We are alive and well. I am sitting here in Ligonier, Indiana just outside the kitchen in the cabin. The kitchen is the only place that has a power outlet. We just ate dinner, so Dan Herrera and Josh Kilmer are cleaning dishes and singing songs.

Last night was interesting; we didn’t sleep very well at all. The location was great overlooking the lake, so Ron Volk got the idea that instead of sleeping in tents, we could just sleep in the pavilion with our sleeping bags. Well, this sounded interesting so several of us decided to join him. The first attack came quickly. The mosquitoes came wave after wave. They were relentless. After a couple hours, the rain storm that blew into the shelter sideways didn’t help us get any sleep. At this point I decided to go into the lodge. The American Legion was nice enough to open the lodge for us so the scouts could sleep inside. The hall they slept in smelled like smoke and the fans were loud. After I laid down in the hall, I realized that the hall wasn’t much better than the mosquitoes.

The next morning, I found out the police stopped by around 2am and woke up everyone sleeping in the pavilion since he didn’t know why they were there. After Ron sent the police officer off, they were able to get some sleep. I think there are several of us ready to go to bed early today.

We made it on the road by 6:30am this morning. The trip was great. We saw some Bactrian Camels. A couple of the crews stopped to see them. We also saw Amish and Mennonites. All the crews passed by at least one Amish Buggy. Josh Kilmer’s grandparents came up from Plymouth Indiana to take pictures and wave us on as we rode by. The boys want me to mention that all the crews were chased by dogs today. They didn’t come near the bikes. The dogs did either cheer us on (in their own way), or wanted us away from their territory.

We had one incident today. Brian Alder joined the skinned knee club. He ran into the back of Andy Hegg’s bike and wiped out. He skinned his knee and elbow. We cleaned him up and he went on riding without any issues. Everyone is doing great, Mrs. Vensel is back to normal. All the other boys are doing great.

One of the roads, route 38 was a terrible road to ride on. It had a lot of traffic. Everyone did great riding in a single file and staying on the side of the road. The mothers in the chase vehicle said all the mothers would be very impressed with how the children were riding.

Ron stopped at someone’s house to ask for directions. They tried to send him in the wrong direction. Ron figured it out and took their crew in the right direction.

We arrived between 12:45 and 1:30 this afternoon. Troop 102 from Ligonier has been great. They arrived this morning to greet us. 5 of their scouts are riding with us tomorrow. They gave us Ligonier shirts. We are staying at a cabin they own near the Elkhart River. Ligonier is known for their Marshmallow Festival they hold every year over Labor Day weekend. The ladies were able to go to the scoutmaster’s house for hot showers. The boys and men used the portable camp shower.
The portable shower works great, but it is cold!! The nozzle for the hose yesterday was too strong, so we bought a new one that works great. We also were able to get free ice from the local American Legion again. And I found out the troop has contacted the local newspaper making this the 4th newspaper we will be in.

We ran 4 bikes up to the local bike shop to fix various items. Mike Glass's brake was rubbing, Jacob Haas's gear shifter, Chris Alder's 1st gear, and Ron Volk's wheel bearings. All the bikes were fixed and we are ready to ride again tomorrow.

We hit some more hills today (not as many as yesterday), but in a flat state like Indiana any hill is really unexpected. As we were going up one of the larger hills, Mark Shultz told me I was in trouble. Since I put together the route, I will take all the blame for every hill, busy road, gravel road, and construction that we run into.

Since Dan and Josh are both here, they have requested to add a quote to the blog today.

Quote from Dan Herrera, “Indiana is definitely not flat. Do not take people’s word for it when a state is flat, that is something you must find out on your own. We found that out today and yesterday when Mr. Kilmer lied to us and told us that Indiana was flat. In the rare occasion when you come across a flat road it is gravel and hard to ride on. You should definitely appreciate your car because it definitely doesn’t involve any physical labor. I personally cannot wait to be able to sit in a passenger seat of a car again. I realize this is day 3 of a long trip. Just kidding, I am really enjoying this trip and would like to say hello to my family and friends. Yours truly Dan Herrera.”

Quote from Josh Kilmer, “Indiana is not flat. Do not take Brian Kilmer’s word for it…..Yours truly Josh Kilmer”.