The first question many people ask us is "Why Bloomington Indiana?" Although Bloomington is not well known as a vacation wonderland we had heard bits and pieces about the area and were curious to find out more. To most cyclists Bloomington is best known for the 70's bike related cult classic movie "Breaking Away". The town is also the home to Indiana University which still hosts the Little 500 bike race as seen in the movie. Bec found a fact sheet containing locations where some scenes from the movie were filmed so we could visit them. Web: http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/print/1413.html.

Two more deciding factors that led us to our week-long odyssey into the Heartland of America were as follows:

1. Family friend and fellow cyclist, Andrew, gave us a packet of 30 ride maps from the Bloomington Bicycle Club. The maps proved to be invaluable leading us on the best rides the area had to offer.

2. Louie's boss, Rob is a "Hoosier", i.e. IU alumni, and spoke favorably of the area's scenic attributes and the people who live there. See definition of Hoosier at: http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=hoosier&r=67

We were sold on the idea and promptly purchased our plane tickets, packed our Santana coupling tandem, began our "Break Away" from Portland, Oregon, and headed for Bloomington.

We are getting better at lasting through long flights having trained for this occasion by flying to New Zealand in February, but, since we are flying no frills on Southwest Airlines, we are forced to subsist on a diet of crackers, peanuts, diet pop and coffee. Bec keeps herself entertained by talking to people who have been visiting Portland but are returning to Indiana. They all tell us that the Bloomington area is beautiful and that Lake Monroe is especially nice. When we pick up the rental car in Indianapolis, the woman at the counter has difficulty understanding that we came to ride a bike. She did not think anyone came to Indiana unless they had business or relatives.

Bec has put together her usual notebook of information to enable us to find our campground even in the dark. We try not to wake the other campers as we put up our tent. Tired as we are, we have difficulty falling asleep, partly because of excitement and partly because of the intense noise made by all the local insects. Throughout the trip we see bugs that defy our imagination, the strangest one being a very small bit of white fluff that looked like a piece of lint, but was very much alive and crawling along the top of Bec's pop can.

In the morning Bec takes the car to find food while Louie re-constructs the Huckleberry, our coupling Santana tandem. Other cyclists had camped nearby. They are all going to do the Ride Across Indiana that starts this morning. One of them just got back from Portland. He thought our downtown was very "lively".

After some debate and study of the Bloomington Bicycle Club's ride map packet, we decide to do their "Ride around Bloomington" so that we can get to know the area better. Since we are getting a late start, it is already very humid and hot, but back in Portland it is raining and cold. The ride begins by taking us through the neighborhoods. There is no trash and the lawns are all mowed. We are surprised by both the appearance and numbers of log houses.

We leave the homes and ride into the countryside. The lawns expand in size but maintain their manicure. Dogs come out to play, the smallest of which does not understand the English word of "No" so Louie growls, which does the trick. Road signs are not needed. We are supposed to turn at the rock pillar or the Baptist Church. However, Sample Road evades us. We know we have gone too far, but cannot decide what to do so we take a break. Louie plops down for a rest while Bec looks for the "Ladies Room" in the bushes. As she scrambles out of the brush, another cyclist comes by. David Moore offers to take us to Sample Road, which has no road sign. The ride packet warned us to watch our odometer, as many country roads are not labeled. It is hard to pay that close of attention when we are so mesmerized by the beautiful scenery.

Relaxing back into the ride, Bec is surprised by a flock of wild turkeys. They are huge birds that make a tremendous racket when moving through the forest or across the street. The local people hunt them for food and sport. Judging by the noise they make, they must be very easy to find and hunt!

Alongside the road are gigantic blocks of stone, obviously cut, but abandoned for reasons we do not understand. Many of the houses are made from stone, have stone animals adorning their yard, and stone picnic tables under large oak trees. In the town of Mathews, we pass a stone mansion, complete with widow's walk on the roof. We wonder what it must have been like to live in such a large stone house. Does it have stone floors and stone staircases? Does the stone keep it cool inside? Are the walls inside stone, too?

As it gets later we see young people on bicycles and older people on motorcycles. It is a bit odd for us, because in Portland it is just the opposite. The curious thing is that the bicyclists are all wearing helmets but the motorcyclists are not. We wonder how that could happen. What are they thinking?!

