Day 114-Rest in State College

It was a pretty low key day that started with a large continental breakfast and laundry that desperately needed to get done. After this was taken care of I took the shuttle into downtown again to camp out in a coffee shop for a bit and grab lunch. Walking through downtown it is amazing to see how many Penn State gear shops there are. There was at least one store selling t-shirts and other Nittany Lion stuff every block. I took the long way home walking through Penn State's campus. The fact that it is about twice the size of Oregon State made it pretty impressive. In my unbiased opinion, however, OSU's campus is a whole lot nicer.

After dinner at the Happy Valley Brewing Company I spent the rest of the day relaxing and route planning for the rest of the trip. Less than two weeks to go if all goes to plan!

Old Main on Penn State's Campus

Day 113-Phillipsburg to State College (28 Miles)

I felt a million times better this morning and left the motel an hour and a half earlier than I had to as I was pretty excited to get to State College and see Penn State. I walked through the town of Phillipsburg before running up the climb outside of town. After a few miles, Bike Route V turned to the north and I left it by staying on 322. It was kind of unsettling not knowing if the roads were going to be good, but State College was a place I wanted to see while I was in the area.

After a mountain descent, I arrived into the town of Port Matilda. After a short break here I began the climb of Skytop Mountain and then the descent into Happy Valley. Following Google's biking directions I ended up in a subdivision north of town looking for a bike path that would take me into the heart of Penn State's campus after 4 miles. I soon found out that this "bike path" was a little single track dirt trail. I had to walk a ways on it before it opened up into a wider rails-to-trail path.

As promised, after crossing through the Penn State Arboreteum, I was spit out right at Penn State's enormous campus. I walked on one of the main roads that took me right past the 106,000+ capacity Beaver Stadium. Penn State football had a bye today, but it would've been pretty cool to be passing through during a game day. I walked the remainder of the way to the hotel I would be staying in for the next couple of nights that my mom donated to the cause, the Country Inn.

I was at first bummed out about how it was two miles from town, but then I learned it had a shuttle service. After getting situated I got a ride to Pickles, a taproom in the heart of downtown, where I enjoyed dinner and company with State Collegians. I ended up sticking around quite a bit later than the 10:30 ending time of the shuttle service and had to walk back.

Beaver Stadium

Day 112-Clearfield to Phillipsburg (13 Miles-Mostly Walking)

I originally was planning on heading to Black Moshannon State Park to camp for the night which would have split the two days to State College pretty evenly. My sickness ruined these plans and today became simply about making a run to State College possible the next day.

As I left the room for the first time at 10:45 I met a cyclist who was riding from Canada to Florida who had stayed in the same motel last night. He complained about his late start and how the weather has been pretty crummy for him. He was a former swimmer at Auburn and told me "you're welcome" for Auburn beating the ducks a few years ago in the football national championship.

I checked out and started my walk thankful that the skies were starting to clear up. I still felt miserable though. I hadn't eaten any breakfast, and I had very little confidence that anything I ate would stay down. The orange juice I got at a gas station two miles in confirmed these fears. Soon the slow pace of the walking became unbareable as it felt like it was taking forever. I just wanted to get to a bed and fall asleep. Running was the only way to speed things up, but after a mile, throwing up again ruined those plans.

I eventually got to the Best Travel Inn a couple of miles from the main part of town and slept for a couple of hours. I felt a lot better after this and was actually able to eat a meal of breakfast for dinner at the diner across the street. As the night went on, I started to recover more and more and making it to State College tomorrow seemed like a certainty.

Photo from yesterday-I was too sick to bother with pics today

Day 111-Reynoldsville to Clearfield (35 Miles)

Knowing that today would be a long day with probably some more hills, I didn't milk the checkout time at all this morning. I still had a couple of miles to get into the actual town of Reynoldsville and during my warm up walk, a nice older lady made a U-turn to give me a five dollar bill. She asked me if I was the same guy she had seen pushing a stroller through here from New York just a couple of months earlier.

