Sept.19
DAY 53
  Decatur, In. to Upper Sandusky, Oh. route 224 to 30, 100 miles, took a short cut or would have been more. Passed through the Ohio towns of (all distants from border)
Middlebury at 3 miles - nothing
Van Wert at mile 12 - all services,campground 1 mile west of town, truck stop at 20 miles
Delphos at 26 miles - all services east side
Gomerat 36 miles - bar & grill
Cairo at 41 miles - cafe
Beaverdam at 48 miles - stores and cafes
New Stack at 62 miles - nothing there is a truck stop at mile 74

the road today is flat and the pay off for all the up yesterday with mostly a little down. 8 and half miles to the Ohio border with a cold front approaching from the west and clouds in the east from Isabel I set out. Met a Ohio D.O.T. worker a couple miles from Van Wert and he said old route 30 was a better option to Beaverdam as U.S. 30 is 4 lane and has high traffic and it is also longer. AHH a short cut sounds good to me. To get on Old 30 as you come to Van Wert there is a local road to town , just after the campground, says 1 mile to Van Wert. At the first light turn left and go about a mile to Main Street and make a right, there is also a motel here and the downtown is about a block.This is business/old 30 . From the campground turn you can also continue on 224 to a flashing light and turn right onto business 30. At Delphos 30 is straight through, on the east side it looks like it may turn to the right but continue straight. This is a good road very light traffic.Now the race with the cold front. At Beaverdam I stop for a bite to eat, and as I was finishing the wind began to pick up and the dark clouds to the west seemed a bit closer. 30 mile at least to Upper Sandusky. Can I out run the rain? Flat and down road with a tailwind and no place to stay til Upper Sandusky. What is a dog to do? Race the rain of course. Get on 30 and head east at about 16 miles a hour. After 6 miles 30 goes to 2 lanes with high traffic and a 18 inch shoulder and some small rolling hills, am able to maintain speed for the most part. Then with 13 miles left to go it starts to get a little misty not quite a rain but the clouds are moving in and around. With 5 miles left it starts to drizzle, so I stop and don my rain coat in anticipation of the coming rain. But just as it starts to rain the road makes a turn and I am out of it, DRY DOG AGAIN. At Upper Sandusky stay on the 4 lane to the 30 exit.

Sept. 20
DAY 54
  Upper Sandusky to Mansfield 44 miles + for a total of 55.What's along the way
A private run campground at 7 miles
Oceola at 8 miles - garage with snack foods and a campground on east side
truckstop café at 10 miles
Bucyrus at 15 miles - all services and a laundry-mat
at 22 miles is a motel (no food close)
Crestline at 29 miles - stores and cafes
Mansfield at 44 miles - all services(stay on By-Pass)

The road today is the opposite of yesterday ,it is up with small hills. Today was a planned short day that ended up long. Figured to just take my time and ride the 40 miles to Mansfield stopping along the way to do laundry. Stopped at truck stop for breakfast and took my time eating , continued on to Bucyrus and searched for a laundry. Found it! Turn right at second light after town square down 2 blocks by the dollar store. After getting all my stinky clothes smelling fresh went on to Crestline and had lunch. All is going as planned. Closing in on Mansfield on 30 bypass food and lodging signs appear at 37 miles, too close will go to eastern side where 30 and I-71 meet. Alt route 30 goes to town may as well ride through town and out the other side, seemed like a good idea at the time. Once in town the alt 30 signs begin to disappear no big deal just go straight. This works I soon find another alt 30 sign to I-71. Arriving at I-71 alt 30 joins it heading north. Checking my trusty map I see I am about 6 miles south of 30 and see that I had missed a turn to 30 ,should have taken 42 north from down town.Back track a couple miles and get a short cut to 30. Get up to 30 and figure to go to 71 because a guy said there are motels there. Heading east on 30 Pass a motel about 2 miles from 71. Start down a hill and see no signs for anything coming up except a rest area about a half mile from I-71,so stop there. It is now 4:30 and 30 HILLY miles to next services, I will go back up the hill to last place. Lesson for today don't get off the bypass at Mansfield and go an extra 1/2 mile.

