Cleveland --> Michigan City

Another exciting week (almost) on the 4k has come and gone and it's hard to believe.

Day 7: Cleveland
We had a fantastic day off in Cleveland. I have to say that I was skeptical about Cleveland. I hadn't really heard too many exciting things about it, but I had a really great time. We visited the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which was really really cool. They had all sorts of Beatles paraphernalia, like the jackets from Sgt. Pepper's. I really got a kick out of all the outfits they had on display, like the ones worn by Queen and David Bowie. They were really out there. The entire waterfront area of Cleveland was pretty cool and entertained us for a while. We ended the day by seeing Up, which was a very good Pixar movie. The day off was very needed and let us all catch up on our sleep and let our muscles heal a little.

Day 8: Cleveland -> Sandusky

This was definitely a pretty easy day. The ride was short and relatively uneventful, except for towards the end of the ride when we hit an unpaved road that lasted almost 4 miles. That really was pretty miserable and we were extremely glad when it ended. The scenery along the road was definitely nice, as it went right along Lake Erie and we had one of our water stops right along the water. My group made such good time that we stopped and got ice cream on the ride. We stayed at a middle school in Sandusky, which had a pool. We played a team game of water polo before dinner. Then after dinner, we all went to Cedar Point, which is one of the greatest amusement parks in the world. I accidentally threw my ticket out though, right after paying for it and had to go digging through the trash to get it back. But they have so many roller coasters that just insanely fast and high. And because we were there on a Sunday night, there were no lines and we were just able to walk onto all of the roller coasters as many times as we wanted.

Day 9: Sandusky -> Fayette

This was our first century. We rode 100 miles! It was extremely difficult but we did it. The day started out easy. We flew through the first 20 miles, but soon it started raining. Raining makes biking much harder because the roads get all slippery so we had a couple of teammates wipe out on the same set of railroad tracks. Plus the rain made us all cold and wet, so not too much fun. But the rain did let up, and the ride stayed pretty easy until around mile 70. This is when everyone in my group began to get tired. And the knowledge that the ride is nowhere near over did not really help. A pit stop at a fruit stand helped for a short while. We bought a giant basket of the biggest, juiciest, freshest strawberries that I have ever seen for just $2.50! After the last water stop (80 miles), every pedal stroke was torture. My legs really did not want to keep going but my group worked through it together. We distracted ourselves with 20 Questions and I Spy to keep going. When we finally arrived at the church for the night, most of us just laid on the grass and didn't move for a little while. Physically, everything hurt, but mentally I felt really really awesome. I just found it so hard to believe that I had biked 100 miles.
That night was a little scary because there were tornado warnings for the district. I really don't like tornadoes, so I was nervous, but we got through the night tornado free.

Day 10: Fayette, OH-> Elkhart, IN

This was an eventful day of lots of miles and state lines. So we did our first century the day before and I was hoping for a short day to give myself time to recover, but no such luck on this 90 mile long day. Breakfast was a seemingly delicious egg and sausage casserole that just didn't sit right in anyone in my group's stomachs, we all started out the day feeling pretty ill. My group aptly named ourselves Team Vomit.
On the bright side, we crossed two state lines. The first was from Ohio into Michigan, just three miles north of Fayette. We got our photos and kept on trekking. Then about twenty miles later (after a water stop and some vomiting) we crossed the state line into Indiana. Yay for state signs! The day was really tough again. I was already extremely tired from the previous day's century and really not feeling to great, so the day kind of dragged on until mile 80, when I miraculously felt completely fine! The last ten miles flew by and I felt fantastic after finishing 190 miles in two days. It was pretty cool biking through some Amish country. We saw several horses and buggies, which was neat.

Day 11: Elkhart -> Michigan City, IN
This was a pretty easy day. We accidentally biked on some highway and some of our team members got pulled over but other than that it was definitely a good day. We exploded a bottle of diet coke at a water stop. We got in early enough to go to some sand dunes near the beach. We got an amazing view of the beach, a nuclear power plant, and could even see Chicago! Also the church we stayed in was really really cool. It was definitely haunted, with all sorts of secret passages and hidden hallways. It was creepy.