Day 7 - to Logansport, IN
Hellos and Goodbyes
In the aftermath of broken spokes from a wheel just not up to the purpose, as said before Jeffrey from Louisville drove me up and left me at my Sister-in-law’s house in Fishers, just outside of Indianapolis.
Her house had always been a planned waypoint along the trek north, allowing for rest and reassessment. I just hadn’t intended for it it look like this. My target date for a arrival was June 11th, her birthday on the 12th, and the same day my Wife and kids were to arrive from NC to see both of us.
This allowed them to bring up my old 4in wheels, which Jeffrey suggested reverting back to. This would require swapping out the new front fork and wheels, and then putting in the old wheels, changing the tires from knobby to smooth, and doing some other upgrades like a more robust chain and some armored inserts in the tires.
I opted to switch the tires out for whitewalled smooth, because if I’m going to look ridiculous, why not lean into it? Also it would give a surface for people I meet along the way to sharpie their name or a drawing onto them. My hope is that quickly they will fill up with doodles and names.
After a few days spent with my family it was time to leave. So Friday June 13th, my wife Rebekah drove me up the road a bit to Sherridan IN to help get me out of the suburban sprawl that is Indianapolis Metro.
She and I both held back tears while I set up the trailer and loaded it. We embraced and said our goodbyes and I set off. I didn’t look back because I couldn’t.
After about 2 miles it all hit me at once and I had a good cry before moving on.
Sixty Wet Miles:
It wasn’t long after that the sky opened up and started a constant, light to medium rain. The temperature was generally pretty good, so what do you do when you have to make miles? You bike in the rain.
I didn’t bother with rain gear as it wasn’t cold, and I was going to get soaked either way. My main concern was how the bike would handle this steady rain. I had already noted some corrosion from driving it in the rain prior which I’ll likely need to brush away and potentially seal up with dielectric grease.
After a few miles I turned onto a crushed gravel road, which I initially thought might be an issue, but with the 4in tires there was no real problems either with grip or vibration. The latter had been an issue when I had to use crushed gravel pathways in Kansas in 2011 which practically rattled by bones out of my body.
After a few miles this eventually gave way to asphalt and pretty much stayed asphalt throughout the day.
This area of Indiana isn’t desolate, rather it’s diffuse. There are absolutely people about doing things and I saw many cars, tractors, and trucks out doing things, but everything is spaced out on the order of miles. Homes, farms and outbuildings all spaced out by large fields growing corn, soy, and wheat to a lesser extent.
Trees are sparse, not even really making windbreaks. Occasonal cospes of trees can be seen far off, but mostly it only small stands or individual trees surrounded by these massive croplands.
Occasionally I would encounter a grouping of houses or a small township that would breeze by without much effort.
At around 2pm I was in dire need of a rest, and my bike’s charge was getting low. I spotted a church which had an attached pavillion. So I pulled in to investigate and see if I could spot any outlets. I found one and plugged the bike in and resolved to stay in place until I could gain some charge.
This stay was extended by a passing cell of heavy rain that I felt would be better to allow to pass. Weather reports said 4:10 and so I waited. This at least allowed my charge to come up to around 70% and I could have confidence I’d make it to my destination, Logansport about 24 miles up the road.
Getting to Logansport wasn’t terribly difficult, and I passed through some slightly more varied terrain as I got closer to the river between the arms of which it is situated.
Upon entering Logansport proper I got a “Battery Error 4” on my display. When I looked this up this indicated that the throttle might be stuck in an on state. I removed the throttle from my ebike so I checked the dead end. Nothing of note. Turned the bike off and removed and replaced the battery. Noting a rather large gap that went directly into the area where the controller was I turned the bike on its side and watched as water poured out from some hole. Not a huge amount but some.
Upon reinstalling the battery and turning the bike on the error was gone.
Because neither I or Beka could find any other lodging I found a seedy motel and stayed the night there. Screaming children, banging on the walls, open talk of some woman ODing the night before from the local man to whom the concept of an inside voice had likely never occurred… all facets of the ritz of Logansport.
I can’t say much else about the city as it looked pretty seedy on the main drag. There were some old victorian structures, but everything had a broken down or empty feel to it, as if it were a ghost of its once former self.
When I began to unpack my things in the room I noted that one entire bags worth of clothes were sopping wet from rain. I couldn’t figure out how because the bag was closed and in the trailer. Then I saw that the front pocket attachment of the bag had adhesive that had given up the ghost and now there was a huge hole in the side of the bag. One I intend to mend with something like gorilla glue.
I’ll work on getting Day 8 up today as well as I’m already a day behind. But I’m dog tired.