before we dipped into Pennsylvania and on to New York along the shores of Lake Erie.
I'm not sure if it has anything to do with being in our own country, but we seem to easily find a patch of grass or forest floor to stash our tent. We do not trespass, and if we do, we first ask permission, but we always manage to tuck our tent away.
Our first night in Ohio, we found an ATV track leading amongst an old fruit orchard. We gladly took cover out of sight of the bike path, pulled out our two Alite chairs that keep us off the ground (highly recommended for anyone looking for a lightweight chair), ripped open two bags of tasty bites because it was simply too hot to cook, and waited for the sun to dip further down to set up camp. A few hundred feet away we could hear a group of people talking and laughing. Just as we were putting our last bits in the tent, a firecracker went off. Boom! Directly over our heads, the sky started to light up and people cheered, hooting and hollering with any delay. We laid down on our sleeping pads and watched our tent truly light up like the 4th of July. I was a bit nervous that some debris would fall down on our tent and burn a hole. 15 minutes later, the show stopped, ATV's, trucks, and cars carried on back home while the remaining youngsters kept at it until 3am. Thankfully there was not any night riding.
Every night on the road, we find it easier and more comfortable tenting in unknown spots. The more I experience, the more I realize the kindness of people. Of course there is the occasional weirdo, but I do believe most people are innately good. This belief definitely makes for more restful nights.
After a few weeks back with the parents, we decided to start planning more roads to ride and places to visit on the bicycles. Before long, we had a route in mind and a departure date. June 30 we packed our gear and set off from the Secrest's abode in Silver Lake, OH. Lucky for us, a bike path started a mile from their home. Heading east through small, rural towns, we slowly made our way back to Buffalo where we left the route taken from Minneapolis. A heat wave was making us stop every so often in the shade to cool down and drink as much water as we could hold. At one point in late afternoon, the tiny farm road we were on started to melt beneath the bike tires, making it feel as if we were pedaling through glue. This became a reality as the tire treads filled with tar and tiny bits of asphalt and made a horrible noise rubbing against our fenders. Ryan spent about an hour with a screwdriver cleaning out the treads... After that, a nice shady bike path led us almost through all of Ohio before we dipped into Pennsylvania and on to New York along the shores of Lake Erie.
I'm not sure if it has anything to do with being in our own country, but we seem to easily find a patch of grass or forest floor to stash our tent. We do not trespass, and if we do, we first ask permission, but we always manage to tuck our tent away.
Our first night in Ohio, we found an ATV track leading amongst an old fruit orchard. We gladly took cover out of sight of the bike path, pulled out our two Alite chairs that keep us off the ground (highly recommended for anyone looking for a lightweight chair), ripped open two bags of tasty bites because it was simply too hot to cook, and waited for the sun to dip further down to set up camp. A few hundred feet away we could hear a group of people talking and laughing. Just as we were putting our last bits in the tent, a firecracker went off. Boom! Directly over our heads, the sky started to light up and people cheered, hooting and hollering with any delay. We laid down on our sleeping pads and watched our tent truly light up like the 4th of July. I was a bit nervous that some debris would fall down on our tent and burn a hole. 15 minutes later, the show stopped, ATV's, trucks, and cars carried on back home while the remaining youngsters kept at it until 3am. Thankfully there was not any night riding.
Every night on the road, we find it easier and more comfortable tenting in unknown spots. The more I experience, the more I realize the kindness of people. Of course there is the occasional weirdo, but I do believe most people are innately good. This belief definitely makes for more restful nights.
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