June 11th: Well, sleep was fair with no bugs or trains or varmits. We're up at 6:45 & get everything loaded up & ready to head out after breakie. Judy cooks up a good breakfast & has the coffee ready at 7:30..scrambled eggs, toast & oat meal. We all pay up, load up & Joe helps us portage the 2 1/2 miles to pavement. unload the bikes & off we go toward Lamar-lots of trucks on our route & tough climbs. Over to Horntown & south on US 75 to Calvin. The wind is really bad, gusting 20-25 in our face. It's one of those days where you can't keep up with the hydration. East on Ok 1 to Stuart & it's still 34 miles to lunch in Colgate (I shoulda got a corndog!). It's hotter & the wind is still bad and more hills, and now what? Road construction for 4 1/2 miles..gravel/dirt, flats & someget "sagged" to pavement, where Coal County begins. The group that is left pretty much break up & I even have to get water from a farmhouse. I'm starting to cramp & decide to call it quits for the day. Turns out, I'm the last one to get in, other than Bill who makes it the whole way. We're tired, hungry & plenty thirsty when we arrive at the "Branding Iron Cafe" where they have a good buffet set up for us. My cramps are still bad , so jerome offers a potassium pill & it does the trick! Thanks Jerome! I get in the car & drive the sag toward Stringtown-home of Reba-VFD, our overnite. Nice facilities, but again only one shower, but a/c and quiet. We unload the trailer & I go back for the others, as I figure they won't want to ride the final 5 miles on the four-lane. The showers have started & it all works out. Everyone cleans up and we head over to the "Choo Choo Cafe" for dinner. A nice log cabin restaurant with Fab onion rings! This was a big Railroad town & the Union Pacific still rolls thru here. There was even a Bonnie & Clyde shootout in town. A good time at dinner, but the gravel road dominated the conversation-did I mention that Jane's bike "flew off" the trailer on the gravel section? Atruck driver saw it & we called ahead to the sag-no damage to the bike. I can't even begin to cover the trip so far-a typical "Barb" adventure, always looking for the secluded, no traffic, back country road. A little overboard so far, but I'm sure it'll get worse. back to the firehouse & the air-conditioned room where 7 of us slept. The others tented and were bothered by trains all night. 58 miles today & around 4000' of climb. Hope my cramps are better after a snooze
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