* Montpelier, OH to Elkhart, IN
We've crossed the 800 mile threshhold and made it to another state all in one day. Our last little stretch of Ohio was met with our first real dog chase. Dogs have a stange desire to attack bicyclist like we were stealing their favorite chew toy. I was the first to come across a house with two dogs that made a run for me. They didn't look that scary, but I was more worried about running them over and hurting the both of us. I have pepper spray just incase, but in this instance I put all my energy into going as fast as possible and I was able to drop them. At the next meet up point I asked Julie and Armin if they were also attacked. Both of them were and ended up stopping and starting again while the dogs barked nearby. Armin's plan has been to pull a knife out, but in the heat of the moment, he didn't remember to grab for it. If he comes acros Cujo, he's a dead man. Right before the border a little ankle biter also attacked. He wasn't scary at all, but sure could run fast.
One of the amazing things about today is Armin's bike being able to ride 80 miles. He didn't break one or two spokes yesterday, but four! And at some point today a fifth spoke broke. We passed one bike shop, but being Sunday it was of course closed. The town we are staying in has a shop, so we should be able to get Armin fixed up in the morning. My biggest bike problem of the day was getting my first flat tire on my bike. Seems like nothing compared to riding 80 miles with 5 missing spokes.
One of the funniest things of the day has to be our hosts for the night Sandy and Tom. Sandy is Julie's Mom's second cousin, I think. The first thing is they insisted on meeting us at a major intersection and having us follow them for 10 miles back to the house. So, there we were, a minivan and 3 bikes going 10 to 15 mph down the road. And Tom is quite the character. He has about 8 different things strapped to his belt. This includes a cell phone, 30 keys, flashlight, knife, and a big belt buckle that says, "4WD". In his snap button up shirt pocket he has 10 pens and pencils, another flashlight, and a small notebook of paper. In the other pocket he keeps his cigar. Near as I can tell he doesn't actually smoke them, just chews on the end. He is of course the type who tells interesting (??) stories about breaking in cows, watering trees at his job, and not really caring to leave the county he's always lived in. He said he's been to Chicago once, didn't lose anything, doesn't see any reason to go back. Quite the character Tom is. It was very nice of them to let us stay, even bought us pizza. Don't worry Ms. Yacso, you still hold the hosting title, we are sleeping in the back yard tonight.
Tomorrow we are hoping to make it to the Indiana sand dunes, via South Bend to see the Notre Dame campus.
