We start by sleeping in to 6:00 am, drinking coffee and reading the paper in bed. No hurry for us. No bike clothes, no suntan lotion, no bike shoes!
We want to see 2 things today—Harriet Beecher Stowe’s house and the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. We are staying in Milford, Ohio which is just outside of Cincinnati. A taxi will be needed for us to get us around the town of Cincinnati population 308,000. Cincinnati is known as the "Grand Central Station of the Underground Railroad."
A call for a cab brings us Omar. He is very nice and $50 later takes us to Harriet Beecher Stowe’s house. We had to go back into Kentucky to see the house. The home is open at 10:00 am. Omar drops us off and lets us know that it is "not a safe neighborhood" –he gives us his card and tells us to call when we want to leave.
The house is not well kept up and not opens on time. We hang around with another lady who is doing some gemological study until 10:30 am –not open yet. She offers to take us downtown to the Freedom Center, so we say yes. Oh well we got pictures of the outside. (As a sidebar—Bruce was going to propose to me at this house 2 years ago when we had to cancel our trip due to our accident.
The Freedom Center is across from the John Robbling Bridge. He was a Historical Civil Engineer. The bridge is a prototype of the Brooklyn Bridge. It was an impressive structure.
The Freedom Center was an excellent summary of the Underground Railroad. Bruce and I ended up spending 3 hours exploring the center. The building is 3 stories high. Inside is a circular stairway that leads you through 3 floors of the history of slavery. When you reach the top you step outside to the ever burning flame of freedom. The organization of each floor is around 3 words: cooperation, perseverance and courage. We walked up and through each floor visiting each pavilion of cooperation, perseverance and courage. The most impressive feature was the
We end our day at the Rock Bottom Brewery just off the Fountain Square. A beer, a glass of wine, snacks and outside eating is just a perfect ending for out day.
Tomorrow is Sunday—we are hoping to "sneak out of town."
No critter count today Thank goodness. It has been about 7 days since our last break. Slave Pen. It was discovered on a farm in Kentucky and moved to the center. The small log structure was used to store 75 slaves waiting to be shipped to the Deep South. July 24, 2011
Today we will get to ride on Little Miami Scenic Trail. Our first bike trail on our trip. This used to be an "overground" railroad until the mid1800’s. This is one of the longest paved rails to trails in the United States. (It is supported by the Rails to Trails organization of which Bruce and I are members.) We notice the lack of Cicadas, but they must have slept in because they came alive around 10:00 am.
Ok imagine this…car and dog free paved trail winding among rural landscapes, rolling farmlands, picturesque towns, river cliffs, birds and "our peeps"-cyclist. That
was today. Bruce and I thought we "died and went to bike heaven." The little towns we bike through all have a history of safe houses for freedom seekers.
To the north of the trail is the town of Springboro (Quakers) because of time and distance we were not able to visit, but it was a frequent stopover for freedom seekers. In our field notes we learned that a candle in the window meant safe house and a quilt on the clothesline meant keep going and walk softly because the house is not safe.
I wonder "Do clothes really dry here when you put them on the clothesline?" I had time to think about that today. I don’t think so. Also in my "wonder bucket" is when will Sweet Tea go away? I had it last night!
Thanks to Adrian Boomer for helping me identify the mysterious bird. It is a Baltimore Oriole They have been fun to watch today.
We stopped at Fort Ancient Earthworks. It is largest earthen structures build by Ohio’s ancient Hopewell culture.
Our last 3 miles into Cedarville we pedal our "butts" off as we try to beat a rainstorm. We are sky watching and notice the darkening clouds! Next comes the thunder….no lightening yet. We make it with 10 minutes to spare as the sky opens up and pours. Whew! We are staying at a beautiful inn—I could stay here a couple of days.
Today Bruce and I reflected on the trip so far. We have spent the last 1200 miles trying to "escape" from the heat, humidity, dogs and some day’s cars. Now we are in Ohio and we feel relieved. The weather has cooled (no air-conditioning on in the room and the window is open) and the terrain was welcoming.
Arrival time 2:20 pm (We had a great time eating lunch on the trail and visiting with other bikers.)
Stats for July 24, 2011
62 miles, 11.5 mph, 5 hours 22 minutes ride time, 800 feet elevation gain.
No comments:
Post a Comment