June 14, 2925
8:45 AM
Blaine, made a nice scrambled egg breakfast. He will be riding into town for a group ride from the bike shop, he invites me to join them to where my route splits from theirs. OneLove Cafe and Bikes serves a great Turkish coffee.
12:01 PM
I am now at the Hoover Dam in Columbus, Ohio, and I’m gonna take a few minutes here and just look around and then continue on.
2:00 PM
I’ve made my way to the northwestern end of Columbus. Now I’m riding the Olentangy Trail heading south along the River. I don’t have a Warmshowers here so I stop to find a hotel for the night, camping is not an option. This is where it gets interesting and why Nancy says that I am the luckiest person in the world. As I am studying Google to find an affordable hotel close to my route a runner, Matthew, comes up from behind. He stops and asks where I started and where I am headed. This starts a lengthy conversation. He is finishing up a marathon run and has run twenty-five miles so far and lives four miles away. I ask if he knows of a good place to stay the night. He calls his wife. He said, I wish you could camp out in our yard but his wife has made plans to celebrate Fathers Day. But, he then called his best friend who lives just two miles off my route and arranged for me to camp in his backyard. Yay!
2:30 PM
I am now at his friend’s house setting up my tent under the shade of his small trees. Matthew comes by to let me into the house before I walk the few blocks to visit the local bike shop. Then I stop at Ritz Burgers and bring back a burger, fries, and strawberry milkshake. They make their own ice cream. Score!
I’m waiting for Chris, Matthew’s friend, to finish up his day and come home. I will be resting until tomorrow morning, well, a bit more conversation might be involved also.