Right before town I was greeted with a sign congratulating me on reaching the summit of a hill. Although the elevation was only 1712 feet, it was the first such sign I have seen in a very very long time. After this hill and turning off of Highway 322 to head northeast, I arrived in the town of DuBois where I stopped for lunch at Sheetz. I had heard of it's legend as a Pennsylvania icon and it lived up to expectations as I'd never seen a restaurant where you order on a touch screen before.

After leaving DuBois, I began my climb of Rockton Mountain. I had no idea that there was going to be a legitimate mountain on the run today, but here it was. Despite it being much longer than the hills conquered previously (3 miles vs. the usual half mile to a mile) it was a pretty manageable 7% grade. At the top it had that satisfying feeling of being on top of a mountain as I could see for several miles in every direction.

After the summit I had a six mile descent into Clearfield which was a bit steeper than the climb. Despite not having a brake, it didn't end up being too bad. I eventually got into town, but still had about three miles to get to the Budget Inn motel. Because there was no shoulder and curbs lining the highway, I ended up walking most of this distance.

I got a room, showered, and had a dinner at Dairy Queen. While staying up until 2 am to watch Oregon State lose to Utah in double overtime I started to get really sick. It seemed to come out of nowhere, but suddenly I was throwing up all night and had a debilitating headache. My plans to get to State College in two days were in jeopardy as travelling tomorrow seemed impossible. I eventually was able to fall asleep with a cold rag on my head.

View of Clearfield from the summit of Rockton Mountain

Day 110-Shippenville to Reynoldsville (31 Miles)

I woke up pretty early and finally met Mike and Ruthie during breakfast. Before they dropped me back off in Shippenville they showed me around Old MacDonald's farm, including their Scottish Highland cattle. Mike also gave me a Pennsylvania license plate from his old truck that Ruthie, Mike and Tristan all signed. I was very fortunate that Craig set me up with such a great family.

After they dropped me off where I had left yesterday, I proceeded east down the shoulder of 322 where I would be all day. The hills continued some more, but weren't nearly as bad as yesterday. Despite them being a bit more mild I can definitely feel them starting to take a bit of toll on my body. My calves and hamstrings are a lot tighter than normal and flashes of knee pain will come up every once in awhile.

I passed through the beautiful town of Brookville and about halfway from their to my end point I got a call from Mike about a family that was willing to help me out for the night. I then gave them a call, but realized that they lived over a half hour away and they were hoping they could pick me up in Brookville. They offered to come get me in Reynoldsville, but knowing there was a very cheap motel that I was very close to, I opted for that. I really appreciated their offer to help though.

After checking into the Pine Crest motel and showering I head over to the Bear Claw for a dinner which was generously paid for by the owner, Ernie. He also insisted on giving me extra money to help cover my motel room for the night which I graciously accepted. I also made friends with two guys who were working at a temporary concrete batch plant for nearby I-80 construction.

County building in Brookville

Day 109-Barkeyville to Shippenville (35 Miles)

Before heading back up to my starting point in Barkeyville, Julia gave me a driving tour of Slippery Rock and the university. After saying goodbye to my generous host, I kept on heading down the left shoulder of Highway 208 where I would see it through to its end in Shippenville 35 miles down the road.

The hills today were mountains compared to the molehills yesterday and took quite a bit out of me. A mile here in Pennsylvania is worth about 1.5 in Iowa. The worst climb of the day was coming out of Emlenton at the base of the Allegeny River Valley. The interstate bridge that towers over the town is the fourth tallest in the entire US interstate system.

Because of the distance and the hills I didn't get finished with the run until close to 5 o'clock. In Shippenville I gave Mike, a friend of Craig's who offered me help for the night, a call. His son Tristan answered and told me someone would be there soon to pick me up. A few minutes later, outside of the Red and White Market, Judy and her granddaughter whisked me away to Old MacDonald's Farm outside of Emlenton. Mike and his wife Ruthie were with a friend down in Pittsburgh who was having surgery for a broken ankle after an unfortunate accident with a ram on their farm. 

