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July 4, 2019—Florence, Indiana


We left the hotel anticipating that the bakery we identified about 15 miles away would be open on July 4th.  It was and we indulged in cinnamon roles and coffee and purchased fruit from the grocery store next door. Today’s cycling lacked the vigor of yesterday’s ride.  Perhaps we pushed to hard and paid for it today.  After entering Indiana we enjoyed several paved trails that kept us off the not-so-busy highways. Our first real stop was in Rising Sun, Indiana where we found a nice diner that was full of friendly people and great breakfast food.  That stop (or the real food in our bellies) put some power back into our legs.  About 25 miles from our destination our road was marked with a sign saying that the road was closed 3.5 miles away, local traffic only, and that we must detour—which involved a big climb.  We ignored the warning and kept cycling along the river until we came to the second sign that said “road closed in 1 mile, bla, bla, bla.”  Of course we kept going and went thru the construction site with no problem.  We could not sacrifice our predetermined route for a little construction.

Next we came to the town of Patriot, Indiana just as its July 4th parade ended. The town folks must have needed a boost to get through the post-parade letdown. We became the center of attraction with our loaded bikes and Joe taking pictures.  One family raced up to us because their 3 year old daughter wanted to share her “parade float candy” with us.  Several teenage boys marveled that we had cycled all the way from Cincinnati.  From there it was only 12 miles to our hotel.  Actually, it’s a casino with a hotel. If we can stay awake tonight, they are having fireworks over the Ohio River.



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