We ride up and down hills all day. Why isn't it flat? Isn't Indiana supposed to be flat? But, there is always another hill to climb. Then in a rare moment of flatness, we come to an airport with two colorful hot air balloons being filled for lift off. Bec wants to stay to watch them become airborne, but Louie reminds her that it is getting late in the day and we still have 20 miles to the finish. Searching for a missing road sign we notice that at the adjacent fairgrounds the closed gates have signs everywhere saying, "No dogs! No alcohol! No bicycles!" We are not too happy about being grouped with alcohol and dogs and can not figure out why.

As we near the end of the ride, Louie expresses his disappointment in not finding a single garage sale. In Portland, Sunday is the day for all the bargains, but here Sunday is reserved for church. We cannot even buy Louie a well-deserved beer today. We come across a road named "That" road. How strange. "Where do you live? I live on That road. Which road? No, not Which road, That road." It is the old "Who's on first routine".

The day ends with 59 miles and 2830 feet of climbing, though it seemed like more climbing than that to us. It must be that each climb was short, but steep.

We decide that today we will visit the downtown area and find the two bike trails that we saw on our "Ride Around Bloomington". The city is bustling. It feels as if the cars go faster downtown than they do in the country. We park just outside the main downtown area and ride the bike through Indiana University. The buildings are very gothic in appearance and are mostly made of ornately carved stone. Big fraternity houses line the edges of the University property. We find evidence that the kids still take the "Little 500" seriously judging by "Little 500 ride or die" painted on the stairs of one of the frat houses.

We visit some local bicycle shops to find Bec another helmet mirror since she lost the one she brought with her. The stores are small with stock that caters more to the University crowd. For lunch Louie has one of Indiana's famous tenderloin sandwiches. We have two other food items we have to find before we go home - chili-mac and White Castle burgers. The tenderloin sandwich is delicious.

Bloomington is nothing like we thought it would be. We expected to see a sleepy college town with wide streets and bike lanes. In fact the streets are narrow with barely room for a bike. Sidewalks almost everywhere in town are bustling with people. Parking for cars, if it can be found, is at a premium. The IU campus is no exception. Students fill beautifully landscaped pathways between the gothic limestone buildings. After only one day of sightseeing in Bloomington proper we decide to leave the hectic life of the big-little city and use our ride maps to explore rural Indiana.

On our way to the Clear Creek bike trail, we discover the "Bicycle Apartments". We ride around them and through the courtyard that has some old inadequate bike racks with old rusted bikes chained to them. We decide that it must be that there is no parking for cars near so it is an attempt to feature something that cannot be fixed. In the paper we had read that the city fathers were trying to get more parking downtown. Bec thinks they should get more ways to move people rather than places to park cars, but that is the Portland in her talking.

The Clear Creek trail is very nice. They have done a good job creating it because it is wide and scenic. It even has restrooms at the trailheads. The only problem with it is that it is too short. Just as we get lulled into bike bliss by the lush green landscape, the thankfully flat trail, it ends! We loop around to hop onto the unpaved Bloomington Rail Trail. We like it, too. At times we are riding through a tunnel of tree canopy and other times we are riding in a gouge cut through the rocks that allowed the train to travel on an easy grade. We can see that the layer of soil is very thin and it amazes us that it supports such a lush landscape.

We get to ride on That road again.

Today we rode 13 miles. Wow!

Once more we are studying the ride maps. We pick the "Bloomington Bicycle Club Nashville Ride". It will take us to the Yellowwood Forest in the Little Smokies. Again, the hills do not end. At one place we climb up to the top of the hills so that we can look out on all the trees and all the hills. It does remind us of the Smoky Mountains complete with the haze caused by respirating trees.

We ride into Nashville, a town filled with historic buildings and have lunch. We had no idea that they had such a place. It is filled with tourists. We even see the "Red Hat" ladies there by the dozens. Bec talks to one of the people passing her on the street who tells her that 2 million visitors a year come here to shop for hand made artist type items. The street reminds us of an old west movie set. We decide to eat at the local grocery store turned restaurant. The floors are worn wood. Over the door the original wallpaper peeks through all the years of remodel. We find out that they uncovered the wallpaper just so we could enjoy its unique patriotic theme.

