There were supposed to be 3 guys in this photo. You'll have to do what Tim and I did for 4 nights and 3 days, which is to imagine Erl right there in the middle of it all.
I think Erl reached out to us the day before his intended departure, to let us know he'd be spending his time with the flu instead of us. Gut punch. I got away on schedule but this trip had already failed to live up to one of it's major objectives.
Each of us has joined the other 2 on a bicycle tour, but this promised to be the first time we'd have all 3 together. The consensus was the trio chemistry would have been stellar.
All we could do is soldier on in honor of our "man down". Especially since he made the arrangements, and paid, for our camp site for the first and last nights. Thank you, Erl!
With all that as noteworthy background and context, let's press on from the Visitor Center at Village Creek State Park and begin the route. For the most part, I'll let the images tell the story. There are enough here to convey a sense of the weather, terrain, scenery, how the bikes were loaded, and our camp sites.
The glare in the above image reminds me to add here that the high temperatures were warmer than expected, and warmer than ideal, but plenty manageable. I practiced not being grumpy about the approaching harshness of summer.
The dog in the image above reminds me to tell you there were A LOT of dog encounters. All were noisy, and none were frightening.
In summary, bike tours that include camping and no extreme weather, routes, or mileage are fun, maybe the best of all. That is unless you have a man down. In cases like that, one returns to home base to begin planning the revenge tour.
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