Hoosiers and zeros

Greenville, Ohio to Muncie, Indiana. Monday and Tuesday, May 10-11, 2021

My clothes dried out but not the cell phone, still couldn’t get it to work properly. Stopped by the Verizon office in Greenville, and Gina was very helpful, saying I had insurance protection and could get a new iPhone delivered, possibly the same day, once I arrived in Muncie. She pooh-poohed the idea of the rice, said better to ride with it all day in the sun and wind. I even turned it around on the handlebars, so the air could enter the charger and speaker holes at the bottom.

Navigating with the AirPods alone, from my iPad tucked in my rear panniers as I mentioned yesterday, was trickier. With audio but no video guidance I wouldn’t be able to handle a lot of backroad turns. So I elected to keep to larger highways, which was OK, the shoulders were narrow but smooth, though the rumble strips did not leave much margin for error. Stopped in Palestine for a snack, and talked to Austin, who said he used to drive by the sign pointing to the Indiana highpoint, but it never occurred to him to go over there.

The road got a bit rougher as I crossed into Indiana, the state line sign celebrated the state as the birthplace of Benjamin Harrison. One of our more obscure presidents, he is notable mainly for being the grandson of Tippecanoe, and the prez who served between the two terms of Grover Cleveland.

People have been joking about the Indiana highpoint for years, dismissing it as a “hump in a cornfield” and even less of an eminence than Campbell Hill. Always drawn to the underdog, I was determined to paint it in the best possible light. I took multiple pictures as I approached, but using my weakened iPhone.

Abruptly, next to a clump of trees, the navigator announced that I had arrived. There was just a short gravel driveway, the sign had been stolen off the bare signpost, but I knew to look for a thin path leading into the woods about 30 feet, and there was a small clearing that had been set up as an Eagle Scout project. Hoosier Hill consisted of a nicely engraved rock, a picnic table, a decorated mailbox containing the register, a fire ring, and one of those Highpointers Foundation benches. Quite sweet, really. A car pulled up to the driveway, and a guy got out and walked around his car taking pictures. I waited for him to come into the clearing so we could chat, but he abruptly drove away. I guess he was only following his GPS, didn’t know about the little “shrine” within. He didn’t even “bag” the highpoint, which was about three feet higher than the road. I scattered Dad’s ashes, left a link to my blog in the register, and departed feeling quite pleased.

As of this posting, I still can’t get my soggy iPhone to pass on the pictures I took. In the mailbox there were postcards about the highpoint, so I will photograph these and post them here, as a placeholder. If ever I get my original pictures, I will come back and replace them.

I still had 40 miles to go at 3PM, but most of that was on the delightful Cardinal Greenway, one of the smoothest and best graded rail trails I have seen. Even with a slight headwind, the miles just flew by. No need to worry about traffic, or dogs, or missing turns, nothing to do but enjoy the views of the pastoral farmland. I was tickled to find a sign indicating I was on the American Discovery Trail, that goes coast-to-coast and was scouted by my friend Eric and his wife Ellen. To me, it felt like hallowed ground.

It was almost 8 when I arrived in Muncie. Never been here before, but it has such a cute name, and some fun cultural connections. Ball State University is David Letterman’s alma mater. The beloved Bob Ross, the PBS painter, filmed his show here, and there’s a museum called The Bob Ross Experience. Muncie was the setting for the opening of my favorite space flick, Close Encounters of the Third Kind. I remember it came out right after the original Star Wars, and I much preferred it.

A nice Mexican meal, and I was sawing logs at the Holiday Inn by eleven. Morning, though brought bad news: the phone was still not working properly, despite ample time to dry out. I had to wait till 10 to call Verizon, but because of my insurance they were able to get a new phone delivered here by 6 PM. So, another zero day.

Too bad, it was sunny out, but only 50 and still with a moderate northwest wind. I never left the hotel. I swam, did laundry, bike repair (broken tension bolt for my Brooks saddle, I had brought two spares), made phone calls on the hotel phone, and used the fitness center, where I was thrilled to see I had lost 24 pounds already. Still could stand to lose a lot more. The Verizon guy, Angel, arrived on schedule with my new phone, but because the old one could not connect to Wi-Fi and kept resetting itself, I couldn’t transfer my photos, music, apps, data and contacts to the new one. I was on the phone or texting with Verizon customer service for hours, unable to connect to the iCloud to restore my last backup, and Apple Support won’t open until 11AM tomorrow.

How frustrating, to be sidelined by something so mundane. If I’d just stayed at that first pricier hotel Sunday night, not gone out again in the rain, none of this phone hassle would have happened. Penny wise and pound foolish. Live and learn.

Distance 63.4 miles, 1,115 total. Time 8 hours with stops. Elevation gain 1,324 feet.