While reading the local newspaper, we learn about URB's, Unexplained Resting Boulders. Out in the middle of the Yellowwood Forest, unreachable by any type of vehicle or machinery, in the tops of some of the trees rest these large 2-ton boulders. There is no indication of pulleys or ropes being used to get the boulders there and no way for them to have gotten there as the trees grew because they are too heavy. The only thing that people can entertain as reasonable is that they got there during a tornado some how.

We go through some of the oddest named towns. There is Unionville and then there is New Unionville. The cutest named town was Beanblossom. We wonder how these towns got their names! But then again, there is always That road.

Back on the road in the forest, we see some turkey vultures dining on one of the many roadside squirrels. Squirrels are everywhere. They must not have many natural predators here except for cars. Out from the trees comes another bunch of wild turkeys followed by a deer. Those turkeys need to take some lessons from the deer that bounded out of the forest, crossed the road, and disappeared into the brush on the other side with nary a sound while the turkeys were still thrashing about noisily in the bushes.

Before arriving back at town we decide that we are way too hungry to cook at camp so we stop at a restaurant and have chili-mac for dinner. Louie likes it, but it is not exactly what Bec enjoys. She is glad she tried it anyway. Now the only food remaining to try is the White Castle Burger. Leaving the restaurant, we need to cross a separated highway. Between the two roads is a park. The park has this most wonderful water feature where the creek is dammed up to make a series of walled off ponds. The water spills over these walls. We try to capture it on film, but it does not do it justice.

Just before the end of the ride we are surprised by some police action. A Bloomington Police cruiser is stopped in the road with the lights on. As we pass Louie looks over his shoulder and sees the officer wrestling with squirrel. A back-up cruiser passes by and the officer gives him a thumbs-up "situation under control". Curiosity gets the best of us. Without regard for own safety we dismount the tandem and walk back to the crime scene to find out what's happening. By the time we arrive, the officer has already got Mr. Squirrel into a box. Apparently they keep one handy for just this occasion. In Bloomington, Squirrels outnumber people, and the competition for food is fierce. So when this Squirrel saw two young students walking along, minding their own business, eating sunflower seeds, he decided to turn to life of crime. Jumping from a utility pole in an attempt to nab the sunflower seeds the "Perp" misses his mark and hits the ground with a thud. The would-be victims scream in horror at the sight of the unconscious but still breathing Squirrel. That's when the police officer arrived and Mr. Squirrel tried to make a break for it. Everybody in Bloomington loves the Squirrels including the two women involved who refused to press charges. "He's sooo cute!" We even heard the officer say "I love these little guys, I wish I could take him home." The officer puts the box in the back seat of his cruiser and drives off. We mount the tandem and ride a few blocks when we hear a single gunshot. Could it be the end of Mr. Squirrel? "BAD SQUIRREL- BAD SQUIRREL! What you gonna do they come for you?"

What a day! We got in 56 miles and climbed 3100 feet.

No biking today! We are fishing. Bec brought these little folding fishing polls and she is determined to use them! We drive down to Lake Monroe and try a couple of spots. We can see fish jumping all around, but they just are not jumping on our hook. All at once Louie gets a bite. He wrestles it to shore and proudly displays the catch of the day. It is a good thing we don't have to live on what we catch!

We decide to drive out to Lemon Lake and try that. Again, we see lots of fish jumping, but not one single bite. Oh well, Bec enjoyed the rest and Louie did get the only fish of the day.

Fishing poles $15. Two, 7 day fishing licenses $24. Lake Monroe Park fee $4. Three inch lake perch we caught, priceless.

On the way back to camp we pass White Castle Burgers so we stop in to see what all the fuss is about. We order 4 of them. Well, we are still trying to figure this out. They are very small almost pieces of meat on very small little dinner rolls with a pickle and some re-hydrated onions sprinkled around. They remind us of the original McDonalds hamburgers. We hear that people buy them frozen by the dozens or order them shipped to them frozen all around the country. Why?

We decide to drive around and look for the Empire Quarry that serves as a swimming hole for the local teens in the movie. We find Empire Quarry drive and follow it to the end. We can see evidence of a quarry being there at one time, but now it is all filled in and being used by a mulching company and a construction company. We see the big blocks of rock strewn about, but there is no hole filled with water. We really wanted to see what the quarry looked like up close so we are sad that it is gone.

