Menk's Across America - Journal Entry #7
By Jeremiah Menk
July 30, 2002
July 23, 2002
Today we rode 96 miles from Peru, IN to Grand St. Mary's
State Park in Ohio. Ben was sent back to search a RV scrap
yard for a window and an awning. He found an awning, but no
window. Dad was happy to have his awning back to sit under.
Ben is talking about putting an awning on Dad's tombstone
to set up over his grave. The weather finally cooled down
and the riding was nice. We also had a nice tailwind for most
of the ride.
July 24, 2002
Today we rode from Grand St. Mary's State Park to Delaware
State Park, Ohio. The ride was 95 miles into a headwind. I
explored (was lost) for most of the morning and eventually
found the planned route by afternoon by using the sun and
the iron in my nose. Mom and Dad also went exploring today.
They said the bridge was out on our planned route. It was
a pretty standard day of riding, except for the exploring
part.
July 25, 2002
We encountered our first campground with no vacancies. We
planned to ride from Delaware State Park to Newcomerstown,
Ohio, but ended up riding to Cambridge, Ohio. Mom was not
exactly thrilled that we had to ride an extra thirty miles
through steep hills. She told me next time we would get a
hotel and that would be that. We rode 123 miles, our second
longest day of riding during our trip, except instead of riding
with a strong tailwind on the flatlands of South Dakota, we
rode through steep hills into a slight headwind. Everyone
was pretty tired and cranky at the end of the day.
July 26, 2002
Ah, today was probably the most interesting of the trip
so far. We started near Cambridge and rode 93 miles to West
Finely, PA. We started our day by trying a shortcut. Dad had
found a "back" road that headed due east instead of taking
the highway to the northeast and heading back southeast. The
shortcut was occasionally covered in gravel and the hills
were relentless. After five miles of riding and nearly wiping
out on a gravel covered corner we called Ben and rerouted
on a better paved "back" road. Soon we were back on route.
After riding about thirties miles I learned one of my most
valuable lessons of the trip. Never mock your mother and her
pie and ice cream eating ways. It is strictly taboo. I was
drafting Dad while mocking my mother when I realized I was
hooked up with Dad's rear tire. Fortunately through years
of experience doing dumb stunts I have learned to crash well,
if that is possible. Dad managed to hold on while I gracefully
soared from my bike into the ditch. I skidded about thirty
feet before stopping. Mom said I had a nice tuck formation
when I crashed. Upon coming to a stop, I did the first thing
my family typically does: I rushed over to my bike to make
sure it was okay. Luckily the bike was okay, I escaped with
cuts in my thigh and elbow, a bruise on my hip, and once less
pair of bike shorts.
After readjusting my bike and picking the rocks out of my
cuts we started biking towards the Ohio River. We arrived
in the Ohio River Valley at the town of Bellaire, OH. We planned
to take a highway south to cross over the river into the town
of Moundsville, WV, however Dad had noticed a toll bridge
on the map so we decided to try to find the bridge in an effort
to shorten our ride. During the process of our search we discovered
that bikes were banned from the highway and there was no toll
bridge. We headed to a nearby gas station and talked to the
clerk. She said we could, "just walk across the old rail bridge.
Heck, a drunk used to walk across that bridge every night.
He just fell off last week, course, you're not drunk."
It was convenient and sounded like it wouldn't be a problem
so we headed to where we could access the bridge. The start
of the bridge was covered in weeds and gravel, the ties had
been long removed. It looked like an easy walk, however, once
we were over the river we had to walk on timbers with a cross
wind, no railing, about a foot of extra space outside of the
track, and with a heart rate that approached our race pace
heart rate. I casually walked along and finished ahead of
Mom and Dad. After realizing that most of the town had seen
us walking across the bridge in our bright bike jerseys, I
moved up the hill and out of the way while waiting for Mom
and Dad. At this point Mom remarked to Dad, "There will probably
be a policeman waiting for us at the end of the bridge." I
watched from my perch as a policeman pulled up and headed
towards the end of the bridge. Mom and Dad received some advice
while apologizing profusely and proclaiming ignorance and
stupidity. Dad was ragging on Mom, so the policeman probably
felt sorry for her and let her off. We took this as a sign
of good luck because Mom and Dad could have served jail time.
During the last part of the ride we encountered our first
storm while riding. We sought shelter in a gas station and
waited for the storm to pass. It was the first time that we
pulled over to seek shelter. The rest of the ride went well
with some steep hills in Pennsylvania. .
July 27, 2002
Not satisfied with one crash for the trip, I decided to
crash again at higher speeds into rocks, stumps, and mud.
I missed my turn into the campground and by the time I realized
that I had missed my turn, I was three miles down the road.
I turned around and began biking back to the campground. I
saw the sign for the turn this time and headed into the campground
going 35 mph. After about 100 yards of pavement, the drive
turned into loose gravel on top of pavement. I tried to slow
down as I went around the first turn, but my tires gave out
and I skidded into the ditch and mud. I was covered in mud
and so was my bike. I added a few more bruises to my body,
but no more cuts. I spent the evening cleaning and tuning
my bike. The ride was fun through the hills. Mom would probably
disagree. We biked 75 miles from West Finley to Normalville,
PA through glass and debris covered shoulders with only a
couple of flats. The last climb out of Connelsville, PA to
the top of Chestnut Ridge was probably the steepest of the
trip.
Dad started the morning by having three flat tires before
making it out of the campground. His first flat was caused
by something that cut the sidewall of his tire. Not realizing
that his sidewall was cut, he changed his tube and promptly
popped another tire. Now, at six in the morning, Dad was not
in a pleasant mood. He sent Mom to get a new tire and tube
at the camper while he sat and pouted. He finally was ready
to ride one hour later.
July 28, 2002
Today's ride was a blast. We rode 83 miles from Normalville
to Breezewood through the Pennsylvania hills. Most of the
time we were able to reach 50 mph on the descents and the
climbs were only about five miles long. Dad broke a spoke
today and Dan broke his rear derailleur cable. Luckily there
was a bike shop in town and both Dad and Dan were able to
fix their bikes. Ben had his first flat tire of the trip.
Now everyone has had at least one flat, but I have an enormous
lead for the most flats on the trip.
July 29, 2002
We had another great ride from Breezewood to Gettysburg,
PA today. We crossed three or four ridges that provided us
with spectacular views of the surrounding area. We plan to
see the sites of Gettysburg tomorrow. Today's ride was 68
miles with a heat index of 104 degrees. It is hard to believe
that we only have one day of riding left. Mom had the only
flat tire of the day otherwise the ride was hassle free.
Photos
Photoset: July 23-July 29
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