Four Bike Paths and a Fiasco

Marion to Rochester, Indiana Thursday, May 13, 2021

Instead of Four Weddings and a Funeral, get it?

Today started out so great. It’s the first really nice day I’ve had in weeks, sunny, light wind, almost 70, I could wear my shorts and sandals. Today I was treated to not one but four different bike paths: the final segment of my beloved Cardinal Greenway; the Sweetser Switch Trail, with more elaborate signage;

the Converse Junction Trail that led to the little town of Converse, where I had a root beer float; and the last 15 miles were on the Nickel Plate Trail. Jane dismisses trails like these as “boring green tunnels” but I was enchanted. Along the way I chatted with many cyclists—Mike who bikes 2300 miles per year, Brad who ran nine Boston marathons, and after the final one in 1999 he biked from San Diego to Saint Augustine Florida, and finally Ben and his wife, the first long-distance bike tourists I’ve met who were going my way. Ben is originally from Namibia, but recently retired as a civil engineer after living in Annandale, Virginia for 19 years, they started at Rehoboth Beach, Delaware and are aiming for the Olympic Peninsula, following rail trails. Our paths will hopefully coincide for a few miles, they are making about the same distance per day as I am. They have already camped a few times, at non-official places. Appealing, and cheap, but I have to have a shower every night.

Once again, there was a 20 mile hiatus, but much less rough than yesterday and wind was less of a factor. For a while I was following the Mississinewa River,

leading to the town of Peru, which had the interesting Miami County Court House.

I had a lovely moment with Jane at 4:30 PM. That was the moment that she retired, her last day on the job as a nurse practitioner at Saint Michaels College student health. The end of a 43 year career in nursing. A momentous moment, I was joking that she turn off the lights before she left the room, just like that final episode of Mary Tyler Moore, which I had watched in her honor on YouTube this morning. She thought it was schmaltzy and dumb, but she did it, and sent me the video, which I watched while still pedaling on that last bike path. I was beaming for miles. She’s gonna make it after all.

So everything was great until I got to the motel, a Super 8 in Rochester. I’d seen some mixed reviews, so I wanted to look at the room before committing. It was OK, and I could get the best rate on Priceline; but this time the motel clerk, Joanne, wasn’t able to see the authorization, which usually comes through in seconds. Long story short, I wasn’t able to get into my room for an hour and a half. Thankfully, I wasn’t too chilled or exhausted, was able to eat my sub in the lobby; but the inconvenience was massive, and repeated phone calls to Priceline customer service requesting compensation only yielded a 5% discount on my next booking, an insult. I’ll have to decide if I’ll use Priceline again.

Still, the only stain on an otherwise delightful day.

Distance 57.9 miles, 1,208 total. Time 7 1/2 hours with stops. Elevation gain 738 feet.