And for most of the morning we saw almost no other people or vehicles, despite the fact that the landscape is steadily becoming more suburban and less agricultural. Perhaps everyone was sleeping in on Sunday morning, and those who weren't were in church. We pretty much had the roads to ourselves, at least until we hit Defiance (about 40 miles in).
I need to digress however and talk about last night, which we spent in special "cyclists only" housing (of sorts) in Monroeville, IN. Monroeville happens to be on the route of two of the major Adventure Cycling Association (ACA) routes - the east-west "Northern Tier" route that we are currently following and a north-south "North Lakes" route. So Monroeville sees a fair number of long-distance cyclists during the peak riding period of May through September each year. The town has a population of less than 1,300 people but has become a model of how cities can encourage and support bicycle travel. There are no motels or campgrounds on the ACA route within at least 25 miles of Monroeville. So when Monroeville built a community center a few years ago at the town park/ball fields, they also designed it to accommodate cyclists using the ACA routes. Cyclists can put bikes and other stuff inside for the night, take a shower* and use the washer/dryer and sleep inside (on the floor in your sleeping bag) all for free. There is no reason other towns can't do the same thing, which would help remove a major impediment to travel by bicycle - lack of places to stay in remote areas.
*We arrived yesterday afternoon and, per the sign on the door, called a local member of the community board (Warren) to let us in. He did that and then went off to find another guy on a bike trip from Michigan who had called about staying the night as well. Warren, who turned out to be quite a character, was rightfully very proud the facility and his community's efforts to help long distance riders and spent a long time telling us about it. He also mentioned that the hot water heater had been out of service recently and he was not sure if it had yet been fixed. Penny then got in the shower and soon thereafter Warren, myself and the guy from Michigan heard her shouting "Holy Moley!", "Jesus Martha!", etc., confirming that the water heater was still indeed out of order.
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