Biking through Cleveland and Philadelphia

Now, this is impressive--
Finished up a road trip on Sunday, after biking (peddle, not motor) through Cleveland, Philadelphia, Charlottesville, Spring Grove and Dublin. Not so impressive-- Sharing names with larger cities throughout the world, these tiny burgs are scattered along U.S. route 40 from Richmond to New Palestine, Indiana.

Now, brother-in-law Mike and I aren't spandex-clad, $2,000 bike demons. We are a step below recreational bikers, and we wander and struggle, rather than zoom. The nearly 70 miles in one day shocked us both. North of Indianapolis, the state is flat as a table top, but the south is covered with hills, none of which are big enough to notice while driving a car, but definitely something to be climbed on a bike--at least by bikers at our level of conditioning. 

Later in the week, we visited Story, a tiny town of just a few buildings, built around the Story Inn. From the website--

A quaint village founded in 1851, nestled in the hills of southern Indiana, a place known for its weather-beaten barns, clapboard churches, covered bridges and splendid fall foliage. In its heyday (1880-1929) the village supported two general stores, a nondenominational church, a one-room schoolhouse, a grain mill, a sawmill, a slaughterhouse, a blacksmith’s forge and a post office.

 The Inn is indeed weather-beaten, with antique gas pumps at its front porch (still showing 40-cents per gallon), attracting the trendy set, weddings and other special occasions. The sheet metal front is rusted and worn, and paint has apparently never touched the building front. The dinner menu boasts bison and duck (the least expensive entree choice at $22), artichoke dip and mussels. Definitely not for those of us with Wendy's or Olive Garden budgets or appetites. Plenty of picturesque antiques and old buildings make the site worth visiting.

Not far from Story is Pikes Peak, Indiana. Legend says a citizen of nearby Columbus was headed to Colorado's more famous Pikes Peak to homestead, and wrote on the side of his wagon "Pikes Peak or Bust". He 'busted' at present-day Pikes Peak, Indiana-- less than 20 miles away. Colorado's Pikes Peak elevation is over 14,000 feet, Indiana's is only 600 feet. Don't look for Pikes Peak, Indiana on most maps-- it's not there. Some words, like 'Pikes Peak' and 'Indiana' just shouldn't go together.

Leaf peepers will begin to flood into the area soon, but spots of color are already found in Brown County State Park.