Covid Cross Day #13 Losantville, IN to Courter, IN
Covid Cross Day #13
June 14, 2020
Losantville, IN to Courter, IN 94 Miles
Start 7:49 AM Finish 9:18 PM
Ride Time 8:35
Ascent 426 Feet
Descent 894 Feet
Tour Total 1130 Miles
Details at: https://cyclemeter.com/3f1ef27914a4c684/Cycle-20200614-0749-00606I slept great last night stealth camping at the Cardinal Greenway Trailhead outside of Losantville. The air was cool and perfect for sleeping. I slept snug in my sleeping bag and silk liner. I got up at 7 AM. It was a slow pack up, and it felt civilized to have a bench, a drinking fountain, and a porta-potty. The air was brisk so I wore my sweater and rain jacket to start. It was partly cloudy with a strong bright sun still low on the horizon.
I spotted the morning's first cyclist followed by a runner at a quarter after eight. I then began seeing more runners and cyclists. It was a nice Sunday morning. I've seen so many bunnies zigzagging on and off the road this year. I was headed in a northerly direction on the rail-trail. It was shady under the tree canopy and the sun shone brightly from my right. I passed a cyclist on a recumbent at an intersection. He asked me how far I was going. When I replied, "Oregon", he responded, "Oh my!", and chuckled. I was passed by an oncoming pack of five cyclists all clad in yellow.
After fifteen miles I arrived on the outskirts of Muncie, population 70,000. I was hungry and ready for breakfast. There were workout stations along the trail that focused on strengthening exercises for different parts of the body. The trail primarily ran through woods and city parks, and was away from the business district and services. I hadn't seen any food options and was already headed on my way out of town when I did a Google search for food. Many restaurants were closed, but I found a place called Richard’s that was listed as open. I left the trail for sprawl and busy roads and rode to Richard's. As I approached I could see that the parking lot was empty. Richard's was closed and Google was wrong. At this point, a gas station breakfast would have to suffice.
I pedaled a few blocks to a Speedway where I purchased two Starbucks Frappuccino‘s and a pack of Speedy Choice Donut Mini's. The donuts weren’t very good and it later occurred to me that I should have been eating Herbie's brownies. I was sitting out on the curb and a guy driving a pick up truck wanted to talk to me. He liked to ride motorcycles and was curious about my trip. He told me a story about being on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia and meeting a long distance touring cyclist, such as myself, holed up in a shelter during a rain storm. The man told me that he could never do what I was doing. "I gotta have my throttle", he said.
I removed my rain jacket before I departed. I'd have to find a decent breakfast elsewhere. The only problem with this greenway was that there were no food services along it. I got back on the trail going the wrong direction and didn’t realize it until I came to the bridge I had crossed coming into town. I turned around and backtracked. I had cycled twenty five miles by 11 AM, and the trees along the greenway were still shielding me from the bright sun. There was considerably more cycling traffic out on the Greenway. I saw a large object ahead, out in the middle of the trail and slowed down. There was a pushcart and a man who was standing behind it. I also saw a lawn chair and a bicycle. It made no sense and I was about to double back to talk to the man and then reconsidered. There were some strange characters out here.
I spotted the blue water tower while riding in to Gaston, population 871, where I was hoping to finally find breakfast. The route took me off the Greenway and into town. Flags were mounted to every telephone pole and people were out mowing their lawns. I literally began to salivate as I pulled into the Mill Street Inn parking lot. There were no warning signs on the door and nobody was wearing masks. I sat in a booth by the window and ordered a ham and cheese omelette with toast, orange juice, and coffee. My server seemed cranky with the predominately elderly clientele demanding coffee refills. The wood panel walls were decorated with old large saw blades and a photo of the Gaston High School class of 1962.
When I left, I removed my sweater and put on sunscreen. On my way out of town I noticed that the fire department had also used a giant circular saw blade as their motif. I realized a few blocks out of town that I had forgotten to turn on Cyclemeter. I was now on Highway 600 W. There was a gap in the Greenway and I had to take roads to Jonesboro. I passed fields of soybean and corn, which was at waist height.
