Indiana is a boring state. Luckily, they've invested quite a bit in not so boring bicycle paths. The planted trees help block the wind. and since it's currently spring, the trees are in bloom and the birds are singing.

My second day was supposed to be hell. It was the day I had been worried about before leaving. I was supposed to do an 80 mile ride to Bass Lake. Needless to say I was still worried.

They day started out great. The Out Our Front Door riders gave me a nice sendoff before we parted ways - they heading north to Chicago and me heading south. The first several miles were on a nice path where I happened to run into a man named Mike Dennis who was just finishing up a ride from California to Chicago (you can read about his trip on Crazy Guy with a Bike). We talked for a while about each other's trips and it really hyped me up for the days ahead. Then it was time to really start the trip.

I rode through serval small towns with cute town squares and suddenly found myself in Crown Point around lunch time. With the late start and goodbye antics, I was only 20 miles into my 80 mile day around noon. I hadn't yet gotten to go grocery shopping so I stopped at a Brewery and had a large sandwich. You know portion sizes are huge when you can only eat half during a day of riding. By the time I was done with lunch, the local Meadery had opened. I was faced with a decision: ride my intended distance for the day, or drink Mead and pay for a hotel room. I decided that on this trip I'm going to experience the world, not just ride through it, and stopped at the Meadery.

The problem with mead is that it is too smooth and therefore easy to keep drinking. The problem with drinking a bunch of mead is that it makes biking harder. I'm not even talking about getting drunk, but a flight of mead makes me not want to go anywhere. I need to make some progress for the day, other wise tomorrow would be worse. I sucked it up and road to a hotel in Dinwiddie, which is less of a town and more of a collection of hotels and gas stations near the highway. The lady at the front desk gave me a nice discount for the night and I slept wonderfully, a product of all of the previous nights of staying up late.