Day 26 Hocking Hills, Waterfalls and West Virginia!

Today we headed into the Hocking Hills of Ohio.  The morning started as usual but as I took my bag out to the truck I saw Ann T with her rain jacket.  I asked her if it was supposed to rain and her answer was "Yes, hard".  I always carry my rain jacket and probably 10 lbs of other stuff, so I did not worry about having to find it.  It was definately overcast but on the cooler side at the ride start.  Within the first 10 miles or so it started raining pretty hard.  I did not like it as we were riding hills and I had problems stopping at crossroads on the downhill.  I could not get my brakes to respond as fast as I wanted.  Eventually it let up. 

As I cycled through the small town of Laurelville, I stopped to check my directions and two Amish or Meninite men came out of a restaurant to ask me questions about our ride.  They had seen the other cyclist come through and just wondered where we were going.  They pointed me in the right direction and I was back on my way.

For whatever reason, I started going mental about the ride.  Pat, my buddy from NOLA, would tell me that I was thinking too much and I probably was.  I decided to sag at the first stop and I was 30 minutes behind the others anyway.  This was actually a good thing as I was able to take a short hike into Ash Cave.  It was a beautiful carved out area with a waterfall in the hocking hills.  The area was very forrested and had sandstone walls.  There were a lot of trees and ferns nestled in the carved out area along with a small brook.  As you walked deeper into the carved out area (not really a cave) you could hear the waterfall.  It was very serene.

At lunch, pb&j and pears, I was waffling about sagging all the way in to town.  Thanks to Cov insisting that I get back on my bike, I rode in and had a great ending to my day.  I did get to ride to the West Virginia sign which was hanging from a bridge in town.  I guess Parkersburg is like Texarkana - a city situated in two states.

The terrain finally changed from farmland (corn) to beautiful rolling hills. 

Walking to the waterfall and carved out area called "Ash Cave"

Sandstone forming the carved out area of Ash Cave

Waterfall at Ash Cave - okay, so it is just a trickle - it is still a waterfall in my book.

The waterfall is next to the tree in this picture - prettily camaflauged

Vikki and Chris at the 2nd sag - they both get lots of mail...

Crossing into our 10th state - Whoo Hoo!

Tomorrow we will continue into the Appalachian Mountains.  I will probably have to sag for time over the next couple days, but I will do my best as we roll closer to our goal of Williamsburg, Va.