After an uneventful and dry night, I was up at dawn and prepping for the day ahead. I fired up my JetBoil and quickly had the boiling water for freeze-dried scrambled eggs. I have had other freeze-dried breakfasts that were okay, but this meal was only scrambled eggs, and it was not very satisfying; I was glad I had fresh fruit to finish the breakfast. Packing went well, and everything settled into place, and I was soon back on the road.
 |
| A cloudy start, but no rain early |
My second day was headed north and west to the Mississinewa State Recreation area, about 75 miles away. I have used this campground from home many times over the years, but today I would be approaching from a new direction. After riding a few miles north from Summit Lake, I should have connected with the Cardinal Greenway, but I misread my GPS map and my first attempt had me crossing over the trail, and then I found a nature area path that did not connect with the trail. It was only after I scrambled down an embankment onto the paved trail and headed north that I found the on-road trailhead I had missed.
 |
| More wild flowers along the way |
This section of the greenway was well maintained and marked, with a nice canopy of trees as it passed through rolling farmland. A few miles up the trail, I found a small bike shop, and after chatting with the owner, who was also a long-time cyclist, I picked up a couple of spare tubes to replace my punctured tube from yesterday. (This turned out to be a very wise decision.)
 |
| A Mile Marker on the Cardinal Trail |
As I continued north, my weather app and texts from my wife were updating me on possible severe storms in my path that were moving south and due over the lunch hour. I was almost through Muncie with 22 miles when I saw a Chic-Fil-A was just a 1/4 mile off the trail. No sooner had I parked my bike and pulled out my charger kit, a light rain had started. By the time I had placed my order and settled in, the sky darkened and a very windy squall line arrived bringing with it very heavy rain. The rain continued on for another 90 minutes, including a second squall line of strong winds and heavy rain. During my lunch, I was able to fully recharge my power bank and top off my iPhone battery; I had used about 25% of the power bank charging things overnight in my tent, so it was working as I had planned.
By 1:30 p.m., my weather app showed all the red and yellow storm bands were now south of me, though a light rain continued. With 50 miles still to cover to my overnight, it was time to move on. Back on the trail, most of the rain was just the water falling from the trail’s canopy of trees. Within the first mile, a 50-foot tree was down across the trail; fortunately, it had fallen into some open green space, extending almost 15 feet beyond the trail edge, leaving enough room to walk my bike around it. The
 |
| Waiting the storm out |
The Cardinal continued north and west, taking me through Gas City and Marion. On the north side of Marion, I picked up a snack and some Gatorade. I was now off the Cardinal, but I soon picked up the Sweetser Trail, which runs west out of Marion. It is a relatively new paved trail situated in a nice greenway. By now I was 40 miles north of my lunch, and I had been dry but overcast most of the afternoon. Riding west, I again encountered a scattering of small trees and branches fallen across the trail. It had been quite a storm front.
The 9 miles of trail ended in the small town of Converse, and I made my final grocery stop. It was now a little after 6 with about a dozen miles to go. Even though it was 6 p.m., late June meant there were still 3 hours until sunset. It wasn’t too long before I was on familiar roads from my other rides and tours I had done in the area. Just before 7, I reached the campground entrance and checked in, and my day ended at my campsite with 78 miles, with 6 hours of riding out of 10 hours on the road. All things considered, it had been a great day of riding.
There were no squirrels investigating my campsite as I set up my tent. It was damp from the riding in the rain, but it dried out quickly. I had a full clothesline of gear including my rain jacket, gloves, and clothing I wanted dry before packing. My gear in the back, almost all bagged in Ziploc bags, was all dry.
Before I started dinner, I started charging my gear. Throughout the evening, I would be charging 2 Bontrager Taillight’s and a Headlight, a Garmin Varia radar light, and a Wahoo Bolt GPS. I was using the campsite 110 AC with my Anker multiport charger, new for this year since I now needed USB-C charging. Along with charging the bike tech, I would also need to charge my iPhone and my Apple Watch, which I usually charge with me in the tent, using a power bank. My routine for campground charging is to drop all my chargeable items in an empty front pannier, and hang that from the campsite RV outlet. As each device finishes charging, it gets moved to another pocket in the pannier. It’s easy to keep an eye on, and can all be brought back into the tent in one trip.
 |
| The first of many trees after the storm |
With my tent up, clothes drying, and gear charging, I decided to eat before showering, and my freeze-dried dinner was much better than my breakfast. Over the course of dinner, an awesome C-17 Transport made a high pass over the campground, apparently on a landing approach to the nearby Grissom Air National Guard base. It brought back memories of another trip decades ago when I had ridden under a B-52 make a landing approach while I was biking toward Sue St. Marie in Michigan’s UP (yes, there was a SAC base in the UP with flight-ready B-52s until 1977!). It was otherwise a quiet evening in the campground, with the multi-family campsite next to mine ending their corn hole tournament with the sunset.
After a quick shower, I returned to my tent to start bringing in my now-dry gear. I even had my phone battery topped off before I closed up for the night. There was a little more distant rumbling from the airbase, but it was mostly outdoor noises as I settled in for my second night on the road.
Stats
- Departed 8:47 AM
- Distance 79.1 miles
- Average MPH 12.0
- Riding Time 6:34 / Total Time 10:24
- 1514 Feet Ascending
- 1783 Feet Descending
- Total Distance: 144.2 miles
No comments:
Post a Comment