Their son Tristan was there to greet me and used his awesome cooking skills to make me burgers from beef raised on their farm. After showering, Tristan and I hung out up in his room where he beat me in Madden but I got him in the baseball video game. We watched a bit of TV before I went to bed. It was too bad I didn't get to meet Mike and Ruthie as they didn't get home until after midnight, but I would get to see them in the morning.

The town of Emlenton on the Allegheny River

Day 108-New Castle to Barkeyville (29 Miles)

I got off to an early start as I said goodbye to Brittany as she left for work. She left me well stocked with food for the road. Although my time with her and Jon Paul was pretty short lived it was awesome meeting them and it was great to wake up to temperatures a bit warmer than 31 degrees. After an extended walk, I started running to the intersection with Pennsylvania Bike Route V which will take me across the entire state. It pretty much parallels I-80 and should hopefully mostly consist of roads with low traffic and/or a nice wide shoulder.
As I approached the heart of Amish country I was greeted by the hills that I had heard so much about for the past month. I figured they couldn't be so bad as the Appalachians were nowhere near as tall as either the Cascades or Rockies which I've already crossed. I was wrong. Although not as tall, the roads are older and therefore quite a bit steeper. There were definitely a couple of climbs that I had to walk to finish them up. The pouring rain early in the day didn't help the cause much.
Right before I got to the Grove City Outlet mall I was stopped by John who was walking across Highway 208 from his home to his auto service shop. He offered me a Mountain Dew and Snickers bar which I gratefully accepted. Lunch at a McDonalds busy with outlet mall traffic soon followed before arriving to the actual town of Grove City. On the college campus in Grove City I had a bit of a scare with my phone as it decided to shut down and not turn back on for about a half hour.
After arriving to the main intersection of Barkeyville, I walked towards I-80 to wait for my host for the evening, Craig, to come pick me up. Craig was another connection made by my uncle Jason and he picked me up outside of a Subway on his way home from work as a mechanical engineer at a power plant.

We drove about 15 minutes south to his home in Slippery Rock where I met his wife Julia. We later enjoyed the great company of Ray, Dee, and their son Ryan, a track and XC runner at Slippery Rock University. We had a great dinner that more than fueled me up for the run tomorrow. The evening ended an awesome first full day of running in the state of Pennsylvania. Hopefully the rest of the state treats me this well.

The route I'll be following for the next couple of weeks

Day 107-Lake Milton to New Castle, PA (34 Miles)

I woke up to below freezing temperatures as there were several patches of ice on the sidewalks in the park. For the first all trip my beard actually served some functional purpose of keeping me warm as my mouth was the only part of my body not covered by my sleeping bag. I packed up my gear and hit the road, excited to cross into my second to last state of the trip.

After a few great warmup miles of open roads, I arrived into the Youngstown suburb of Canfield. The road suddenly picked up in traffic dramatically just as the shoulder completely disappeared. My running was pretty limited to the gaps caused by red lights. I was rewarded for braving the several miles of busy streets with a bike path that would take me into Pennsylvania.

I had plans to stay with Brittany, a friend of Jayme and Tyler in Monticello, who went to vet school with Jayme at Iowa State, but she didn't get off of work until 8 pm. I spent a couple of hours with friendly Pennsylvanians at the Branding Iron while I waited for her to get off of work. Many of them were pretty disappointed in the Steelers' loss to the Cleveland Browns earlier in the day. This was a pretty clear sign of entering a new state as almost everyone at the bar last night was rooting for the Browns.

At around 8, Brittany came to the Branding Iron and guided me back to her house just a quarter mile down the road. There I met her husband Jon Paul, showered, and relaxed with them for the rest of the evening. It was great to stay in a warm bed without having to worry about hiding from the police tonight.

