028: Day 35: May 13: Converse to Rochester IND: 56 miles today and 1131 in total (m196.8)

Today the birds woke me early and I enjoyed their choir. There are so many happy songs in nature.

We packed up quickly for we had many urgent needs.  

Our coffee and glazed bagels were waiting for us at Lucy's Car Wash and Drivethrough Shop. We ate next to the vacuum - must say, neither of us are sugar fans, but these bagels were vacuumed away.

Then we pulled up at Converse's Circle K for a pit stop.

We had about 15 miles of road cycling ahead of us to link up with the Nickle Plate Trail at Bennett's Switch. I am adding the following photos as a memory of the farm scenery. The road was in very good shape and the drivers, especially the truck drivers, were very considerate of us. You still get the crazy ones as well - like the one who decided to overtake a slow moving vehicle at the same spot where Christine was occupying the narrow shoulder.

We passed this old Shell Gas Station in Wawpecong. It closed several years ago and was converted into a small store. When we cycled past, it was closed. Pity, we would have stopped for a look inside.

We soon reached the Nickle Plate Trailhead and I had to reset my expectations clock again. We were so blessed to have the C&O Canal Towpath and all the other beautiful trails around Annandale VA that I sort of expected that all other trails would be inferior in some way. This trip showed me up to now that my expectations are wrong. We were treated to a beautiful Trail the next 38 miles. This is a visit-again Trail.

This is how we started.

The first section had some very rough patches with root-bumps and smaller potholes, but the beauty more than made up for the slowdowns we had.

Beautiful Flowers

Somebody built a beautiful new home next to the Trail.

A couple of long tressles over rivers, all flowing strongly after the rains of last week.

You will agree that the flowers, trees and everything combined to a very pretty sight.

We reached the City of Peru much too quickly. This is the Wabash River. Peru is on the other river bank.

We stopped at the Peru Trailhead. The Trail is incomplete through town and we had to cycle on some of the city streets.

We had to stop at the East End Double Dip for some of the good stuff. 🥰🥰🥰

We also had to cycle around a goods train blocking several rail crossings in town. The locals know about this and they immediately pointed us down the street to a subway to cross the rail lines.

Beyond Peru we started on the Trail again at the Lover's Lane Trailhead. 

And the beauty continued.

These last three photos were taken at the same spot. I turned 90 degrees between each one.

We were amused with these signs at some of the trestles. The trail developers did a great job and this sign was, perhaps, a bit of an overkill.

Christine likes to take close-up pictures, in this case of a Robin's eggshell. 

This photo brings out the essence of a good Trail - a well sign-posted and designed road crossing and keeping up the expectations for what is still to come. Up front you can see the Trail curving back into the trees while there is a large pond on the left - still too far to see the water and the birds. 

Soon we came to the end of the Trail at Rochester and we were off to the Post Office to pick up our first box sent by Lizl, our daughter. 

We were both smiling broadly and were happy to see the Salami and chocolate covered Digestives that Lizl and Louise qadded for Mother's Day and my birthday.

Thanks so much again.

In case anyone has noticed that we seem to be wearing our raincoats a lot, this has been not so much to keep off rain but rather to block out the wind, which can be really icy at times.