Day 19, Friday, May 9

Hickory Ridge Horse Camp, Hoosier National Forest, to Linton, Indiana

The goal for the day was Linton, Indiana, over 60 miles away, so we got up at 5:30 and packed up in the dark. By the time we were ready to go and had a cup of coffee, there was plenty of light.

We had failed to bring enough water to the horse camp because we thought it would be available. And even if we had known there was no water, we did not pass many places to get any. We were down to perhaps a bottle and a half, and we had no idea where we would find more. We made coffee since it is an essential, but we did not want to use water making grits or oatmeal and washing dishes afterward.

Lack of water made the morning ride rather nervewracking, but the ride on a very cool morning along remote country roads was lovely.

Seventeen miles into the ride we were supposed to make a right turn, but a man on a road crew said it was closed. We found a way around, but it cost a few extra miles and many hundreds of feet of steep climbing. 

But the man also told us that in Judah we would find all the modern amenities we desired: namely, a diner and a convenience store. So we rode on, and we did find Holts Cafe. I had a ridiculous breakfast of biscuits and gravy, eggs, sausage, and a big mound of fried potatoes. Apparently the can of cold Chef Boyardee ravioli the night before did not go very far.

We stocked up on liquids and snacks because it was still 40 miles to Linton and we did not expect to see many stores. I do not remember much of the remaining ride. It was just long stretches of rolling hills, some quite long and steep, interspersed with crossroads with a few houses and a name I will never remember.

I do remember running into a stretch of gravel just past Switz City. We have had some miserable experiences on the gravel county roads, so we backtracked and hopped onto a state road, because all the state roads are paved. They are also very busy, and miserable to bike on, but they get you where you're going, fast. In four or five miles we were at the Park Inn, the best cheap motel in America, for my money. (They really need to do something about the vending machine, though.)

We did reach a couple of milestones. Linton is the endpoint of the fourth segment of the route. These segments are completely arbitrary, generally being two to three hundred miles long,  to make the routes manageable on my phone and bicycle computer. 

But the endpoints of each segment loom large in my mind because I spent so much time working on the route. So this town I had never heard of, Linton, Indiana, is a significant milestone, at least for me. 

But we reached an even bigger milestone: somewhere on the ride we pedalled our 1000th mile. I will not say I am surprised we have traveled this far, but I definitely was not sure we would be able to.