Today will be our longest ride. We are doing the "Williams Covered Bridge" ride. The Williams Bridge is the longest covered bridge in Indiana, possibly the world. Louie loves to take pictures of covered bridges. He is so excited that he sets the alarm for 5:00 AM. When it goes off, Bec pulls rank and refuses to leave the tent until it is daylight. We do get an early start, but in the daylight!

Before we get too far out of town, Louie spies a Garage Sale. We stop and buy some plastic horseshoes to take with us when we go camping. Louie likes them because they are light enough even Bec can throw them without hurting her back. Now all we have to do is figure out how to play! The ladies try to sell us more, but we have a long way to ride and cannot carry much.

The ride is even more difficult than the others we have done. There are no flat stretches. We climb up one 10% grade, fall down the other side, and struggle up the next. At the bottoms of hills where there are creeks or ponds. We see turtles. It reminds us of our ride in the South because they had lots of turtles, too. Turtles don't like tandems and always dive off the banks or logs into the water when we pass.

The homes have the biggest mowed yards. How do they do that? We can barely keep our little piece of green mowed. These guys would laugh if they saw our yard. "Call that a yard! Why that's just a postage stamp." Places not covered with big yards or trees are covered with corn and soybeans.

Oh dear! Bec did not pack a spare battery and her insulin pump is complaining. We are going to have to find a store. We ride into Williams and see that the only store is straight up a 12 % grade for two blocks. It is just about as steep of a hill as we have ever seen. Up we go. At the top, Bec stumbles off the bike, breathing hard, staggers into the store. Inside are a group of young farmers playing checkers! This is Thursday and the middle of the day. We never have time to sit around and play checkers in the middle of a Thursday! Gasping, Bec says, "Whew! That was one big hill!" "Yup," says one of the farmers. "We saw you all coming up that hill there and wondered what you was up to. But we saw there was two a peddling so we figured you'd make it". They don't have the battery Bec needs so the climb was for nothing. We think they are all still talking about us to this day, because we were probably the most excitement they had in town for a long time! "Mable, you would never believe what we saw. These two city slickers came peddling their two seater bike right up that hill there. Can you believe it? Why no one in these parts is stupid enough to do that!"

At the mouth of the Williams Bridge someone has painted, "Walk your bike or break rim" We see why because the boards have all worn away to create grooves that would catch just about any rim. We dismount and wander around the bridge in awe. It is very tall and narrow. Once inside we look out at a farm framed as if it were a picture by the opening of one end of the bridge. We see carvings in the wood where young men have professing their love from as far back as '47. For all we know, it could be 1847 even, not 1947 because the bridge is that old. It looks as if someone has been trying to preserve it, but it still needs more repairs. Youngsters also are decorating it with spray paint, unfortunately.

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Louie wanders around underneath so he can get a picture that would show the Bridge's size. It's 343 feet long. That's like a thirty story building laid on its side. Bec walks around inside. Just then a tractor comes. She has to press herself against the wall to stay out of the way, but the bridge is tall enough that the contraptions attached to the tractor fit through just fine. We understand now that they must have made the bridge this tall to accommodate hay wagons. Other cars and small trucks come and go. It is a working bridge. We find out later that a new bridge is going to be built and this one preserved to walk through and enjoy. But, more money is needed so it will be a while.

Finally, we come across a stone quarry. Mostly it is used to mine aggregate rock now. That is where the money is. We see a few trucks go by carrying big stones but all the work being done here is dealing with the aggregate. It does have an area where there are many slabs of stone stacked up in a yard. The building that houses the cutting equipment for the stone is empty. Bec rests on the cool stone outside while Louie takes pictures of the whole operation. There are no signs or anyone to stop him. We go a bit farther down the road and find the prized quarry complete with water so clear that you can see way down into the bottom. All around and in the water are abandoned equipment. It is posted but we can see how people have torn down the fencing to get inside probably for a swim on a hot day.

Today's ride was 71.6 miles with 4600 feet of climbing. Ouch!