Youngstown skyline wayyyy out in distance

Day 106-Kent to Lake Milton (23 Miles)

Knowing that today was going to be a short day, I milked the checkout time at the University Inn. I walked south on the state highway shoulder before turning onto back roads where I would be running for the rest of the day. Despite a day off yesterday, the long runs preceding the rest still made my legs pretty heavy.

I arrived to the west shore of Lake Milton and stopped into the Grandview Tavern to eat some dinner and maybe meet a friendly patron who would offer me a place to stay for the night. I didn't have any luck with the latter goal. In fact the people there made it sound like like getting mugged or getting in trouble with the police was a near certainty.

At 8 pm, under the cover of darkness, I crossed the lake and head towards the picnic area on the eastern lake shore. As I was on the bridge I could see a police car doing rounds in the park with a spotlight. I would have to find a pretty good hiding spot when I got there. I arrived, set up my tent in a gazebo using picnic tables to try and obstruct the view from the parking area, and layered up before spending my last night in Ohio in the freezing cold.

The fog coming off of Lake Milton at sunrise on Day 107

Day 105-Rest Day in Kent

After walking through Kent State University's campus and the May 4 shooting memorial, I did absolutely nothing. It was fantastic!

I didn't take any photos today, so here's one from the infamous May 4 Kent State Shootings

Day 104-Brunswick to Kent (33 Miles)

I woke up pretty early and enjoyed an enormous breakfast with the Withers family as Kathryn was adamant that I get the necessary calories. What I couldn't eat I packed with me in the cart to take on the road. After saying goodbye to Brock and Kathryn, I left with Trevar back to Brunswick where he dropped me off in the bank parking lot. Staying with the Withers definitely helped with my recovery following the monstrous run yesterday. My legs were the most sore they've been in a very long time and the run to Kent was no cakewalk at 33 miles. The day started with a long walk to the interstate crossing on the other side of town.

Pretty soon I discovered the first flat tire on the new cart. While fixing it outside of an equestrian center a friendly passer-by offered some electrical tape to help the cause. The patches didn't seem to stick very well and I decided to go for a new tube instead. About a half mile later I discovered the new tube to be completely flat and realized I forgot to take out the two quarter inch thorns that were stuck into the tire.

With the cart all fixed up I descended into Cuyahoga Valley National Park, which was quite difficult without a brake. The leaves changing colors made the park very beautiful, but it was pretty obvious that a National Park in the Cleveland metro area doesn't quite have the splendor of one out west.

After adding to the burn in my legs by climbing out of the valley I got onto a paved bike path that would take me almost all of the way to Kent. I eventually got to the suburban college town and realized I made the correct decision to take tomorrow off. I checked into the University Inn, mostly an apartment complex but with a few rooms checked out nightly. After getting cleaned up I walked around the very nice downtown area and realized I was way too tired to do anything. I went back to my room, cooked dinner on the stove and went to sleep very early.

Entrance to Cuyahoga National Park-before the descent

Day 103-Norwalk to Brunswick (42 Miles)

After eating an omelette, chocolate cream of wheat, and toast prepared by Carolyn I bid her farewell and head back to the Norwalk Wal-Mart with Don. There wasn't a cloud in the sky this morning. I was fortunate to have hosts that offered to pick me up and show me some great sites in the area I wouldn't have been able to see otherwise. I started my typical morning walk before tying the longest run of my life. It was a good thing I got started early in the morning in order to be done at a reasonable hour.

After a jaunt through town I wound back up on the North Coast Inland Trail for about six miles. When this ended, I got back onto the shoulder of Highway 20 where I had once been for about a month straight. Near the town of Wakeman I got off of 20 and proceeded down the wooded State Highway 303 which had significantly less traffic.

