I’ve noticed that, as time passes on our Great American Rail Trail Expedition To The Mississippi River, our starting times have tended to get later and later.
So no surprise that, on Day 12 of our GART expedition, it was after 10 a.m. before we were finally, um, wheels up.
In our defense. We had spent the night in a wonderful hotel in an eclectic town that we were all loathed to leave behind.
And then, of course, there was the morning ritual of loading Joe’s e-bike (which weighs as much as the Granite State ) onto its rack.
Even Rosie was growing impatient.
But as Jack Weston said to Tom Selleck in the classic but little remembered High Road To China: “The earth moves slowly, but the ox is patient.” (Did I mention that everything I know about life I learned from the movies?)
Which is neither here nor there.
The point being that we eventually got ourselves to the trail town of Xenia. Like many trail towns it has turned its old railroad station into a reception center for cyclists and other trail users.
True, it doesn’t allow bicycles inside. But neither did it allow locomotives inside way back when.
Nonetheless, we eventually, got underway on the Miami River Scenic Trail against all odds.
And we rode and we rode and we rode.
Listen! We’re all still waiting for the final verdict on the death of newspapers. But I did run across this memorial commemorating the death of a newspaper publisher.
It is worth noting that everybody apparently forgot where they buried the guy.
On the other hand, there’s an old saying in our business: Any publisher who has more than two cars in his funeral procession has been an utter failure.
So there’s that.
Then we came to Beaver Creek. It’s got a trailside Bicycle Beaver and a 9-11 memorial.
Plus a reminder that our species is pretty much screwed if the bees and butterflies and such disappear.
Moving on we came to the Mad River Trail, which took us into Dayton.
Dayton is famous for being a city where five rivers converge.
Which as it turns out, is not always a blessing.
But never mind all that dark history. We took a break at Riverscape Metro Park. Which is more or less ground zero in the city’s impressive trail complex.
They also celebrate children at this park.
This is Bruce trying to reason with children who are actually metallic. (Inset photo) This is Walt more or less ignoring the metallic children.
Moving right along. We eventually left the Mad River Trail and (after several urban misadventures that I won’t get into here because it’s too exhausing) ended up on the Wolf Creek Trail.
I’ll just say this. Parts of the Wolf Creek Trail have gone feral. It’s not particularly well maintained. There’s not much in the way of shade. And there wasn’t an actual Wolf Creek in evidence.
All of which makes me wonder if the local Chamber of Commerce had a hand in naming the trail.
But never mind that.
The point being that, eventually, we made it out of Dayton urbanity and all the way into Verona agrarianism (which I’m stunned is an actual word now that I look at it).
So we ended up in Verona. Which, from what I could see, has changed a lot since a certain tragic teenage couple lived here.
But never mind that. Bottom line, we packed up and, leaving Ohio in our rear view mirror, headed for Indiana.
Still, I can’t escape the feeling that, somehow, Rosie isn’t happy.
FreeGNV 