Day 13: 61 Miles

Steubenville, OH to Kimbolton, OH

I spent last night at the bar next to the motel watching some NBA playoff basketball. I think I was the only person there not watching the Penguins game. I also noticed very quickly that people’s accents have changed far quicker than the scenery. Since leaving State College most of the scenery has looked pretty similar, but all of a sudden I had walked into a bar where everyone had a certain twang to their speech.

I met a guy named Tom at the motel and we were both going to be travelling a similar route by bicycle this morning. He suggested that we may run into each other in the morning, but by the looks of him I thought he would be on the road well before I woke up. He seemed to be a seasoned cyclist who had been stealth camping most of his trip. I woke at 5:30 AM to hear what sounded like Tom getting his bike and gear through the hallway. Apparently noise traveled through the walls better than the wifi, which I had to go out in the hallway to use.

I rolled over and went back to sleep, waiting for my alarm to sound at 7:30 AM. I got out of bed a started getting my things together. Then it was time for the ubiquitous motel make your own waffle. I’ve had one of these to start my day almost every morning. By 9:00 AM I had all my things together and was ready to hit the road.

Any idea I had that Ohio would be flat was quickly dispelled. The hills were at least not too steep, so I was happy to put my bike into the granny gear and slowly climb with little effort. I stopped about 5 miles into the day to pick up some groceries. Tonight is the first night I’ll be camping, so I wanted to be prepared.

By noon I’d made it 26 miles to the town of Cadiz where I stopped at a small lunch spot. The air conditioning felt good, so I took my time eating and the waitress was nice enough to fill my water bottles with ice water. The lunchtime rest would be needed for the couple of long climbs that remained.

From Cadiz the rest of my day was spent on route 22. I’d been criss crossing this road since Pennsylvania because it was a highway I was doing my best to avoid. This changed right in Cadiz where route 22 turned into a 2 lane country road. There were a lot of ups and downs, but I was able to make it to Salt Fork State Park just before 5:00 PM.

Tonight is the first night I’ll be camping, so we’ll see how that goes. I finally get to test out all of my gear. I got to my campsite and set up my tent pretty quickly. Then I walked over to the showers which were surprisingly decent. I came back to find the solar panel had already fully charged my bike computer and radio. It’s still about 90 degrees here, so I’m hoping it cools down a bit before I go to sleep. Tonight’s dinner will be ‘Dan’s camp stove paella’. I bought a package of quick cooking Spanish rice and browned up some hotdogs. Mix them together and you get something I’d usually not eat, but these are desperate times.