Major highways seemed to intersect with Highway 303 every five miles or so and proved to be my benchmarks for rest. I just kind of kept chipping away at the day without thinking about the total distance until I got into LaGrange about 30 miles in. While eating lunch at a Subway I gave Trevar Withers a call, my potential host for the night contacted by Jason, and gave him an ETA of 6 pm into Brunswick. 8:30-6 was a pretty decent workday.

After passing through Valley City, the traffic on Highway 303 picked up dramatically. There was no shoulder to speak of and my running was really limited to the breaks in traffic red lights gave me. After about a mile of sketchy running, a sidewalk appeared and took me all of the way to the main intersection of town at 5:50 where Trevar was waiting for me. We loaded the cart into Trevar's SUV and head 20 minutes south to his home.

At the Wither's home I met Trevar's wife, Kathryn, and son, Brock, who was one of three boys but the only one still at home. We enjoyed an amazing chicken dinner where I replenished all of the calories I lost today. Based on my non-scientific calculations, I probably burned about 8,000 of 'em. Ice-cream and cookies added to this count. After great conversation, I went up to bed and got one of the best nights of sleep of the trip. When Sam and I ran 42 miles from Oregon State to UO a couple of years ago, I laid pretty low for about a week. I have to run 33 miles tomorrow.

The only picture I managed to snag in the center of LaGrange

Day 102-Fremont to Norwalk (32 Miles)

I didn't eat much in the way of breakfast before checking out of the Old Orchard and walking to the start of the North Coast Inland Trail. The trail avoided the main drags of town but passed through some amazing old Catholic and Lutheran churches. I started the run hungry, but on a very nice paved bike path.

I arrived into the town of Clyde and popped off the bike path for lunch. I walked the half mile or so north to Highway 20 past the Whirlpool plant for yet another healthy McDonald's lunch. I'm bound to win something big in the Monopoly promotion going on. Walking back to the path the rains really started to pick up where they didn't let up for the rest of the day. The only positive about the situation was that I wasn't running on the side of the highway where I'd get the spray.

The trail had a little discontinuity in the town of Bellevue where I had to use country roads. When the trail resumed it was no longer paved and the crushed gravel/dirt surface led to some pretty tough pushing in the wet weather. This slowed my progress to Norwalk, but I eventually made it to the outskirts of town. I then was able to run on sidewalks to the Wal-Mart where I would meet Carolyn and Don, my generous hosts for the evening.

My phone died while waiting for them outside of the Wal-Mart, but I was able to stand out enough for them to pick me out of the lineup of Wal-Mart characters. We loaded up the cart into their dry mini-van and drove to the other side of the parking lot where we enjoyed dinner at a Chinese buffet.

Following dinner Carolyn and Don gave a little driving tour of the area on the way to their home in the town of Huron on Lake Erie. The highlight of the tour was in Milan where I saw the home where Thomas Edison was born. We got into Huron and made another stop at a beach on Lake Erie. There was a large storm over the lake that looked pretty amazing with the light of the sunset on it. Too bad my phone (camera) was dead for the show.

We arrived at their home where we relaxed for the remainder of the evening. Don was an aerospace engineer for NASA before retiring and had quite the collection of rc airplanes including a pretty large gas powered one in their other mini-van. Both Don and Carolyn offered great company and hospitality and I was glad to be spending the night in their home during a pretty severe storm.

Start of the North Coast Inland Trail

Day 101-Bowling Green to Fremont (30 Miles)

I didn't wake up in time to say goodbye to Lane and Heidi before they left for work. After getting set up for the day I locked up the house and started walking on Poe Road through the north side of town. I started the run in earnest after a good mile plus warm walk that passed the BGSU campus and crossed the interstate. It was a cool day in the mid-40s with misting rain throughout.

After a couple of winding turns to get around small rivers, I got onto the county road that would take me into the outskirts of Fremont. Near one of the several small communities along the road, I was given two homemade banana blueberry muffins by a passing motorist. The run went pretty smoothly with no nagging injuries or any other sort of hang-ups. I've got to say that Ohio drivers have actually been some of the best in the US thus far.

