Talking to the animals

Another day beginning with the threat of rain; actually it was raining when I got up at 5:00 a.m., but by the time we left the hotel at 7:15 the rain had stopped and we cycled out on wet roads. I got a little extra wet as my Cambleback began leaking because there was too much water in the bladder. That would be my mistake, it's always a fine line when I fill up my Cambleback.

As we cycled out of Wooster, OH. I noticed an incredible wood carving sitting in the front yard of a family home. I just knew I had to stop and take a picture of a Mama and baby Eagle. The carving is very intricate and beautiful.

We cycled along more country roads on our way to Niles, OH. There were hills as we began our ride today, but nothing like we rode yesterday that were so challenging. Some of the roads were good and some just plan horrible. Those roads were after the second sag towards the end of the day and made you wonder if your bike was going to shake apart!! That's bad. There were so many holes and torn up roads that we stopped calling out where they were.

During the day we continued to see lots of farms and animals. When I called out to the Roosters, one of them crowed back, guess that makes me the Rooster Whisper, or Dr. Doolittle. Then there were the ponies, a donkey and a Lama, at least I think it was a Lama all in a fenced pasture together. They were all so cute, but the Lama was a bit stuffy, you could just tell by the way it looked at you and stood off from the ponies and donkey. The donkey was very friendly and even came closer to the fence just to give you his best side!

All in all a great day for riding 91 miles, except I could have done without the head winds which always slow me down so slow that it took me 7 hours to finish the ride with an average speed of 13.9.....did I mention how bad the road conditions were? No excuse just the facts.

With all the time I spent watching the road, I'm happy to give the "Snake Report" tonight as a big fat ZERO, no sightings.

One other thing I need to mention is the apology I owe Doug S. for "bonking" him with my CrossRoads and American flag as I stood to climb one of the hills we cycled up today. Seems as I stood up to climb, I rocked my bike back and forth to help me climb and as I passed Doug, my flag bonked him on his helmet. Sorry big guy, next time I pass you I'll make sure I go straight up the hill and not rock my bike!