Day 22: Chesterton-Fort Wayne

When we got up this morning Machiel reported that besides mice and squirrels we have some new thieves. Raccoons. A night the tried to crawl into his tent to search for food. He chased them away and also tried to chase the rest of the little thieves who were stealing our bread et cetera away. But they are pretty stubborn. When I stood like a meter away and stamped his feet and yelled, he just sat there, looked at hem like: "yeah, what do you want?". The also got away with a number of Clif Bars.

I cycled with Greg all day and at a certain moment a little dog came running of the yard and started chasing us for some 100 meters. In the beginning of the day it seemed like we were going to take back roads all day, but at a certain moment we got a two kilometer stretch with only gravel. Jorg, with his Evo-R was wondering if he should ride across and finally went through full speed. Not very comfortable because he had almost no suspension. Mine was okay, but not great. It wasn't the last stretch of gravel.

In Nappanee we stopped at a coffee house for lunch and were filmed three times just before we arrived there. Actually we were excepted at the Amish Acre but we drove on downtown because we didn't see any velomobiles there. Apparently we were the first of the group, At the coffee house the food was good and they had WiFi. When we left a police care was flashing his lights and I though I was screwed again. But he only blocked the intersection for a wide load. They were transporting a large wind mill (in parts) and the bottom section was enormous. Another thing to know is that Nappanee has the highest number of cyclist per resident. This is because the Amish all drive a bike. But that's not the only mode of transportation, the also go on the road with their horses and carriages (with official reflector) on the shoulder.

Sometimes cars behind you have to wait until it's clear to overtake. Most drivers manage to do so and wait until it's safe, but today there was a black pick-up truck for who'm it took to look. As a sign of appreciation he hit the throttle when passing us and it produced a big black cloud of diesel smoke. I couldn't see where I was going. I've got it all on video, but cannot make out the license plate because of the smoke.

Some 25 kilometer before reaching the camp ground Greg and I went to McDonalds for a milkshake with whipped cream and a cherry, that's all it takes to go for it. Some people had another treat, the were escorted into Fort Wayne by two police cars who guided them through the city to their destination. Once we were there a there were some other people who were interested in our bikes. One guy from the local television station was interviewing riders and me to. I gave him my business card and he would send a email when the video is online Also Patrick came to me and handed me 20 dollars. He received it from someone (called Don Patrick) who heard I was riding for Villa Joep (against Neuroblastoma children's cancer).

We entered a new time zone for the last time. That means we have to go to bed earlier and also get up a hour earlier. Yawn...

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