Day 21, June 10th, Hicksville, OH, to Chain of
Lakes State Park (near Albion, IN).
Another early start from Beecher’s Den Motel and a quick, short ride to
downtown Hicksville to the Sugar and Spice Restaurant for breakfast. We were the first in the door. I had a 3-egg omelet and Dave had 2 breakfast
orders of French Toast. We were hungry
based on yesterday’s long ride and small meals.
Today I planned to visit to Antwerp, OH, where my mother was born and
where the Williamson family spent many vacations visiting Grandpa and Grandma
Long. Antwerp is a very small town and a
big night for Janet Belle, Barbra Ellen and Trip was to visit the A&W Root
Beer Stand. On the ride from Hicksville,
I was struck by the endless fields and by an old tree carved to look like a
rooster (pictures). We arrived in
Antwerp and after a brief tour of the town, I knew what street to look for the
Long house. As I neared where I thought
the Long house sat, I met a woman staying at the house next door. Mary Plumb remembered Lloyd Long and had
visited with him to identify an old photo.
The owner of the house next door, Ron Farnsworth, came out and spoke
about some familiar names and neighbors.
The house address is 211 County Road 424. The front porch has been enclosed but
otherwise looks very similar. We left
Antwerp with a set of Arba directions to rejoin the Adventure Cycling Tour
route. We had some difficulties, but
many people helped us on the road and we got back on the route in Grabill,
IN. Grabill is smack in the middle of
Amish country and we saw several farms without electricity and many Amish
folk. The Amish are being changed slowly. We saw several teens at our lunch stop (a DQ clone)
and one had a cell phone. We pressed on
toward Albion, IN, and the country got hilly.
It was very hot today, in the 90s, but the humidity was not high. Northwest Ohio and Northeast Indiana are suffering
from drought conditions and the fields and lawns show it. The route took us through some very rural
areas and the hills got steeper. We got
to the State Park before Albion and had to go into town for dinner (another
DQ!) which meant 6 miles extra. We
planned on camping but when we got to the State Park, we found that cabins were
available. We are sooooo spoiled.! Dave and I figure we have camped 4 times out
of 21 days. Total miles for the day were
73.03.
The house looks different with no front porch to sit on and watch the tractor trailers go by! Too bad u didn't see a train go thru in the back yard! Maybe the engineer would have thrown candy to u guys! Remember?
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