On the west side of Fremont, after getting onto my good ol' friend Highway 20 which I haven't seen since Iowa, I checked into the cheapest motel of the entire trip-the Old Orchard Motel. It was right across the street from the start of the bike path that would take me into Norwalk tomorrow.

After getting cleaned up and situated, I walked to the Big Boy diner a few blocks down through the start of a downpour. I was lucky I started the run an hour earlier than usual as the weather turned bad very quickly. While devouring dinner, the monsoon picked up dramatically and the first close lightning strikes since western Iowa appeared. I went back to the motel to relax and try to do some route planning without the convenience of internet.

I'm pretty popular with dairy cows

Day 100-Napoleon to Bowling Green (27 Miles)

After milking the 11 am checkout time at the the Knights Inn, I walked south into the main part of Napoleon where I stopped for a fuel at McDonalds. All of the recent trips during their Monopoly promotion finally paid off as I won a free medium fries. I crossed the beautiful county courthouse, the Maumee River, and the Campbell's Soup plant before starting the run on the east side of town.

I stayed on one long straight road through the entirety of the run into Bowling Green. County Rd. P turned into 78 before turning into Poe Rd.-typical of the roads in Indiana and Ohio as they cross township and county lines. At the west end of BG, I gave my host for the night, Lane, a call to let him know I was close. Lane would be the first person from Warm Showers that I have stayed with since Idaho. It was wonderful to get connected back to such a great network that had kind of disappeared through the rural stretches I crossed. It is apparently a pretty popular spot as the home is only 200 yards off of the Northern Tier trans-continent bike crossing.

I met Lane and his wife Heidi as they were unloading a new glass shower door after breaking their current one while cleaning it this morning. The were both avid cyclists and Lane had crossed the United States when he graduated high school back in the 80's. He is now a school teacher and Heidi a secretary for the construction management department of Bowling Green State University.

After Lane left to rehearsal for 1776, a musical where he will have the lead role as John Adams, Heidi gave me a driving tour of the town and BGSU. I had heard of the school before, but figured it to be a small school since the Falcons are in a lower conference. I quickly found out that the campus is over three times larger than Oregon State's with lots of new beautiful buildings and plenty of construction.

I got two burritos to go for dinner from the Qdoba downtown at the end of the driving tour. I spent the rest of the evening devouring these and relaxing back at their beautiful home right off of a golf course. I was fortunate to get connected to such wonderful people.

Bowling Green football stadium off of the interstate

Day 99-Edgerton to Napoleon (34 Miles)

After sleeping in a bit and packing up my cart, I bid the Hemenway family goodbye and walked back to Highway 6 in 40 degree temperatures. I would run the day in sweat pants, two jackets and a pair of gloves for the first time.

Loading up on food at the local Subway I ran into Emily and Issac one last time as they stopped in for a post pumpkin patch snack. After lunch, I left town on Highway 6 for a few miles before dipping South on county roads. Despite the cold temps, it stayed pretty dry and crisp. Wooded areas changing into their fall colors were islands in the ocean of corn and harvested bean fields.

The 34 miles seemed pretty effortless until about the last few miles and ended at the Knights Inn just North of Napoleon. I was able to catch the second half of the Oregon State win before seeking dinner in town. When I left the hotel at 7 pm it was pouring rain, dark, and freezing. There were no restaurants within a quarter mile so I just decided to bust out my stove and cook ravioli while trying to not set off the smoke detector.

Peaceful county roads

Day 98-Rest in Edgerton

I started the day with every intention of making the run to Napoleon. I woke up to close the back door as rain was pouring through the screen. I downloaded the WeatherBug app, something I hadn't needed since Nebraska, and found that there were two bursts of rain expected for the day. The first one was just starting this morning.