Today is our last day of riding. We are doing the "Hendricksville Ride to Rosie's'. It takes us through lush green farmland. We take our time. Upon arriving at Rosie's, when we step in the door everyone in there stops talking and eating and looks at us. Judging from the sign outside that proclaims, "You have to be tough to eat here", we are a little concerned that we have no business in here interrupting this community lunch. The place is packed with all types of working men and a few retirees. The only women are the waitresses and Bec. We take a seat, not knowing what will happen next. All at once the friend of a friend who is smoking makes the smoker move to the other side of the table. How polite. Everyone resumes their business. A bunch of old guys get up and go outside to fuss over our bike. Louie joins them and they talk at length about how it works and who does what. Louie and one of the guys come back inside and continue the conversation. "You must be tough commin' in here wearin' shorts like that!" The food arrives. It is nothing fancy. It looks as if it had just come from the grocery store and was slapped on the plate. But, it is food, it is cheap and we are hungry so we down it all.

We begin the ride back, roll down a hill and Bec spies the oddest bird in a creek. She makes Louie turn the bike around to get a better look at it. So now we are facing the wrong way in the road and are out just a bit trying to see what kind of big bird that is. Just then a woman drives down the hill, pulls out around us, stops and rolls down her window. Oh boy. We are going to get an earful now. We are in the wrong so we will just have to take it and apologize. She leans out the window and says, "Whatcha looking at?" We point to the bird and she tells us that it is a crane and that they are starting to come back to the area. "When they spread those wings and swoop down the valley, it just takes your breath away," she says. Wow! What wonderful people!

On down the road a bit more, out in the middle of the farmland, is a big building with a sign that says, "Bike Doctor". We go inside and find a well-stocked, well-maintained, high-end bike shop. What a surprise. This shop is nothing like the ones downtown. We wander around looking at all the merchandise. Then on the wall we see a couple of bikes. They are the original bikes that won several different years of the Little 500. Without asking, Louie does his tourist thing and takes a picture of them. We wish we needed to buy something, but the owner is busy selling a bike so we wander back out and continue on our way.

Of course before we finish the ride we have to ride on That road again but not before we miss it and have to double back. We now have ridden That road from end to end.

This days adventure is 35 miles long with 2110 feet of climbing.

Today we are going to investigate Indianapolis. As we drive there from Bloomington it gets progressively flatter. It looks like we had picked the hilliest section of Indiana to ride. Well, it was good for us anyway.

We park at the historical society and ask where we can find a museum. We want to know about the limestone, how it got there and how it is used. We are directed to the State Museum. After a stroll through the Historical Society and the gift shop we cross the street to a Sate Park where a Civil War re-enactment is taking place. We are on a mission to learn about the state so we only pause long enough to eat our lunch sitting on the grass under a cool shade tree while cannons go off, people in period costume go by, and dogs round up sheep to demonstrate their skill.

To get to the Indiana State Museum we traverse along the Canal Walk, a portion of the Indiana Central Canal, an early nineteenth-century project designed to facilitate commerce in the state via a system of connected waterways. They fell into disuse when trains became more useful and economical. This recent restoration has transformed the downtown portion of the canal into one of the city's favorite attractions. Inside the museum we see some of the timber the canals were made of preserved for future generations.

The Sate Museum is the perfect way to round out our Indiana experience. We spent several hours there. We enjoy learning the history of the region as well as the displays of local artifacts. It is like traveling through time from millions of years ago to the present. This being the "Land of the Indians" has a very dramatic past. The state's natural resources of coal and natural gas fueled a manufacturing boom at the turn of the century. Auto manufactures came to Indiana in the 1930's and even today Toyota Tacoma trucks are assembled there. In the Museum we learn all about the limestone and how early oceans formed it. Most limestone was cut by Indiana farmers before the Great Depression. They worked in deep pits in the blazing sun under adverse and dangerous conditions for very little money. They were very proud of their work. Indaina limestone built the Empire State Building. Today, most of the limestone is used to make aggregate for roads and cement.

Another vacation is over. We are very happy to have had the opportunity to come to Indiana. We highly recommend the Bloomington area to other cyclists. You can obtain a copy of the Bloomington Bicycle Club's Ride Maps by mailing them at PO Box 463, Bloomington IN 47402 E-mail: bbc@bloomington.in.us Web: www.bloomington.in.us/~bbc. A bicycle guide for Bloomington is available at local bike shops or on line at www.city.bloomington.in.us/planning/bikemap/index.html.