June 19, Special Olympics Bike Ride

Thursday. New Haven, Indiana. Another day, another 56 miles with the wind on the nose. I am looking very forward to my upcoming rest day. Spent the majority of the day on Route 24 travelling between Napoleon and New Haven. If it is indeed true that all of America's needs move by truck, than I am convinced that all of America's needs moved along the 2-lane Route 24 today. Convoys of trucks, some up to 10 deep, came in waves from both directions. All day. And I had a most bicycle UNfriendly 2 foot berm. Please allow this visual. Eastbound and westbound semi rigs simultaneously passing your fully loaded touring bicycle as you balance precipitiously near the edge of the road. Imagine that you could take your left hand off the handlebar and easily touch a truck passing you at 60 miles per hour. Now imagine doing that for 5 hours and 53 minutes. So, you think you had a bad day? Oh, and just for fun try this...looking up and seeing an oncoming semi swerve out to pass another and now TWO big rigs are barreling toward you less then a quarter mile ahead. Time to put the bike as deep into the ditch as possible. People always ask me if I am scared out there. Not so much scared as cautiously scared. All I can do is be cautious. Today I was scared. I guess somehow that is a good thing. It keeps you from getting complacent. Too much complacency in our world. Brothers, ask yourselves what you can do to help.

OK, apologies for the soapboxing. Last night as I was loading the digital pics into the computer, somehow I managed to lose that precious photo of the Special Olympian, Ben Snyder from Grand Rapids. Hoping for the best, I took the camera to a Walgreen's in Defiance and Brendt the camera guy, pulled up the missing picture and printed me two 5 by 7's. That picture is a poster waiting to happen. Spoke with the girl at the Speedway in Defiance as she was changing the gas prices on the street sign. I asked her how people reacted as she raised the prices. She said that she felt like she needed a bulletproof vest. Gas in Defiance is $4.09/gal. It feels very much like the Country is in a foul mood. What is up America? If you want change, make change. Just do something. Oops, more soapboxing...mea culpa again. Tonight to close, I will introduce you to another of the 'Road Gods'. The 'Road Find God' places many treasures along the ride. It is almost like a video game that you get to live. See a prize, and gobble it up. Today may have been a lousy day for riding, but for Road Find it was spectacular. Wrenches, a socket, 32 cents, a cool marble, a 'Caution Student Driver' magnetic sign, a Titlest, and a Wal-Mart Associate badge and lanyard. The name on the tag was Steve. My Dad used to call me Steve. I guess Dad was letting me know that he was watching over my ride. Pops really never liked my bike trips. He would sit out in his lawnchair for the whole day when he knew I was coming home. Best handshakes ever. O.K., now I'm waxing melancholy. Blog focus, blog focus...Sorry gang, I am pretty beat down tired. Improvement tomorrow. You have my money-back guarantee. Peace.