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Monday, June 1, 2009
Penny returns to Bowling Green
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An Ohio institution
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Napoleon to Fremont, OH
63 miles. Our incredible run of luck with the weather kinda ended today, but not in a major way. We were all set to leave Napoleon this morning under cloudy skies, but then a thunderstorm started and it rained heavily, to the point where the road construction crew across the street finally called it quits (after ignoring the lightening for a good hour). The rain finally let up about 10:30, so we set out only to be deluged again in about 30 minutes. But that rain only lasted for about an hour and - despite a forecast of afternoon storms - the weather got better as the day progressed. By the time we left our lunch stop in Pemberville* the sun had come out and we were ditching our "space suits" (rain gear) in favor of the normal jerseys and shorts.
We stopped mid-morning for a break in Grand Rapids** and struck up an extended conversation with a guy at the C-store. He told us that he admired us for doing something out of the ordinary and that he had concluded, after a 20-year career in the Air Force, that putting yourself in a position where you have to find your own solutions to problems made one a better person. I should have felt better about these compliments, but my pride was tempered by the fact that the statements were coming from a guy who was buying beer before noon and who looked pretty rough. For the same reasons we politely declined his offer to come to his house to get out of the rain for awhile.
We are in Fremont tonight, a very nice little town that sits on the Sandusky River. It is filled with beautiful parks and old homes, along with the former estate (now a museum) of Rutherford B. Hayes, the 19th president. OK, maybe the guy was deadwood as a leader, but the Hayes family donated a lot of land and $ to make Fremont a really nice place.
*I should have known better than to order Mexican food in Ohio. Growing up in this state, I never knew anyone of Hispanic heritage, never was aware of a single Mexican restaurant or even saw Mexican food on a menu. The cafe in Pemberville had only Angelos in it, including the cook, and the menu listed everything from spaghetti to fried chicken. Sure enough, the "burritos" we ordered were in fact very mediocre enchiladas, and the Spanish rice was so awful that Penny spit hers out. I have much lower standards than her, however, and ate everything since I was so hungry.
**Just a reminder that we are in Ohio, not Michigan. Also, yesterday we rode through Florida, Ohio and Grand Rapids is very close to the towns of Texas and Kansas.
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