I didn't leave as early as I told the officer I would, but it was cold and rainy in the morning and there wasn't a single person at the park. We packed up and left feeling a little disoriented. I ended up in Ottowa for breakfast, south west of where I started. I was already feeling like my joints were creaking so I went to rite aid for some protein and glucosamine while I was outside popping pills a man started talking to me and introduced himself eventually as Father Matthew. He told me he was going to get a fake ID for his dog, and left me with a blessing and a quote from Jeremiah 1:4. It felt great to hear some encouraging words, so I went to the bar for breakfast. I had some waffles, coffee, wrote for a while, washed strawberries from a farm stand in the bathroom sink, and talked to an old drunk at the bar. His name was Jr. but he had Jesus III tattooed on his neck, he was celebrating his birthday with a half dozen glasses of rum and coke. Jesus offered me a place to stay if I ever came back to Ottowa and told me I could ask around, everyone knew him and his family. I saw him again as I was pulling out of town yelling and smiling something out the window of the car as he sped by.
The ride was pretty rough going out of town. I turned south to get off the highway and was redirected back onto 65. Then I went north and took a parallel road through the country. I felt like the wind was pushing me from the side for hours and by mid afternoon was ready for a break. I stopped when I saw an old man riding a sweet old motorcycle that he had refurbished and asked if I could jump in his pond. He said that because of insurance he couldn't let me, but after a little while said I could jump in if I just got out after and left. A few miles later in beaver dam I turned left on to 30 and started heading due east straight to Mansfield with the wind at my back.
A few hours later I passed a man stacking rocks in his driveway in front of two tree houses. I yelled to him and he invited me in for a tour. He introduced himself to me as Tim, a retired math teacher. He said he had relatives on the north side of Goshen and he tried to find a family connection when he found out I was raised Mennonite. He gave me a tour of the two playhouses he had built for his grandchildren. One was a pirate pub for his three boys and the other a castle. Except the floor joists they were completely recycled material. It was beautiful construction with great attention to detail and lots of time and love. He also showed me his garden and chicken tractors which were also built with a lot of thought and time. I gave him some turmeric to add to his collection of plants and bid him farewell even though I could have hung out all day.
Next stop was at an old Baptist church. I needed to do my interview and they wanted me to be inside so when I saw a man mowing the lawn I paused for a minute to rest and prepare. Unfortunately the church had been closed for years and he didn't have a key. I tried to do the interview but the files wouldn't send on my phone so we rescheduled for Monday. I continued slowly with the wind pushing me and at around the 47 mile mark I saw another pond with some children outside a barn. I rode in and asked to jump in and they brought out their mom, Tina. We talked for a while about their dairy farm, the pond was for the cows drinking water because they couldn't drink the well water without getting sick and full of tumors. I had been wondering why there were so many ponds everywhere and the pieces finally started to fit the more I talked to people. Even the man mowing the church filled me with answers to questions I was pondering and that just made me wonder more. What happened to middle America? Why are all the churches abandoned, where did everyone go?
I kept thinking and pedaling until I came to Upper Sandusky. A small town several feet elevation above Sandusky and a couple hundred miles to the south. I set up camp at a small nature preserve on the outskirts of town without the trailer and then biked in to get dinner. I ended up at an Italian restaurant and bar where I ordered a huge portion of pasta carbonara, breadsticks, salad, deep fried ravioli, and a liter of monty pythons holy grAle. I was hysterical while talking to some new friends, laughing and stuffing my face. It was just what I needed. I left for camp as everyone else made their way to another bar. Even though the moon was full and bright I fell asleep on the ground comfortably with Makai huddled in the bottom of my sleeping bag.
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