Today was going to be a late start waiting out the second charge which was just starting up at 11 am. In fact, I probably wouldn't be able to finish before it started getting dark out. Jared and Emily very generously offered their home to me for another day and night which I gratefully accepted. Although it was only after four days of running, I was very tired from the three pretty long days and running in the downpour didn't sound fun at all.

We enjoyed a relaxing day with a driving tour of Edgerton, lunch of Tano's Pizza, and TV. Emily got me a t-shirt, water bottle, and chocolate bar from the second best OSU (Ohio State). I went to bed quite a bit earlier after a dinner of ribs. I was lucky to have had such hospitable hosts who offered me the chance to the recuperate.

Catholic Church just down the road from the Hemenway's

Day 97-Kendallville to Edgerton, OH (25 Miles)

After a great breakfast cooked by Bill, I said goodbye to Bill and Linda and continued down the forested hilly county road through the town of Waterloo. Just east of town, right as I had to get onto the much busier Highway 6, the rains started to pick up. Luckily, the new construction of Highway 6 included a huge shoulder with a rumble strip barrier.

I stopped for a lunch break at McDonalds in Butler just a few miles from the Ohio border. I had to camp out in the restaurant to let a downpour pass. After the rains I walked through town and started running on the wide shoulder into Ohio. After the border, the shoulder shrunk to two foot wide which led to getting sprayed by passing vehicles. It only last a couple of miles as I quickly made it to Edgerton.

I crossed the railroad tracks to the south side of town where I met Jared and Emily Hemenway and their boys Isaac and Mason. The Hemenway's graciously offered the guest area in their basement for me to stay in for the night after talking to my uncle Jason. Emily was a fellow Oregonian from Newport (although sadly she's a duck fan). Following an amazing steak dinner and watching TV, including the start of the ducks loss to Arizona, I crashed in the guest room.

Three states to go!

Day 96-Milford to Kendallville (36 Miles)

I woke up to Tom dispatching his First Choice crew to a job in Nappanee. Breakfast and a driving tour of his community and the summer camp along the shores of Dewart Lake followed. We later drove north into Syracuse to scout out how I would run through town when I got there in about an hour. Tom then dropped me off at the secondhand store he picked me up at yesterday evening and I started my run. As I passed Wawasee High School and head towards downtown, I ran into him again and bid him my final goodbye. It was great to meet and spend time with Tom and Esther and they were incredibly hospitable hosts.

After sticking to county roads, I crossed US Highway 33 through the campus of West Noble High School. Google Maps told me to cross through the campus to get to more county roads. A bearded homeless man pushing his belongings in a stroller drew the attention of the campus police and the stop proved to be quite the spectical for an outdoor shop class. The pit stop was just a minor inconvenience to take a route that would save a mile, but it ended up being for not as a road that was part of my shortcut ended up being closed.

I continued north to County Road 600 that would take me straight into Kendallville. Drivers along this road were either as good as they could be (slowing down, changing lanes, and/or stopping if there is an oncoming car) or absolutely terrible (staying the course as if I wasn't even there). As the traffic picked up, I turned south onto the busier divided State Highway 3 which had about a 10-ft wide newly paved shoulder. I turned back east after a mile to Waits road where I climbed and descended the two biggest hills I've seen in Indiana before arriving at the Routsong home.

My uncle Jason had connected to Bill and Linda through church about hosting me for the evening. They were wonderful hosts and had a beautiful old home in the woods a few miles outside of town. After dinner, I went with them to meet several members of their ward at the church and took a driving tour of the town. The rest of the evening was spent relaxing with conversation and TV. The survivalist show we watched reminded me that it has been since the Mississippi River that I have spent the night outdoors. Great hosts like the Routsongs have made it possible.

