August 21, 2024. Napoleon, Ohio to Monroeville, Indiana

   Another beautiful day. We rode another section of remaining towpath for about 8 miles along the Maumee River which had a nice hard-packed surface. We were often in the woods but also had many views of the river. 

    In Defiance, we turned southwest following the Auglaize River, a branch of the Maumee. Then after we turned westward roughly following Flat Rock Creek, we passed a farm with a sign “cheese for sale.” Thankfully a woman was getting their mail so we asked about the cheese. Even though their farm store wasn’t officially open, she was more than happy let us into it and sell us some cheese. We found out that some children’s furniture in the store for customer’s children to play with had been made by her uncle 47 years ago. Also they made their cheese from grass-fed Normandy dairy cows, although they have started adding some Jersey’s.

Our route roughly followed Flat Rock Creek to Paulding, county seat of the county with the same name. Across from the courthouse square, we saw

Nini's Ice Cream store. They also had tacos, so we each had a lengua taco, and then some homemade walnut and pistachio ice cream.

 We continued to parallel the creek to the state line where we traveled about 3 miles south along the border and crossed the busy Lincoln Highway. Then we headed west to Monroeville. 

 Monroeville is a tiny town but it is famous among long-distance cyclists. First, it is the intersection of two long-distance cycling routes, and also the endpoint for a section of maps for these routes. Second, because they house cross-country cyclists for free in their community center in the park, so many bicyclists have stayed there over the years and they even received an award from the Adventure Cycling Association for being helpful to bicyclists. 

 Before heading to the park, we stopped at the Whippy Dip where we got some food. We also planned to get ice cream but our meals were bigger than we expected and we were so full, that we didn’t get some until later. We had been there only a short time when a guy pulled up and introduced himself. He was the contact for using the community center and someone had called him because they saw bicyclists at the Whippy Dip so he figured it was us. Emma, a high school student, was taking the orders at the window, was very friendly. There weren’t a lot of customers right then so she asked us about biking and about our trip. 

    When we headed to the park, the coordinator met us there and showed us around. We've got cots to sleep on, a shower and even a washing machine to use all for free

 

  There was no Wi-Fi and a poor cell phone connection so Jim headed over to the friendly and helpful local library to do some planning for the next few days, then brought back some ice cream for dessert.