019: Days 24, 25, 26: Massillon to Holmesville OH (one day cycle and two rest days) - 35 miles for the day and 744 miles in total (m146.2)

We were happy with the additional research we did last night, the Sippo Valley Rail Trail is 10 miles long and goes straight from Massillon to Dalton. The original plan was to first go to Clinton and then turn south to Dalton, a total of 25 miles. 

I am dissatisfied with the Rails to Trails map of the Great Americam Rail Trail - it could, at least, have shown the Sippo Valley Trail as an alternative to the current plans. 

The Sippo Valley Trail is entirely paved with either asphalt or crushed limestone. A great ride with many users on this Saturday morning. 

The road crossings are well-marked.

The bridges/tresles are in good shape.

What we are seeing more and more, people come over for a chat. Dennis turned around and wanted to chat, wishing us well with out trip. He told us that the Sippo Velley Trail was left out of the GART to motivate the construction of gap trails along the promoted route. 

Beautiful farm scenes all over. 

We realised that we were in Amish-country when we saw this additional sign at one road crossing.

We had great Quessidillas at Los Tios Restaurant in Dalton OH. We were a bit early and within an hour the restaurant was packed. 

Chuck Merkle walked over and we began to chat about bikes and hiking. He did the John Muir Trail last year and thoroughly enjoyed it. 

Our parting shots at the Los Tios.

We left Dalton and had to do about 15 miles on the road. Lovely, peaceful farm scenes along the way. 

BUT the wind picked up strongly and this is the best shot I had of the wind trying to push Christine sideways. We had to push a lot, as the wind was mostly in our faces the whole afternoon.

We passed this school in Maysville, incorporated in 1850.

Beautiful farm scenes. 

An interesting snippet is that this part of Ohio has the second largest Amish population in the USA, after Pennsylvania. We also understood that those of non-Amish faith are collectively called, "English." When shall we ever become one??

We reached Fredericksburg and had to stop for????? Ice cream😇😇 It was heavenly.

What a beautiful building for the Fredericksburg Elementary School.

At Fredericksburg we got onto the Holmes County Trail. Interestingly, half width is for cyclists and pedestrians and the other half-width is for buggies. 

We were quite tired when we reached our home away from home for the next three days, Kara and Steve's AirBnB called, Little Rock Schoolhouse Loft. 

A magnificent loft where we had all we needed. Thanks for inviting us to dinner as well. This was unexpected and above and beyond what we expected. 

Since we decided to stay for two more days to miss the rains coming through, we also had some time for a walk, I caught Christine next to the creek. 

Yesterday we chatted with a middle-aged Amish couple on the trail. They pointed us to the airbnb, as I, in my infinite wisdom, cycled right past it. While we were out for our walk, Wayne, the Amish gentleman of yesterday, stopped his tractor and came over for another chat. He works for the organisation that maintains the trail and he was busy mowing the grass along the trail.