Flew in to Cincinnati today via some strangely empty flights–both legs were barely half-full. Secret talent: I am so great at napping on planes and in airports. In my youth I was one of those people who can’t sleep in public. That is all behind me now, and I probably doubled my night of sleep through some mega-napping.
Also, Rhiannon and I managed to assemble my bike out of the box with only small interventions from Awesome Bike Shop Man John at Biowheels, which based on this encounter I have decided is the greatest shop in the Cincinnati metro region. I learned something about brakes, but still very little about spokes. Next time!
The house in Indian Hills is beautiful, and the Lanier family are incredible hosts. Flying into Cincinnati we got a great view of the city and the surrounding countryside. It’s a lot less farms than I expected! I was envisioning fields as far as the eye could see, but after the plane dropped below the clouds, the only land devoted to agriculture (or anything else) was in the valleys and the half-mile of land right on top of the bends in the Ohio River. Lots of trees with just fingers of farmland. Pretty.
What follows are a smattering of pictures which we uploaded today for the first time in a while (read: since Day 0). Most of them I was not present for, and Rhiannon is industriously packing in the next room (which I also should be), so captions will be fun.
Rhiannon eats an apple on day 1. See, no hands! Clearly, on that first day, we had not developed the ravenous, all-hands-on-deck approach to food that we currently possess.
Day 4, in the Berkshires. I post this one only because it demonstrates that I was so full of energy upon reaching the top of the hill that I decided to climb a huge rock next to the highway and try to capture the splendid vista. Of course it turns out the vista is not so splendid as it feels when you just climbed it, but it is kind of pretty right?
Hmm, this appears to be a very nice mural! I guess I shouldn't post pictures with neither explanations nor recognizable people in them.
Rhiannon at Niagara Falls!
Looks like a rib fest to me.
This is a charming (sideways) view of our tent in front of a sunset on Lake Erie. I believe this is before the nighttime thunderstorm that sent everyone else packing into their cars. But Rhiannon had no car, so she persevered. At least this is how she tells it.
And then there’s our new masthead, featuring one tired biker parked in the shade of a charming gas station inspecting the contents of her water bottle. I think it sums up the situation pretty well that this gas station was memorably charming.
Route comments: tomorrow we’re wending our way through downtown Cincinnati (first time to get lost on the trip? time will tell) and making it about halfway to Louisville, our next major destination. Hopefully we will have a couch surf there, but really who can say.
Boston to Seattle or Bust 