Day 2
October 5, 2021:
I awoke to dense fog shrouding the lake. The tent cover and surrounding foliage was damp and the occasional heavy drop fell with a splat from the trees. I put on my shoes and brought all my empty bottles and water filter over to the beach. This was the first non-test time I’ve used the new filter, and boy am I glad I brought it. Despite taking up a little extra volume in my pack, it is SO worth it over the old handpump filter. It probably would have taken me an hour to fill all my bottles, but instead it took about ten minutes. The hardest part was getting the dirty bag to fill with water. I think the hydrostatic pressure of the lakewater kept the bag from completely filling. I ate a Clif bar while I waited for the bottles to fill.
After packing my bags, I walked my bike up the hill to the park exit. I was surprised to see a car already in the lot – presumably a hiker. Getting back on the bike, I wasn’t as sore as I had expected I would be, and my achy muscles felt fresh within about a minute. Turning right, I took to a narrow country road leading north to the bike trail. I had about half a foot to work with on the shoulder, and I hugged it. The situation was a bit dicey given the low visibility from the fog, so I turned my lights on (as if that really helps at all). Thankfully, only a handful of cars passed me on my way to Corwin, and they each gave me a wide berth.
The fog held longer than I would have anticipated. The cool breeze on the trail kept me refreshed, and soon small beads of dew formed on many of the hairs on my arms. As the miles passed and the day heated, it soon became indistinguishable from sweat. I nearly ate an entire peppered salami on the trail.
In Spring Valley, I saw a nice-looking ice cream parlor, but decided not to wait the 45 minutes until they opened at 11. I followed 725 out of town and away from the bike path. The road was moderately hilly, and I was thoroughly winded after many an incline. Again, I was grateful as each driver gave me a wide berth on the road.
I stopped at a gas station for heath bars, and then at Dot’s Market to restock on fruit and veg. Navigating through Kettering, I found my way to the Iron Horse trail, which took me past the University of Dayton into the heart of the city. I crossed over the Great Miami River and followed the river trail north to West Dayton.
The plan for the day – and the reason for my large detour into the city – was to see the Wright Brother’s bicycle shop, the aviation museum there, and Huffman Field out by Wright-Patt AFB where they conducted their later experiments.
I arrived at the aviation museum and locked my bike. Leaving it made me a bit nervous, but I removed the most visible valuables – my phone and GoPro – and stuffed them into my pockets before heading inside. Admission is free, and I was directed into a small theater to watch a short movie about the history of the Wright Brothers.
I’m glad I did, too, because I was surprised by just how much I didn’t know about their background, methodology, and later tests to perfect their aeroplane. (For some reason I use aeroplane in the historical sense, and airplane in the modern sense. I’m sure this usage is incorrect.) The cursory information I knew before was just the general idea that they had owned a bicycle shop and that they had conducted their initial testing at Kitty Hawk, where the now-legendary first flight took place. I knew that first flight was quite short, but didn’t know of their later experiments back in Dayton. Crucially, as impressive as the flights in Kitty Hawk were, the aeroplane was essentially limited to linear flight, and its difficulty to control made every flight harrowing. The refinements made by the Wright Brothers in Dayton were what turned their initial prototype into a far superior aircraft. Their first step was to separate the controls, such that pitch, yaw, and roll were mostly independent from one another. This steepened the learning curve, but improved the controllability of the flier as a whole. They also developed a catapult mechanism to help launch the flier into the air, increasing their test frequency since they no longer had to rely on the wind to line up with their track. After a crash destroyed that aeroplane (and nearly killed Orville), they set about building a new aircraft taking into account each of the lessons they had learned in previous experiments. Notably, they adjusted the positions of the elevator and rudder, increasing control authority of these components in flight. After many further test flights, they at last achieved an astonishing 40 minute flight, looping the plane around Huffman Field again and again, only landing when the engine ran out of fuel, with an estimated total distance traveled of 24 miles. I was also surprised Orville lived until after the end of WWII. He would live to see the remarkable advances in aviation through the flight of the Bell X-1 that broke the sound barrier in 1947.
I could go on. There’s so much I didn’t know about the Wright Brothers before visiting the museum, so it really is a must-see for anyone interested in aviation.
