Starbucks Is Back

Day 106, July 16, 2011 – Starbucks Is Back

Route from Defiance, OH to Indian Lakes Campground, Wolcottville, IN

71 miles, averaging 15.3 mph

Worst Moment – Though it wasn’t really a worst moment, the thing that caused me the most anxiety today was the very skinny shoulder on the road.  The campground last night was really a long way off route and it was much shorter to just follow major roads which is what I did.  Think that I’ll try sticking to the bicycle maps from now on.

Best Moment – I still like Pikes Peak Roast from Starbucks and was able to get it today in Indiana.  

I can really tell that we are headed west.  The front yards aren’t the green of New England, there aren’t any fences, and Starbucks and Wells Fargo Banks are back.  In the east there weren’t any Starbucks – I had to settle for Dunkin Doughnuts.  For awhile in the south there were Wachovia Banks, but, I’ve not seen a Wells Fargo since Texas(?) a long time.

Almost as soon as I crossed into Indiana, the flat as a pancake farmland of Ohio gave way to rolling but not steep rolling farmland of Indiana.  Still, it wasn’t the up and downs of Vermont, New Hampshire and Texas.  And, there is still a lot of corn.

This part of Indiana has a lot of Amish.  Coming into Wollcottville, there were several farms with the black carriages in the front lawn.  I saw two carriages headed into town.  When I arrived at the campground, they are having some kind of reunion with several Amish families.  It seems odd to see small girls playing at the camp’s playground in long skirts and bonnets – but they still seem to have fun.

I got a couple of tomatoes from one of great produce stands in the area. This one was self-service.  It had the scale, calculator and even the change till all there.

At Indian Lakes Campground, it is “Chocolate Lovers Weekend.”  This morning they were serving free chocolate chip pancakes – we missed that.  Then there was chocolate cupcake decorating followed by a chocolate fountain fruit lunch, chocolate brownies with chocolate sauce sundaes, (made it in time for this), all topped off with a chocolate slip and slide.  What a mess – I just saw the end of this!

I just finished reading Matterhorn, by Karl Marlantes.  It seemed to express a lot of what I think my generation feels about the futility of the Viet Nam War – a war that was impossible to win and without clear objectives.  Marlantes is a decorated Viet Nam Vet.   It was a very compelling and disturbing book to read.

If you would like to donate to my ride, my link for the Lance Armstrong Foundation is http://grassroots2011.livestrong.org/billsbigride197.  I really appreciate your support.