Today we headed out to Huntington, Indiana. The weather looked promising, and it did not disappoint. Since I am the Sag driver for today, I did not ride, but the riders reported a light southerly wind, and the temps did not get above 80 until later in the afternoon. Although it was not our coveted tail winds, the side wind kept everyone cool without dragging their speed down.
There are many more trees as well as turns on this route. It was a three-page cue sheet, which meant a lot of turns. That makes the ride more interesting anyway.
We went through Denver (established in 1870), Deeds, and across the Salamonie Dam. There is a nice park area there, and many stopped for lunch at the Sag stop.
Sue had a wheel spoke that broke, so I picked her up. While she waited for me to arrive, the couple who lived in the house next to the road came out and invited Sue to wait in the shade on their porch. They had a Pompillon puppy that was just darling! When I got there, we loaded up Sue's bike on the Sag, and headed on our way.
Later, I received a call from Karen Cooper, who let us know the man had found Sue's bike purse where she was sitting on the curb of the road...the one with all Sue's ID, credit cards and money! The man gave it to Karen, so Sue did not lose anything out of it! That's what can happen when you are distracted by a cute puppy! That is just another example of the nice people we meet along our journey.
With Sue as my navigator, we decided to stop one extra Sag stop for the last riders. We happen to stop in front of a Bee Farm. Since we had some time before the riders would get to that place, we walked in and met the owner, Cindy. She explained their business, and why they were rebuilding their house. They had a fire in December that had completely destroyed the house they had been remodeling for the past 25 years. The old wiring caught fire, and fortunately her husband, Cindy and their children made it out just in time! We must have talked to her for 30 minutes about her experience. In the end, she gave us samples of soap she makes out of the honey and bees wax - one for each person on the ride!
Since the weather was so cooperative today, the riders were able to make it in about 2 hours earlier than usual, including time to stop for a late lunch and/or ice cream!
Denise took Sue and Sarah to another city to get wheels repaired. One of the many duties of a ride leader!
Tomorrow we head out to Defiance, Ohio, 86 miles.