I rode 600 W to Matthews and then took Wheeling Pike over to Jonesboro. A little bit of motorized traffic plied the two lane roads. There was a strong crosswind that I was glad I wasn’t pedaling into. I got back on the Cardinal Greenway in Jonesboro. There were many other cyclists out on the trail, and it was nice to be out of the sun. A gentleman was standing in the middle of the path with a large German Shepherd and he asked me where I was going. When I replied, "Oregon", he told me to be safe. I was passed by a day cyclist, and a tricycle recumbent coming in the opposite direction. I circled around the side of Marion and never saw the town center.
The trail left the railroad grade because there was an active track in the right of way. I found myself on fresh laid asphalt on the edge of corn and soybean fields, and back in direct sunlight. The railroad track was to my right, and there were no fences. I eventually found myself on the Sweetser Switch Trail.
I rode over a newly constructed covered bridge with picnic tables that wasn’t photo or stop worthy. I was once again surrounded by trees. I pedaled through the small town of Sweetser and would have stopped had there been a trail-side establishment serving beer. The Sweetser Switch Trail had old-fashioned railroad X style signs with Sweetser on one board and Switch Trail on the other. The trail ended with a railroad themed arch with various antique paraphernalia. The Converse Junction Trail immediately began, which would take me into Converse.
I rode past a large cemetery and there were still no fences. I stopped at the Blue Room in Converse where I ordered a Dos Equis. I'm terrified by the beer options whenever I enter a bar in the midwest. The list always begins with Bud, Bud Light, Coors, and I cut to the chase. Cigarette smoking in bars was still legal in Indiana, cough cough.
The rail-trail ended in Converse. The hundreds of miles of fantastic greenway that I had been enjoying the past several days were sadly now behind me. I found myself on a two-lane road with sparse yet fast moving motorized traffic. The country roads were perfectly straight with yellow lines in the center of the road but no white lines on the edge. Cornfields were on one side of the road and grass on the other. There were no fences.
There was a strong crosswind from the east pushing against me and driving me crazy. I took a left on what I thought was Old Slocum Trail heading west, and the wind situation became better. I had actually overshot Old Slocum Trail and was on another road. I figured it all out and got back on route. Old Slocum Trail was a road and it had some tree cover. I cycled around the perimeter of Red Bridge State Recreation Area, Miami State Recreation Area, and Mississinewa Lake. I rode around the edge of the parks, campground, lake, dam, marina and never saw any of it. I only saw the signs.
Finally I crossed over the muddy Mississinewa River. There were pick-up trucks parked on the bridge and dudes fishing. An interesting landmark had been indicated on my maps and I went off route to explore. The International Circus Hall of Fame was located just outside of Peru. My friend and neighbor Keith Nelson is in the circus business, and I thought that it would be worth a visit. Long story short it was closed, but I got to see an aerialist set-up and a couple of original circus train cars. I crossed back over the brown Mississinewa river and headed toward Peru where I would be finishing the Indianapolis cut-off section of the ACA Chicago to New York route. I entered Peru, population 1417.
The further west I went, the larger the farms became. The rolling farms in Pennsylvania were comparatively small. They got bigger in Ohio, and then in Indiana became even larger. I've seen some stately old homes and handsome sturdy barns. There was a more prosperous feeling here than what I saw back east. I was hungry and knew that Peru was my last food service option for the day. I stopped at Smitty McMusselman's but they were closed on Sundays. I consulted Google maps and the food options were bleak. I crossed the river into town and found Dillingers, which had not been listed on Google maps. I ordered a bacon cheeseburger, breaded jalapeño peppers, and numerous bottles of Stella.
Before leaving I picked up a six-pack of Stella for carry out. I headed northwest out of town but had to wait for two different freight trains to pass the crossing. There were double-stacked containers which seemed too tall to make it through the underpasses. Active freight train crossings were exhilarating from a bike perspective. I pedaled through Peru on the northwest side of town. I was back on small country roads riding through cornfields. The sun was low on the horizon and it was getting cool. I zigzagged around and got on the Nickel Plate Trail, which was essentially another rail trail. I had ridden on it briefly last summer and didn’t remember it. I began looking for stealth camping options. I passed two day cyclists going to other direction. "Where are you from?", shouted one. "New York City", I replied. "Wow!", I heard.
I spotted a crossing with green grass and a trailside bench donated by the Miami County Community Foundation. I liked to sleep on grass and edit my blog from a bench. It was a perfect site. A family of raccoons crossed the trail right as I arrived. I set up camp and it got dark quickly. I was now a stone's throw from the Northern Tier route from last summer and I knew a great place to stay tomorrow night.
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