Days 5 and 6

I decided to lump the two days together so I could get all caught up.

Well day 5 was a looong day. I had to put in the most miles in a day yet. Luckily even though it was a lot of miles the terrain wasn't too tough. If there were a ton of hills I'm not sure if I would have made it. Another thing that made it easier was the fact that I couldn't wait to get out of that motel I stayed in the night before so I got a nice early start. Haha

To start things off, I would like to say to dog owners that if your dog is a threat to strangers walking/riding by your home, KEEP THEM FENCED IN OR CHAINED UP! I almost got attacked two times on day 5 and once today. You may think that just because you live out on some country road that nobody's going to be passing by but if they do and they get hurt it's on you and unfortunately the dog too. As soon as I get the chance, I'm buying mace, bear spray, or a gun and Velcroing it to my handlebar. I may be an ASPCA advocate but I'll do what I have to if a dog's attacking me.

With that out of the way, the rest of day 5 was pretty good. When I got close to the campground I hit some pretty gnarly hills. As I pulled up to the grounds I was greeted by three very friendly dogs: Lucy, Scrappy, and Duke (not too sure of the last one's name).

John greeted me and got me all squared away until it came to the payment. They didn't accept credit cards and didn't have an ATM. I had a little bit of cash on me but not enough. John could tell I was distraught about the idea of going down to the nearest store and having to climb those hills again. He then offered me a ride. Hallelujah!

Once everything was squared away John showed me to my site. I had the choice of many because I pretty much had the place to myself. I took a video of it but I'm having trouble posting it.

Another day down!

On day 6 I woke up, packed up, took a quick shower and washed my clothes. Then I was on my way. My legs were a bit sore from the previous day but not too bad.

Along the way, one of the best moments of my trip occurred. I was riding along and all of a sudden I hear this yappy little dog off to my left so I take a look and I see a small dog, along with a big husky both staring right at me and beginning to approach. Due to my previous encounters my immediate reaction is to tense up and get ready to fend them off. Then, something truly unexpected happens. The husky comes right up alongside me and starts running with me. He would speed up when I did and when I would hit a hill he would slow down and regularly check back to make sure I was still there. I like to think it was my grandpa checking in on me and letting me know he's been, and going to be, right there with me through this trip. He loved to travel and would have loved to have followed my adventure. Unfortunately, about two or three minutes after the husky joined me I hit a big downhill portion and had to leave him behind. I looked back a few times before I reached a bend in the road and he was still back there trucking along. I wish he was a stray and I could just have him run with me the whole way.

As I'm riding I'm making pretty good time and figure I have time to stop for dinner and rest for a bit. When I stopped I should have known by the frantic look on the gentleman's face that was helping me that I was going to be there a while but I sat down anyway. Sure enough by the time I got out of there the sun was already setting and I had a good hour left of riding to do. I'm definitely equipped to ride at night but I would much rather not if I don't have to. Anyway, my last little stretch is a quick ferry ride across the Ohio River into Illinois and to the campground that I'm staying at for the night. As it's starting to get really dark I round a bend and can see the ferry dock about a mile off in the distance. Unfortunately, I miss it by about 2 minutes! As I'm sitting there, I'm praying that a car comes that wants to cross because I'm not sure if they can see me in order to come back to pick me up. Sure enough a car comes up and I have a nice conversation with the driver while we wait. The ferry comes back and I'm finally home free. Or so I thought...

My back story to the next situation is that I tried several times to reach the office of where I was staying at to no avail. On my last call, I just asked them to give me a call back and let me know when their office was open until. They returned my call but didn't leave me any sort of message. So I get there before 8 which I thought would be good enough. Well the office closed at 4! Now I'm sitting there wondering if I should just find a site for myself and pay them the next day or try to find something else. Obviously I just found a site and decided to sort things out in the morning. Sure enough they didn't mind one bit and if I wanted to, I could have gotten out of paying for the first night. But that's not like me so I told them I would pay for two nights (I decided to stay for the day today so I can check out the park). I definitely switched sites in the morning because picking a site in the dark is not the best idea. The one I had picked was on a bit of a slope and I kept waking up lodged in the corner of the tent. Haha

Anyway, a little bit longer of a post but I hope you enjoy.