Day 36

Dad departs

May 1st, 2010



We parted ways this morning in Bowling Green, OH. For the record, he walked 8 miles on Monday after meeting me in the afternoon, and then 23, 20, 22, and 23 miles on each of the following days. He's a tough ol' sonofabitch!

Day 36




So there's art on the sides of buildings.

Bowling Green, OH

Day 36




Something of a palimpsest




"Vote Friday on Tuesday"?
"Vote Tuesday for Friday"?
"Vote Friday, but do it on Tuesday"?
"Take Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday out of the equation, and there's a 50% chance you'll get it right"?

Day 36

Young pine cones

May 1st, 2010



They grow up so fast

Day 36

Some bigger windmills

May 1st, 2010



Ohio's first utility-scale wind farm

Day 36

Awesome mailbox #7

May 1st, 2010



Weird!

Day 36

Lake Erie buffers

May 1st, 2010



Read more about filter strips.

Day 37

Waiting for the rains

May 2nd, 2010



A nice elderly couple let me stay in their barn last night, sheltering me from the huge thunderstorm that rolled through in the wee hours of the morning.

Day 37

State pride!

May 2nd, 2010



Or, more likely, willingness to have things painted on one's barn in exchange for money.

Day 37

Rural skyscrapers

May 2nd, 2010



The largest grain elevator I've seen so far.

Day 37

Google defeated?

May 2nd, 2010



I can't find anything about this guy or his parkways. Any nerds out there up to the task?

Day 37




Napoleon, OH

Day 37




A first on this trip

Day 37

TV TIME POPCORN

May 2nd, 2010



The Google results are basically people asking "Does anyone remember TV Time Popcorn?" Well, do you?

Day 37

Draining the fields

May 2nd, 2010



where there once was a swamp.

Day 37

Awesome retaining wall

May 2nd, 2010



That must have been tiring to build.

Day 37




But I like the sign.

Day 37

A muddy creek

May 2nd, 2010



Or maybe it's part of Willy Wonka's factory.

Day 38




Last night I was on a road with no houses anywhere in sight. It had been raining on and off all day, and there were some menacing clouds in the sky, so I ducked into an old barn I saw just off the road. The people you see pictured were out riding their four-wheelers and stopped by the barn to give me a beer. Jerry, all the way on the right, also made a financial contribution, bringing the total for this trip to over $100!

Day 38

Buck Cemetery

May 3rd, 2010



Spoooooooky...

No, wait. Muuuuuuuddy. It was muddy.

Day 38




And I'm glad I finally took the time to read about them.

Day 38

This might be

May 3rd, 2010



my favorite bridge since New York

Day 38




Coming Soon: Fields of Western Ohio, Part II

Day 38




As promised.

Day 39

Yet another barn night

May 4th, 2010



I ducked inside this abandoned barn yesterday evening to escape a storm, and decided to spend the night here as the rains kept on pounding until near sunset.

Day 39




The shadows were long early this morning.

Day 39

Dear Indiana,

May 4th, 2010



HELLO I AM HERE.

Day 39




As soon as I crossed into Indiana, I spotted the first flowering dogwood of the trip.

Day 39

This poor sign

May 4th, 2010



This is the most abused sign I've seen so far.

Day 39

Hot asphalt

May 4th, 2010



You could hear the bubbles popping when a car drove over them.




by Kar's Nuts

Day 39

ICE CREAM FOOD?!

May 4th, 2010



That's my favorite type of food!




But I don't think I like it.

Day 39

US 6

May 4th, 2010



Once the longest highway in the country, a title now held by US 20, which my dad and I were on just before we got to 6.

Day 39

A hip church

May 4th, 2010



They even have their sign irreverently off center on the pole

Day 39

A truck

May 4th, 2010



riding the rails

Day 39

Pink honeysuckle?

May 4th, 2010



I've never seen this before.

Day 39

The ghost of a postman

May 4th, 2010



This morning a very nice postman named Todd stopped to talk, and he gave me the banana out of his lunchbox. His professional eye noticed the tip of an envelope sticking out of my shirt pocket (Mother's Day is coming up!), and he offered to mail it for me. I tried to take his picture, but my phone didn't store it. Sorry Todd!

Day 39




Chapter 7!

Day 39

Awesome mailbox #8

May 4th, 2010



A good solution to the snowplow problem

Day 40

Greg and Matthew

May 5th, 2010



Matthew just might be the nicest high school freshman on the planet. After Greg said I could camp out on their lawn, Matthew asked if I wanted him to go fetch my cart, which I had left down at the end of the driveway. And later, when I was setting up my tent, he came over to see if I wanted him to make me some chicken nuggets. I certainly wasn't that thoughtful when I was his age! The three of us sat and talked for a while as I was eating, and there was a wonderful positivity and peacefulness to these guys. Plus they had really good-smelling soap in the shower (I'm clean, Mom!).

Day 40

My theory

May 5th, 2010



A really big, burly guy and his feeble old father spend quality time together shooting baskets next to each other.

Day 40

Peeking out of the top

May 5th, 2010



The vine you see grew up the inside of the sign post!

Day 40




She'd also make an excellent dog boarder or bag porter.

Day 40

A bounty of generosity

May 5th, 2010



Doris (pictured with Baxter) was standing at her mailbox when I came wheeling by. I told her I was walking to Oregon, and she told me I better come in and rest up while she made me some food. She whipped up a nice big lunch and packed me some snacks for the road. She wanted to make sure I had everything I needed; I think she would have given me anything in her entire house if she thought it would help me.

Not too far down the road, another woman came out and asked me if she could feed me a hot meal. My stomach was full and I was anxious to make some progress, so I had to tell her no thanks. I felt kind of bad about it: I could see she really wanted to help me. Who would have thought I would find too much kindness to fit in my schedule?

Day 40




Never seen one like this before!

Day 40

How does it know?

May 5th, 2010



It must have a gyroscope inside or something.

Day 40




Baby T. rex?

Day 40

An Indiana swamp

May 6th, 2010



Mallard Roost Wetland Conservation Area