After the movie, I went on a guided tour of the Wright Brothers’ bicycle shop. Apparently they had also previously owned a print shop, which for a time was collocated upstairs. I’ll have to find historical records of some of their old newspapers. I went back to the main museum, wandering the exhibits. I saw one on Paul Lawrence Dunbar, of whom I had previously not heard. He was a poet and novelist, born to parents enslaved before the Civil War. Some of his early work was published in the Wrights’ paper.
After leaving the museum, I tried looking for their family house just down the road, but only found an empty lot. I then went to see the lot where their other bicycle shop had once stood. I also went to see the old Dunbar house.
Taking a break on 3rd street, I ate the apple I had purchased at Dot’s, batting away yellow jackets also interested in a bite. I took a swig of my filtered lake water, which beside a slight aftertaste, seemed pretty clean. The 3rd street bridge to the city was closed for construction, so I detoured south a bit before rejoining the recreational river trail. I passed a few people getting out of the river on a big inflatable dinghy, and they told me they had put in at the kayak place upriver. I passed it a few miles later, on the opposite bank.
Nearing Wright-Patt AFB, I stopped to watch a C-130 pass overhead repeatedly. It seemed to be flying patterns; the pilots must have been practicing their landings, or something. Two cyclists with a volunteer trail patrol saw me watching and commented on my pack, inquiring about my destination. I casually told them I was on my way to Huffman Field, but that my ultimate goal was New York. “And then you’re stopping there?” “No, there I’ll board a plane to Ireland and keep going on the other side.” They laughed. They introduced themselves as Donnie and Henry, and texted others in their group about my trip. I told them about my blog, just for fun, since they seemed interested. As they began to cycle further, Henry pleasantly remarked “You’ll need to work a job someday…” to which I replied “Don’t remind me.” (though I’m not sure he heard).
I quickly fixed my bike chain which had somehow fallen off, then continued on my way behind them. Before long, they disappeared far ahead of me, unburdened by all the gear I had. I saw them return later, presumably having reached the end of the trail.
I walked my bike up a steep hill to the Wright Brothers’ memorial. Unfortunately the park station there was closed due to some sort of renovation. I soon left, cycling back across the rail bridge and in through an open gate to Wright-Patt. The park officer at the museum had earlier informed me this was legal, and that the way the base does their fencing allows for the public to access Huffman Field without needing to pass through a security checkpoint.
The field itself was smaller than I had expected it. There is a replica hangar, track, and catapult there to see, as well as signage that helps visualize their historical flights there. I’m glad I came. I was very impressed with what I saw.
I sat at the edge of the field to eat a later afternoon snack, consisting of carrots, bell pepper, and hummus. I must still have a little bit of a sore throat, since it hurt a little to swallow. I’m not that concerned about it; it seems to be getting better. I must have accidentally left my cycling gloves there, because I noticed I wasn’t wearing them only once I was way down Granger-Hall road, making my way back south to another bike path that will lead me to Xenia tomorrow. It wasn’t worth returning. After a steep climb up National Rd past a long traffic jam and the sun starting to set in the west, I couldn’t return to the field to search for them without sacrificing my ability to find a decent campsite. I’ll have to buy a new pair in the coming days to prevent my hands from blistering.
Reaching the trail, I turned east, following it to the Beavercreek trail station. There, I was able to refill my water bottles, recharge my devices, and even connect to free wifi thanks to a nearby business. I ate a few Clif bars and posted the log I had written the night before to my website. After the sun sank below the horizon, I packed my things, and cycled just a few feet farther along the path, finding an offshoot into some thick shrubbery along the creek. Following it a ways, I found a well-hidden campsite where I set up my tent for the evening. While cooling down, I sent an InReach alert to friends and family informing them that I was fine, then wrote a few pages in my journal.
After night had fully fallen, I packed my electronics in a drybag and returned to the trail station, continuing to charge my devices and taking the time to write this post, using the notes I had written in my journal. While there, I saw a few people pass by. One was a man looking for a missing dog. He gave me a description and a number I could call if I saw it. Thankfully he stuck to the bike path for the most part, instead of wandering into the bush where my tent was. He came back about an hour later. Another was a woman who pulled up in a silver Volkswagon Beetle, walked around her car, and peed behind a lamppost. The things you see at night…
