Saturday, June 27, 2015
GOBA 2015
"Cycology Major" was the theme of the 2015 Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure.
We had stops at Bluffton College, Defiance ("De-Fi the ordinary") College and in Bowling Green at the high school.
Packed and ready to go.
Packed and ready to go.
The ride started in Van Wert, Ohio on June 22, Father's Day. Rain was predicted for most of the week.
We drove the truck. In the morning, John rode to the lunch stop, I drove the truck; we switched at the lunch stop.
John rode with our friend, Ed; I rode with our friend, Stu. Stu had the dubious honor of being my navigator to the lunch stops.
Sunday's lunch stop was 29 miles out at the new Elida High School. Stu and I had a sandwich and headed out.
The afternoon stop was at Beaverdam Village Park.
A couple of the 'locals' brought their antique vehicles for viewing pleasure.
The rear window in the Mercury slides down.
How unusual is that?
Sunday evening, we camped at Bluffton College.
Team Bob
We're not a team.
We're a truck.
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Monday, Stu and I drew the longer route; 35 miles from Kalida to Defiance College.
The day was warmer; after the snack stop I said to Stu, "Well, young man, you
are on your own." I left Stu behind only to stop 500 yards down the road at a
'no kill shelter for cats' where a young woman was handing out free water and
free Gatorade. Donations accepted.
And here comes Stu.
I arrived in Defiance, hoping that our tent was set up.
Nope! No tent. No Penske truck carrying our supplies. Yikes!
The Team Bob Penske truck had a slight altercation with an unmovable building.
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We enjoyed two nights at Defiance College.
The college had tasty all-you-care-to-eat meals; we used the indoor facilities.
Tuesday, we rode our bikes into Defiance.
The Defiance Public Library will be celebrating its 110th anniversary this year.
Andrew Carnegie gave $22,000 for a library. Unique to the library is the red,
variegated sandstone from a quarry near Mansfield.
One of the unusual features are the armored-hand light sconces.
We rode to the confluence of the Maumee and Auglaize Rivers where
Fort Defiance once stood.
Stu, Ed and John waited in the shade while I perused an eclectic yarn store.
Yarn, patterns, more yarn, more patterns.
The sign was in the yarn store.
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Wednesday, Stu and I rode from Liberty Center High School to Bowling Green,
an easy 23 miles. The lunch stop was prepared by the L.C. Cross Country team.
With out a doubt, the nicest people! And the most prepared!
We stopped to chat with a farmer cultivating his field of tomatoes!
He has 183 acres of tomatoes, the tomatoes are picked once and sold to
Red Gold for processing.
He has a second John Deere just like this one. Both JD's were painted this spring.
We rode past the Ludwig Mill, an authentic, functioning turn of the century
grist and flour mill.
Our afternoon snack stop was in Grand Rapids Village Park.
My rider number this year was number 8. A.J. noticed the number on my bike.
He had rider number 9 and his wife had rider number 10.
We saw the wind mills and knew we were close to Bowling Green.
Wednesday evening, we rode the bus downtown for dinner.
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Thursday morning, rain fell that had been forecast all week.
Those of us hanging around camp, gathered in the yellow Penske truck.
On the right is Larry, procurer of the Penske truck.
With a smile on his face.
"We all live in the yellow Penske truck, the yellow Penske truck.."
"We all live in the yellow Penske truck, the yellow Penske truck.."
Larry and Ron rode out to the first food stop and back.
Roughly 35 miles.
They got wet.
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Thursday evening was the 'Golden GOBA' dinner for 10, 15, 20, 25 and all (27) year riders.
The menu included Amish style chicken noodle soup and a
gourmet Butternut squash soup.
There was a salad bar with more stuff on it than you have ever seen.
Assorted cheese cakes for dessert. Yummy!
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Friday morning, Stu and I started out at the Deshler Village Park across the street from this church. Another well prepared lunch stop. Sloppy joes, shredded chicken and shredded pork sandwiches. Assorted vegetables, cookies, brownies.
We arrived around 7:30.
One of the ladies said, "And we were wondering why we had to be here at 6:30."
We stopped at the Leipsic Buckeye Park. It was a beautiful day, with a nice tail wind.
Riders were talking about riding straight through to Van Wert to get their
vehicles. The chance of rain Saturday was 100%.
Stu and I enjoyed a pleasant ride, arriving in Ottawa around 11:00.
We loaded three bikes and gear for three people in our truck.
We saw a field of windmills near Kalida, heading to Van Wert.
We dropped off Stu and his gear at the Van Wert Fairgrounds and headed home.
There was a torrential downpour as we drove through Dayton.
Normal rainfall for June to date - 3.68"
Month to date - 5.11"
A beautiful day today, Sunday.
More rain forecast for Monday and Tuesday.
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# posted by Martha @ 8:49 PM 
