Category

Day Rides

• 05.26.08
  John Montgomery
  Day Rides, Eaton County MI (2)

  For yesterday's bike ride, I looked for a destination in Eaton County. The wind forecast suggested that would be a good direction. I searched the county histories, and came up with a Black Hawk anecdote that was new to me. From the 1880 history of Eaton County, page 477, is the following material (which seems to have been taken from some other source): He began his military career soon after coming into the county, in Washtenaw County, as a minute-man. He had been there but one year when the Black Hawk war broke out. He was ...
  
  
• 07.19.07
  1 July 2007 - Salamonia to treaty line corner
  Amishville base camp - 2007, Day Rides, Jay County IN, Randolph County IN (0)

  After Salamonie, there were more gravel roads to mark the treaty line. It was probably this sign, at the crossroads known as Boundary City, that got me started seven years on looking for the marks left on the landscape by the Indian treaties. For this particular boundary of this particular treaty (the Fort Wayne Treaty of 1809) they are pretty obvious. This was the end of the road as far as following the northern boundary of the treaty. The boundary crosses US-27 here. But here is a puzzle that I didn't notice until I got back and started looking at ...
  
  
• 07.18.07
  1 July 2007 - Fort Recovery to Salamonia
  Amishville base camp - 2007, Day Rides (0)

  Back to the July 1 ride. After leaving Fort Recovery (finally) I rode, mostly along the treaty line roads, to Salamonia, on the upper reaches of the Salamonie River. There was more to the town than I expected, given that there are no state highways that go to it. This was part of it. Whether there are any extant businesses elsewhere in town, I don't know. I didn't see any. Here I stopped and finally figured out the cause of the noise I had been hearing for some time, which had made me wonder if my ...
  
  
• 07.08.07
  30 Jun 2007 - Starter ride to Murray
  Adams County IN, Amish country, Amishville base camp - 2007, Day Rides, Wells County IN (1)

  It didn't take long to set up camp, but it was already late in the afternoon. The wind was from the southeast, so I picked Murray, to the northwest, as the destination. This would be good enough for a starter ride. I rode mostly on the St. Mary's side of the Wabash River. The terrain here is mostly flat, much of it very flat. This view from an old schoolyard is a small sample. I never got near my granny gear for the entire four-day outing. Here's another view of the school. More flatness. I got ...
  
  
• 11.23.06
  Reuben White, Convis township hall
  Day Rides, Township halls (2)

  Thanksgiving day afternoon was good for riding -- with clear skies, afternoon highs in the 50s, and a light wind out of the south. The day's destination was near the Convis Township hall. A Reuben White had farmed there. The county histories said he had served in the militia in the Black Hawk war. LeRoy Barnett's compilation of militia rosters doesn't have him listed, but that seems to be the case with others from the Marshall area as well. (Service in the war probably would have consisted of making the 45 mile trek to Schoolcraft, only to find out that ...