Lake Syracuse

Day 95-Walkerton to Milford (37 Miles)

I woke up at 7:15 to the Martin kids getting ready for school. This was my first time waking up in the Eastern Time Zone and I wasn't ready for it. After they left for the school, I fell back asleep on the couch for a nap before starting the day. I said goodbye to Brandon, April and a fussy Lincoln before heading into the main part of town. It was awesome to meet such a great family through a chain of events that all started with striking up a conversation with someone in a Timbers jersey.

I took county roads north of Highway 6 until I passed through the town of Bremen where I dipped south of the busier highway. I continued east on County Road 1350 which went through the heart of Amish country. Cars on this road were used to dodging Amish bicycles and horse buggies so I felt pretty safe despite the slightly higher traffic. Any tourists passing through could have easily mistaken me for being Amish with my cart and beard. I have a mustache with my beard though. I was surprised to see so many Amish riding in vans. I later learned that if 95 percent of the world was Amish, the other 5 percent would be drivers.

Near the town of Milford, I gave my host for the night, Tom Henderson, a call to take him up on his offer to pick me and my cart up. Tom was another church connection from my uncle Jason who I was lucky enough to host me for the evening. He picked me up and we traveled to the larger town of Syracuse where we picked up a couple ingredients for dinner.

We later arrived to the extensively remodeled Henderson cottage a short distance away from Dewart Lake. Tom cooked a delicious soup and we were joined by his wife Esther who was just coming back from the high school girl's soccer game. After dinner and Esther went to bed, Tom and I watched TV with a fresh batch of cookies.

Those buggies are fast

Day 94-Valparaiso to Walkerton (35 Miles)

The noon checkout time for the Best Western was the latest I'd seen on the run. It gave me plenty of time to meet up with Andy, the cyclist who I had met outside of Frankfort on his ride from Iowa. He brought with him a Gazeteer for the state of Indiana which he generously donated to the cause. In return I gave him the food leftover from the Octoberfest feast my aunt Christie had left me two days previously.

I left the motel earlier than I had to in order to make a long walk through Valpo. I really enjoyed my stay here and it was a really cool town that I hope to find my way back to soon. After the walk, I got to the outskirts on the opposite side of town to start my run on county roads. The run itself seemed very long. It had been four days since I'd run more than 30 miles. An extra hour was added to the time consumed by the run as I crossed into the Eastern Time Zone.

I arrived to the Martin home at about 6:30-one of the latest finishes to a run for this entire trip. Brandon was a friend of Craig who I'd met in Valparaiso yesterday. He worked the night shift as a police officer in South Bend, home of Notre Dame, just a few miles to the north. Fortunately he had tonight off.

Brandon's wife April cooked a delicious dinner of spaghetti bake which we enjoyed together with their four kids. Once the kids had all gone to bed April, Brandon and I stayed up a bit longer in their finished basement where I showed off my terrible video game skills. Brandon had to stay up the whole night to get re-acclimated to his work schedule but I could only last to about 11:30.

Soybean Harvest

Day 93- Rest Day in Valparaiso

I started the day not intending to do very much other than veg out. I woke up to feed from the continental breakfast before starting a load of laundry that was in pretty desperate need of washing. Once this was done, I decided to take my maps and laptop with me into the main part of town to camp out somewhere and get some "work" done.

After about a mile walk into the main part of town, I struck up a conversation with someone wearing a Timbers jersey, the soccer team in my hometown of Portland. During the conversation his friend Sam walked by and invited me to come watch the Bears-Packers game just across the street. Sam was a Bear's fan, but I got to enjoy the Packers rout with his friend Craig.

After the game we went to Sam's apartment above some downtown businesses where we shot some pool. They claimed it was the coolest apartment in Valpo and, although I hadn't seen any others, I believed it. The spear that killed the world record largest hog via spear was one of the many decorations on the walls. I went to dinner at the Figure Eight Brewpub where Sam worked.

I extended the already eventful day by taking a walking tour through the beautiful campus of the university in town. I arrived back to the motel just after sunset and fell asleep to rest up for the resuming of the run tomorrow.

Valparaiso University