We started off slowly at Muncie. I had a couple of very itchy insect bites and we wanted to get something at the Walmart Pharmacy. The pharmacy opened at 09:00 and we also did some shopping - imagine shopping where all you carry out the door must fit on two loaded bicycles. The shopping took much longer than usual, as we had to look for smaller packages, etc.
However, we must be fitter than one month ago, as we cycled 45 miles in the afternoon - unthinkable as a daily total in the beginning.

We joined the Cardinal Greenway again and the beautiful scenery continued. This photo shows a typical entrance to the trail. The gates in the middle seem to be closed to prevent motorised traffic from using the Trail.
A typical rural road crossing, or rather, if you look closely, two road crossings with both roads crossing the Trail in a skew manner. I realised that this was the same as most of OHIO as well - the roads are on a N-S and E-W grid and the trail (old rail line) followed the shorter route between towns.
We saw a significant number of groundhogs along the trails. However, this is the first time we saw a "tree-hog." This fellow was having a peaceful sunny afternoon and did not seem to be bothered with the modelling session.
We came to the end of this section of the Cardinal Greenway at the Town of Gaston IND. From here we had to do about 11 miles of back-country roads.
The first five miles, between Gaston and Matthews, was a very bumpy and poor asphalt road. I stopped to take a photo of Christine holding her hemet. She was afraid that this would hop off her head.
At Matthews we stopped for a Coke and a packet of chips. This five-mile section was too much and we had to rest. And to cap it all, I had to go to a restroom, but the gas station's restroom was out of order. The person behind the counter did not know of any other public restroom apart from one in the next town. We were getting more rural.
And we were also coming across people that think differently. I, for one, would never associate "Conservation"with "shooting sports."
Anyway, we soon reached Jonesboro and linked up with the last section of the Cardinal Greenway. This was our welcome at the Trailhead.
And
This is what we saw along the way.
We also passed a major washaway where a lot of repair work was already done. Great job and thanks for keeping the trail open, trail managers and volunteers!!!!

This is a newer road-over-trail bridge on the outskirts of Marion.
We met Gary, a retired school Principal and College Professor close to this ball field. He was out cycling for some exercise. He offered that we could camp in his back yard, but we wanted to move on a little bit further. Thanks a lot, Gary, we add your name to our list of Trail Angels.
The beauty continued. Outside Marion, the trail ran between a live rail line and farm land. The views are spectacular, especially on the waterlogged sections.
We soon reached the end of the Cardinal Greenway, a trail we shall remember for a long time.
The Sweetser Switch Trail linked up with the Cardinal Greenway and we had another 4,5 miles of well-designed and maintained trail.
There is a covered bridge at both ends of this trail.
Somebody had the brilliant idea to rent out this rock on a weekly basis for advertisements.

past the last covered bridge,
welcome sign, and
linked up on the Converse Junction.
Tonight we slept out in the open next to the Trail - cowboy camping. The stars were amazing, so bright.
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