Backed off the throttle to seventy miles.

       I have never ever been in the physical shape I am in now.  Sixty-five is only a number.  Sure, I am slowing up but I am pushing the mind and body to perform at maximum efficiency.  Up hill for hours on end, down shifting down to the granny gear and cranking away then  flying down the hill at thirty-seven mph in gear thirty.  It is a great feeling.  Yesterday, I rode through a flooded road; no way was I back tracking to an alternate route.  Everyday I start off slow, listening to the country side around me and then the crank it up to put on the miles.

      After sleeping by a swimming pool under a roofed in patio, I bolted out of there by 8:00 am.  The wind at my back, I was pushing seventeen mph, averaging fourteen and a half.  Monroeville was a breeze twenty-six miles down the road from Zanesville. By mile seventy I was in Defiance, Ohio. 

      What is it about cities that makes it so hard to find a place to stay?   At the local bike shop, I tried Warmershowers, churches, Defiance College, the police and the local park.  Nothing was coming through.  The bike shop owner's wife thought the fire department might be a possibility.  She showed me the way whereupon I rode into the fire station and pleaded my case.  The lieutenant would be back in thirty minutes so the men showed me into the living area where the A/C worked its charm.  Aaron, the Lieutenant on duty, showed up and gave me the thumbs up for the night. The men really like the fact that I had covered 3700 miles in 76 days.  I had the stories as well.  So here I am, hanging my helmet in the Defiance fire department; living precariously and thriving on it.