Chuck Childers in Tontogany, OH
I was in abit of a rush to get the last Bike Diary entry off, and so I left out what is probably the most important part. The more perceptive readers may have noticed that I reported spending the night at "Childers' home" near Bowling Green, Ohio.
I was wandering the rectilinear roads of northwest Ohio realizing that I had missed my turn onto Tontogany Road and trying to improvise an alternative route (not too hard given the strict adherance of the roads to the cardinal directions) when a red Mazda passed me and then stopped ahead of me. Chuck Childers noticed my load, assumed I was riding a long distance and asked the standard question "where to and where from?". After boggling his mind a little bit with my response, he asked where I was spending the night. I had already overshot Bowling Green, which had for a while been my destination for that day, on account of my knee starting to feel a little better, and was thinking about adding an extra 14 miles or so to the day to spend the night a Mary Jane Thurston State Park near Grand Rapids, OH. Then Chuck asked me what I was having for dinner. I made a vague motion toward my pannier and said "I have some pasta I bought in Bowling Green." Next thing I knew, he had invited me to join his family for dinner and a quiet July 4 celebration at their home. I couldn't think of a good reason not to take him up on the offer, so I did. Chuck gives me his address and says he'll meet me there after he and his son, Seth, are done running a quick errand. "We're getting firecrackers!" Seth gleefully explains.
Interestingly, their home is on the road that I missed turning on when I got lost, i.e. right on the Adventure Cycling Northern Tier route. I told them that if they wanted to make it a habit to take in wandering cyclists, there would probably be a good supply passing by (in fact, I was a little bit surprised that they hadn't noticed any before me ... maybe a lot of folks are missing that turn).
Chuck's wife, Barb, has recently rediscovered cycling and has been riding a trail near their home nearly every day. I think I may have planted the seed of an idea with them to go a little bit farther on their bicycles. I've become something of a bicycle touring evangelist on this trip.
Anyway, they fed me, gave me a place to sleep, and Barb even did my laundry! (Just in the nick of time, actually ... things were getting pretty stinky). Their hospitality was way above and beyond what is due to a stranger ... it's good to know that there are people like that in the world.
Chuck Childers in Tontogany, OH