Update #19 - April 05th, 2002
Mt. Gilead, OH - 3,719 miles

The ride between Millersburg, KY and Mt. Gilead, OH went okay. Traffic for the light in most places. Generally, I had a good shoulder to ride along. There wasn't really a hard part for this section. The coast down to the Ohio River was pretty gradual and so was the climb out of the Ohio River Valley.

The weather has been a mixed bag as usual. Temperature wise it was quite cold. I had to deal with early morning temperatures in the middle twenties to highs just in the upper fourties. Skies were pretty overcast. Several mornings, I had to deal with some sleet. I layered my clothes with five layers up top and three layers down below along with wearing two pairs of gloves. With all of this layering, I had to worry about overheating and sweating. When I got into Mt. Gilead yesterday afternoon after riding 59 miles from Mechanicsburg, my t-shirt was wet from sweat.

With regards to churches, I was connected with some good ones. I had two good nights with the Rev. Deutsch, the Presbyterian minister in Millersburg, KY. Baptist churches in Mount Orab and Yellow Springs, Ohio hosted me by providing me with motel rooms. In Mechanicsburg, I camped out in the parlor of the Methodist Church.

I had a bit of a scare two mornings ago at the Methodist church. I woke up with a start thinking that somehow I had overslept. When I checked my watch, it said 9:58. This got my heart pumping. It turned out that the time on the watch was wrong. Somehow while I slept, the watch switched over to stopwatch mode. I must have bumped it as I turned over. It was just 6:00 a.m. What had awoken me initially was light coming into the parlor from under one of the doors. I'm sort of light sensitive. I wake up automatically when my eyes register enough light through my eyelids. I have the most terrible time trying to stay asleep during full moons or when I'm near security lights or in rooms that either have venetian blinds or light curtains. I sleep the best in total darkness. The light coming into the parlor wasn't from daylight but from a flourescent light in the hallway that stayed on all night. The parlor didn't have any windows.

I'm taking four or five days off with friends here in Mt. Gilead. I haven't planned my route yet but I will be traveling Northeast to Erie, PA and then on to New York and then eventually Maine.