Special Report: GOBA 2022 Day 3 Sidney to Wapakoneta, Ohio
Monday, June 20, 2022, Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure
Good morning, GOBA campers! Rise and shine! We got a great day planned on the route for you. Cool cloudy start, turning sunny and hot with heavy headwinds from the west to sting your face and slow you down. Oh Boy!
It's a mandatory ride and your choices for today are either a short 41.8-mile ride or the 55.3-long ride.
Well, no need to guess. Bring on the long ride! But first…
Get those tents down and packed away. Grab your 2 allowed bags and carry them, roll them, or drag them to the tractor-trailer semi and walk them up the stairs and all the way to the front of the trailer. Pack them high, lots of bags behind you on their way.
Get those water bottles filled and fill an extra bottle, there is a lot of heat that will zap all the moisture from your body. Slather on the sunscreen lotion to all your exposed skin, the sun will show you no mercy today. Protect those eyes with a good pair of UV-protected sunglasses. Bike shoes and gloves on. Let’s ride!
Sunscreen? I don't need no sunscreen!
First stop, Port Jefferson’s Hussey Restaurant for water and snacks. That was easy 9 miles out. I tied up with Suzi Humble and Joshlyn Davies at this time. The lunch stop at Jackson Center will take the riders by the Airstream RV manufacturer for a tour and you will miss it if you blink, I blinked and missed it. Prepared box lunches were available for purchase . Then for those taking the long route a view from a parking lot at Indian Lake. I had been there camping at the Indian Lake State Park Campground just a few weeks earlier and the lake is in a much worse and sad state of affairs with weeds chocking the surface as far as the eye can see. Restaurants were available at Lakeside but with 20 miles to go, we felt it better to get done as we had tents to put up in this heat.
St Johns Fire Station was the last planned stop only had portable toilets and water. The suffering has been ongoing for some time now. We all felt the sunbaked and worn out. Suzi wore her jacket which protected her from the sun but was also becoming a sauna suit. It took some effort to get it off but she felt a little better but still struggling with the headwinds. Joshlyn was ahead of us most of the time. Pushing on, undaunted.
An unplanned but most welcomed water and ice stop occurred near the end at a local house on the route. The kids were having a good time helping out us hapless travelers.
The end couldn’t have come any sooner. We all felt elated and relieved at the sight of the gates to the Auglaize County Fairgrounds in Wapakoneta and our bags were ready for us to find, pick up and carry, drag or roll them to a shady spot which to our surprise there weren’t any. Trees for shade are at a premium and taken by first riders to arrive. We weren't the first but we weren't the last. Many bags remained on the ground for the owners to identify and claim as their own. Then to carry, drag, or roll them to a clearing in field. But this turns out to be a designated campground for RV trailers or tents with water spigots and 30amp power outlets with the campsite numbers on them. Grassy area and our tent stakes were much easier to push into the softer ground.
With the last ounce of strength the ladies were able to get their tent up and I got mine up in the middle of the heat wave.
I was not far behind them.
The only respite was the Jr Fair building with air conditioning. Fortunately, they had the chicken dinner there as well. A huge portion at that. I received a text from a Buckeye Trail member to support this dinner as proceeds were used to improve the BT as well as the North Country Trail. Enough said; let's eat!
The BBQ chicken became quite popular as they needed more tables to be set up.
I ran into the GOBA photographer Ron and his daughter Robin visiting from South Carolina.
Then this masked man spots me and recognized me from the Buckeye Trail Trailfest I attended in the spring of 2019 at the Widewater Retreat Center on the Maumee River. And I forgot to ask his name. Silly me.
I spent the rest of the evening trying to get caught up on my reporting with bad cell service for my phone using it as a hot spot tethered to my laptop. And on top of that …
The sun didn't show me any mercy and fried my arms medium rare. Tomorrow I will wear my cycling sleeves. Now where did I put that battery powered tent fan… there it is. Clip it above me in the tent and now I can get some relief.
Tomorrow an optional ride to New Bremen and back. Still got some life in these legs. So, good nite till tomorrow.