Sept. 21
DAY 55
  Mansfield to Canton 62 miles + 5 to motel passing the towns of
Woosher at 30 miles - all services (see below)
Midway at 33 miles - store and cafe (west side)
36 miles - small motel
38 miles motel/cafe (looks $$$$$$)
Dalton at 42 miles(use alt 30)
Massillon at mile 52 -all services

First there is a motel at I-71 the sign is just past the overpass and motel is hidden from view til you go under I-71.Oh well bike under the bridge.Today is a series of HILLS,mostly in the 3% to 4% grade range, and 1 to 2 miles long.But for the most part more flat and down then up. When you get to Woosher stay on 4 lane to 30 east exit.There is a steep climb off the 4 lane to all services on top. At Dalton take Lincoln way which is old route 30 into town, at the bottem of the hill watch for bike path and turn left and take path 9 1/2 miles to Massillon. At end of path go up the hill to main road and turn right and make the next right and old 30 which is now east 172 is one block over.From Massillon to Canton is about 9 miles of strip mall type places.There are a few motels between them. I had hoped to find a place to stay where 172 and 30 meet again.Well just as I was about to enter the downtown section of Canton stopped to talk to a city police officer about motels on eastern side of city.Hus response was, "How safe do want to be". this was not what I wanted to hear.what he also said was that there are a couple places down there but nothing on the east side going out of Canton.That is probabaly why all the motels listed in phone book are NW Canton. He suggests going back to Whipple Ave and going north. So taking his advice I backtrack 2 miles to Whipple and 4 miles north to I-77 interchange and find all services and plot an alternate route to home.Actually was thinking about this the other day, taking Pa. route 51 east to Butler, Pa. and going to Indiana,Pa from there. Calling for rain tomorrow so if I can get going befor it starts will go to Alliance or Salem for a short day to stay dry. If raining will stay put.

Sept. 22
DAY 56
  Canton to Salem 36 miles, local roads and east 173/62 passing through
Alliance at 20 miles - all services (most west side)
26 miles - motel/cafe
Westville at 28 miles - store
Damascus at31 miles - store (with rain cover)

The road today is rolling hills once again. The hills are not as long as yesterdays but there are more of them. To get to Alliance from motel on Whipple Ave. turn right onto Everhard Road,first right after passing under I-77.Turn left at end of Everhard and take the next right it is then around 3 1/2 miles to 43. At 43 you can go right and get on 62which is 4 lane,or go left another 2 miles or so to Easton Street. Once on Easton street go straight to the second light (several Miles) and turn left on Columbia Ave. to route 173/62 into Alliance.This way has low traffic and and a pretty good shoulder, but is hilly.
THE HITDOG TEMPTS FATE
The weather report last night was for rain today, heavy at times. Got up to cloudy skies and decided to take a chance on getting to Alliance before it rains. Got to Alliance with no rain. 15 miles to Salem should I chance it? Why not? Well a couple miles out of Alliance it begins to drizzle on and off, no big deal.As I come into Damascus cars have there windshield wipers on and I find a dry spot, see photos for today. Five miles to Salem should I wait for the rain to stop? The weather report is for steady rain with some heavy so I have a sandwhich and watch as the cars go by. After about a 1/2 hour it seems to stop or at least most cars have delayed wipers on. I don my rain coat and set off. Hit the Salem town line and the rain begins for real, almost made it. A soggy dog finds a motel and calls it a day.

Sept. 23
DAY 57
  Salem, Oh. to Fallston, Pa. 35 miles on route 14 and 51 east, and the end of of my journy. When I got up this morning decided that this would be the last day. It was not a very hard decision to make considering I had planned to end on the 24th anyway, and today was the end of summer and the first day of fall, and 30 miles was all I needed to reach 3000. So with a phone call to my daughter to arrange for a pick up I set out for the Pennsylvania border. So join me in Pa for some final thoughts and see me foil an attack by a vicious dog.
PENNSYLVANIA