Day 39

Wooster,OH to Niles, OH -- 94 miles Today was another long ride. It's almost like any ride under 80miles is like a 25-mile ride along the River Trail used to feel like. My definition of a long ride has changed dramatically since coming on this! It was very cloudy and stormy-looking all day, and to top it all off, it was down-right chilly! The temperature never got above 60 degrees so this was the coolest day we've had since the freezing rain day in Santa Fe last month. This is also our last night in Ohio. We've essentially crossed a very wide state in three days! Tomorrow we'll ride to Erie, PA and thank goodness, we'll have a day off there on Thursday. This will be our tenth state line crossing and our only stopover in Pennsylvania. This is also our last rest day. We'll have a tough week in New York, though. The man who initially told me about crossing the US with CrossRoads told me that crossing New York was the hardest part of the tour. He said that by that time everyone is ready for it to be over and to get home. I can totally understand what he meant now. I told Lee last night that I'm starting to feel like someone who's counting the days until they get out of prison! Of course it's not that bad, but it is a grind doing this many miles this many days and weeks in a row. I'm sure I'll miss a lot of people I've met -- after all, we spend nearly 15 hours a day for 7 weeks together! I won't miss getting up at 5 AM and being on the bike from 7 AM - 3 PM every single day. We'll ride around 87 miles tomorrow. The forecast is for more cold weather and rain tomorrow. Let's hope that changes!