Greetings from a tired Possum!

The body is tired, but surprisingly pain free. I was up early on Friday morning thinking I had over 100 miles to ride to get home so I went down and devoured several bowls of cereal and several pastries and a couple to take along with me. I left the B&B at 7 under threatening skies and wasn't more than a mile down the road when the rain started. I didn't put the rain jacket on right away, but eventually did, but after a couple of hours it stopped and was getting warm enough that I was going to take it off anyway.

On top of the rain my rear derailluer was not working properly and my first thought was a broken cable. After checking that and finding that not to be the case I started looking at other things and discovered that the cable housing had come out of the keepers. So after putting those back in and readjusting the cable that I loosened, everything was working great and I was once again a happy camper.

Then I followed the road I thought I was to be on, but it turned and I wanted to go straight, so after a couple questions from a local and 4 bonus miles I was back on course. The rain stopped and now the only trouble is the 300 plus mph headwind! The only saving grace was that I knew had I not been on a recumbent it would have been worse.

I was going to hit the bike trail in Corwin, but had decided to hit the connector trail in Lebanon. So after putting up with a lot of traffic entering Lebanon I stopped and at a gas station to ask directions to the trail and I was a couple hundred yards from it! Of course I had to go back about a block and around back of the stores and there it was.

I rode the trail in the correct direction and it ends on a street! So now I'm thinking it's the last day and things are going south. Then I figure if I go up the hill maybe it continues somewhere. I had ridden the Lebanon connector several times previously, but had turned around at what I thought was the end of the trail. After I climbed the hill there was the familiar part of the trail and I knew I was home free!

I rode to the Little Miami Trail and headed towards home. There were a lot of leaves on the trail and it was kind of bittersweet. On one hand I was really glad to be getting home to Ann and my own bed, but on the other hand the trip was over. After more thoughts and talking with Ann I may go on to the east coast, but will take a couple weeks off to catch up on things around here that need my attention. Besides, after standing looking at the water garden a snake swam out from the rocks and Ann informed me right then that she would never step foot in the pond again! Heck, it was a small one. ;>) The food is better here than what I was fixing on the road so maybe I won't be hurt by Carole not wanting to share my food while she and Dick were with me. :>) That's all for now. I'll post final, so far, stats after I figure them out. Bye, it was a really great trip and more than I ever expected it to be. Never once (after the first two days) did I regret starting this adventure. Paul