Day 4, Pt.2 - Decatur, Fort Wayne, & All Points North

Took all morning to pry myself away from Berne. I followed the buggy wheel tracks along quiet country roads, then suddenly the tracks were gone. I zigged and zagged a couple of times, but no more marks - the road seemed a bit lonelier for their absence.


Arrived in Decatur - another place where the highway bypassed the city center, leaving the business to wilt as national chains built-up the area around the interchange. Took some pictures, then headed north-west to Fort Wayne.


Big city, about the size of Dayton. Lots of neat buildings here, too, and quite a few people riding the bicycle trail. Part of this trail rolls through the wooded north bank of the Maumee River. Narrow, broken, covered in silt from high water and erosion further up the bank, this was not the manicured new trail I'm used to at home! Not to complain... it just took some mental adjustments. I will complain about the lack of helmets though. I was 2 people wearing helmets, out of perhaps 200 riders. Someone should look into marketing bike safety a bit more aggressively.


Day 6 will be the hardest of the trip, riding north-east through hills to the Ohio/Indiana/Michigan border, then south-east to Bryan, Ohio. Long day, not many "friendly" places to stop.

Next time: Auburn, Indiana - City of old cars, old trucks, old tanks, and old buildings, old houses, old hardware stores... but no old bicycle shops.


Pics...

#1 War Memorial, in front of Decatur Courthouse.


#2 Courthouse in Decatur. Again, more pics when I get home.


#3 Dam mechanism on the Maumee River in Fort Wayne. Great mechanical details - will have to look-up how it works.


#4 Bike rack in front of a bar in Fort Wayne. Literally a "bicycle rack". Very cool.


#5 Former City Hall in Fort Wayne, now a Historical Museum. Note two green dragons at the top center.


#6 Magnificent Court House in Fort Wayne.


#7 Lots of sculptures on the court house. This is Chief Little Turtle. Tecumseh was on the next panel.


#8 Lots of lovely breasts, also...


#9 Mixed motifs. Someone is renovating this home east of downtown Fort Wayne. They need to start over again. Looks like someone dropped one house on top of another.