After briefly resting in Xenia and looking futilely for a place to have lunch, we leave the town and head back to corn country off the Little Miami and on the Prairie Grass Trail (PGT.) There is a large, abandoned brown concrete silo to our right as we peddle out of town. Soon we are in the midst of farms nestled in gently rolling hills filled with corn (and a few soybeans.)
The trail straightens out and curves are a thing of the past. The PGT is a straight line as far as the eye can see. The trail bed is smooth and Ted and I peddle quickly.
Mulberries are in season as a semi-circle of stains and tiny lumps sit on either sides of the PGT. I try to avoid them so not to pick up their indelible stain on my bike or body. To either side large stretches of fallow and underplanted fields sit. I wonder what the farmers will do to deal with this lack of fortune.
Ted and I continue to be amazed at the wonderful condition of the trails we have ridden in the last two days. The road is smooth with nary a defect. Some sections have been recently paved. Grasses and weeds adjacent to the trails have been mowed and trees trimmed. I can’t think of a nicer trail that we have ridden. Ted and I complement the volunteer workers we pass who are working on the trails.
The straight path affords us the ability to watch the clouds roll by with undulating patches of light and dark in the distance. The sky is reflected on the blacktop as we continue straight on with little change in steering.
There is a proliferation of weeds that pollinators like as well as invasives that humans do not: milkweed, chicory, hogweed, bittersweet, poison ivy, Virginia creeper, grape vine, mugwort, golden rod, hemlock, Queen Anne’s lace and wild parsnip to mention a few. This encourages me as they provide food for many essential creatures. In the mid-west the excessive use of pesticides has eliminated such caches of food.
Approaching Cedarville, there is a lovely pollinator garden as we approach the town library. It is a neat rectangle of bee balm, Black-eyed Susans, chicory, daisies and many other butterfly and bee friendly flowers. It is time for lunch.
After a good lunch in Cedarville at Beans & Cream, we return to our long straight trail that will take us to South Charleston. We are greeted by the scent of a skunk.
A few dragonflies flutter by us before heading off. The trail is now next to the main road and we have noticed that it is in much worse condition than what we are riding on. There are so many tar line patches on the highway it almost looks like the work of NYC graffiti artist Keith Haring. But as Ted says, that road has lots of trucks and we do not.
The fields around us remind me of those we passed by last year on Prince Edward Island. The gently rolling hills, the isolation of farmhouses in the distance, the consistency of crop rows are all the same. What is different is that corn is planted in Ohio while potatoes are the crop of PEI.
The sun is still high in the sky and it is hot but we see a water tower with South Charleston on it signaling that we are close to our destination for the evening.
