Crossed into Ohio Tuesday. I was under the weather with a toothache. I had cracked a tooth from a pebble in the bean pot back in New Mexico. The tooth began to give me problems (i.e. pain) in Indiana and so I walked into a dentist office in Blufton and had it tended to. With a toothache I totally forgot the rest of my pains. I was really worn out, but feel much better now with the use of an antibiotic this week.

Ohio is a much bigger state to traverse. After 5 days of walking, it will take another week to fully traverse. Nervous about my time … I have 35 days left to reach New York City. I am walking the old Lincoln Highway. It is the oldest transcontinental highway built for the automobile. It made its way from New York City to San Francisco and is just 100 years old. The road has been rebuilt and modified on numerous occasions. I am traveling the older existing route but I think it dates the 1940’s/1950’s. There are a few examples of older routes in some of the towns I walk through. It’s so hard imagining our current interstate lifestyle of auto mobility is barely 100 years old. Before that it was the train, a beast, or your feet that got you from one place to another. Oh but if those feet could become our primary mobility resource.

Kewpee’s hamburger stand in Lima Ohio

People’s March reminder

Newest highway 30 near Sandusky

Original highway 30 in Upper Sandusky

Farm implements near Upper Sandusky

First transcontinental automobile route … Barely 100 years ago

Corn hole tournament in Kirby Ohio

Its been a long day here in Indiana. I ran out of shoulder space for my cart. This puts me up close and personal with oncoming traffic. The situation creates more work. Not only is the paved or rock shoulder nearly nonexistent, but the weeds alongside the pavement is uncut. Pushing the cart in high growth is an ugly business. If that weren’t enough it seems heavy truck use is way up. I spend a lot of time reading oncoming traffic. All kinds of signals are in the drivers actions and faces too… clues to tell me how to anticipate and take advantage of slivers of pavement as they become available. You likely will never need these tips but I offer them to give you a sense of life on my highway.

The oncoming traffic swings out of its lane early to make room. My Response is to get my cart wheels on a piece of pavement. (outside of line of course.)  When oncoming slows and doesn’t yield an inch of pavement my response anticipates traffic closing in behind me. I cant afford to take my eyes off oncoming but if vehicle behind me is big i’ll hear it and can adjust just how far into the weeds I need to go.

Sometimes oncoming swerves toward me some distance in front of my cart. Yes, people do seem to take aim now and then. It has several possible meanings. Usually I read it as intimidation… “Get off my road” and usually my response is to stand my ground. In fact I sometimes chant the Mel Gibson line from Braveheart … “Hold, Hold”

Unfortunately my cart possesses no sharpened pole to slay the iron beast. Anyway, drivers usually make the decision to resume a normal lane position. If the driver continues to squeeze me off the minimal shoulder, I step away from the cart, leaving it in position, and take a step into the ditch. To date nobody has taken my cart out … Too much fender damage? Possibly. Reading the drivers faces is important because It may not be aggression. It may be an inattentive driver. Is he looking for something , talking to someone in the backseat, texting … these folks require additional attention on my part. Taking to the weeds is a certainty.

What unnerves me the most is the driver that passes a car behind me and takes the lane I am hugging as their own at a high rate of speed … I feel like that lone bowling pin bobbling as a speedy ball goes flying by in the gutter. Those close calls scar my psyche. When a threat is in front of you it is easy to address and prepare for, but when one is blindsided there is no time for involvement .. no time to prepare. I like the idea of having a This is it moment. I prefer to face my mortality … to feel i have some control and a moment of reckoning. Seeing your risks seems easier to bear than that risk from nowhere. But life isn’t like that is it? Climate change came out of nowhere and leaves humanity bobbling in disbelief. Time will tell. For humanity, for Steve, and for you … bobbling hair raising moments will come.

The river that heads every direction in Indiana

Burger joint in logansport

This part of Indiana has a lot of root beer joints

Remington, IN

The narrowing shoulder

The narrowing shoulder

I crossed into the Hoosier state Monday afternoon, August 4th. There is no river or natural demarcation. It looks the same on one side as the other…flat and covered with beans and corn. An errant automobile had wiped out the border signage so I waited till Kentland to get a photo for the crossing. Kentland is at the crossroads of highway 24 and 41. Highway 41 was a major north/south corridor in its day. Before the interstate system it was the primary route from Chicago to Miami, and of course it happens to go right through my home town. That wasn’t lost on me yesterday as I crossed it. Especially since it also meant it was time for my visitor and sole support personnel to head home … just 4 hours away. Sigh, Pat is tending to yard work, mail, and a spent water heater while I trudge on. I am further east in Remington tonight … hoping the miles go quickly for awhile.