Holiday City (pop. 49) is probably the last place you would ever want to spend a holiday. It is an exit off the Ohio Turnpike, with a car auction, a tow garage, two gas stations, a diner and three motels. I'm in the Econo Lodge, which appears to be the middle in quality.
Today started bad, but turned out well. When I woke up this morning, it was raining, and the radar showed a huge area of heavy rain stretching all the way to Chicago. Then I found out my laptop was dead. The power cable has been iffy for awhile because Max like to pull it out and plug it back in for fun. I used to be able to jiggle it to get it to charge, but no more.
Luckily, Google Maps on the iPhone showed a Best Buy in South Bend, Indiana, just 10 miles away, which would only add 4-5 miles to the ride. I decided to ride there, and get some breakfast while waiting out the rain. I got there by 9, and hung out in the Starbucks in the Barnes and Noble across the street until the Best Buy opened at 10. As a special bonus, I got my prescription sunglasses fixed at the Pearle Vision next to Best Buy. (I had rolled over on them while napping after one day at RAGBRAI and lost the screw that held the lens in.) I got a new power supply in Best Buy, and since it was still raining, I spent another half hour fiddling with the seat on the T-Bone. It had started to slide back again, and it seems the old inner tube that acts as a cushion between the seat and the frame was wadded up under the seat, so it wasn't gripping well. I think it will hold now.
All in all, I didn't get riding until 11 am, and I had 95 miles to here in Holiday City, which is where I planned to stop. I was going to shorten the day, but there was a nice tailwind, and the rain had cooled it off, so I hammered it out and got in at 7:30, eating dinner on the way. All in all, I had a productive morning and a good ride.
Here is the grim rain as seen from inside the Barnes and Noble.
This is my fourth consecutive century day. I'm starting to have a lot of aches in my knees and ankles, and my digestive system is still a mess. I started eating meals today. But I think I'm going to have to slack off soon and take a couple short days, or a day off, to recover some.
I crossed three state lines today.
Michigan to Indiana, I didn't get a picture because it was in suburban sprawl for South Bend and was unmarked.
Here is Indiana to Michigan, and Michigan to Ohio.
The area at the juncture of Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio has a lot of kettles. A kettle is a type of lake formed by remnants of glaciers as they melted at the end of the last ice age. A bizarre feature of a kettle is that you invariably have to climb a hill to get to it. My GPS shows me I'm coming to a lake, and then I have to climb a hill. It's very bizarre.
Here is tonight's camp site, in the fabulous Econo Lodge.
Here is the track for today.
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