Day 14, Sunday, May 4

I had probably the second best sleep of the trip, though 6:00 AM came too soon. John, on the other hand, spent the night thinking the sounds the AC made was rain beating against the window. But we arose to a better forecast, the chance of rain throughout the morning reduced to 20%.

The complimentary breakfast in the hotel was adequate, and we paid our seven mile penalty for going off route and got back onto the Prairie Grass Trail in London. 

The rain never materialized, and we just rolled and rolled and rolled. It was a cold morning, in the 40s, but we were both feeling good about the day. We had a Warm Showers host lined up in Pleasant Valley 45 miles away, close to the trail, and we were confident there would be no repeat of yesterday's deluge.

The only complaint was that the monotony of the trail. There were nine miles to South Charleston without a hint of a curve, and another thirteen to Xenia that were just as straight. Just past South Charleston the tedium was disrupted by a gang of cyclists headed in the opposite direction. Almost all were old geezers like ourselves, and many had the same bright yellow rain jacket. A few were on recumbents with whirligigs flying on their rigs. I'm pretty sure it was a supported tour, and I spent the next mile or two contemplating what it would be like to have someone else carrying all my stuff from stop to stop.

Just outside Xenia we came across quite the structure. It appeared to be a derelict factory of some sort, but was adorned with statues and a gargoyle. The whole thing was fenced off. We have seen plenty of abandoned buildings along the way but none quite like this.

There was a light misty rain as we pedalled through Xenia but it soon abated and we knocked out the seven miles to Pleasant Valley with lunch in our future. We had it at Slims Neighborhood Bar & Grill where I had my second salad in two days, my body apparently craving something besides Clif Bars and hamburgers. 

Then we headed two miles out of town to find our host for the night, Trevor Gay, who lives at Wild Again Animal Rescue. Our stay there was a highlight of the trip, and made every waterlogged mile of the day before seem a distant dream.

Trevor lives on the farm with his wife, Mary, a veterinarian, and his parents live in another home on the property. They have all sorts of rescues with interesting stories: pigs, goats, geese, horses, rabbits, peafowl, an alpaca, a cockatoo. Of course, my favorites were the cats, especially Morel.

Trevor let us set up in a room in the barn where he works on his many bikes and does some of the video work that is his main job. We just relaxed most of the afternoon outside the barn, chatting with our hosts about the animals and, in Trevor's case, his bicycle adventures. He has completed the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route once, and rode the southern hal through Colorado and New Mexico another time.

The whole day was just about perfect. It's shows you never really know what's going to happen on this trip. One day is a miserable slog, the next is a great ride filled with interesting people. I hope there are more of the latter.