GOBA Report
Saturday June 17th.
We arrived at Gobaville and checked in. Luckily they had us check out baggage tags because Morgan’s was gray and mine was yellow.. We set up our tent and I started to look at all we were taking.. I feel that we are taking too much stuff, so I started putting more stuff back in the car.. We had PB&J for dinner.. We watched the GOBA parade. I didn’t realize that you did not have to be in costume in order to be in it.. Next time we will know better. Morgan and I took pictures at a park.
We went back to Gobaville and saw a band called the Trojans, they we from .. They played country and 50’s music. We really enjoyed them. We headed off to bed at .
Sunday June 18th. Father’s day. to 54 Miles.
It was a rough day. Morgan was not pedaling very much. I just could not get her to understand that she had to help pedal. We had headwinds most of the day, they were 15 – 20mph. It went up to 88 degrees. Several times today I thought we were not gong to make it. We had to walk 2 hills. The tandem was not shifting into the lowest chain ring (Front derailleur, smallest ring). The second time we were powering up a hill and both my legs cramped. I thought that I was going to drop the bike and Morgan. I think that I was not drinking enough. We stopped for lunch at a convenience store. We had a sandwich and Gatorade. We continued on and stopped about a mile down the road to get more water at a fire house.
The cycle computers are not working on our bike. It is very embarrassing to keep asking “Do you know how many miles that we have gone?” At about 40 miles we stopped for the afternoon rest stop for mixed fruit of grapes, watermelon, bananas and melon. There is a guy who rides (part of ) GOBA with a keyboard on his bike and plays one handed as he rides.
We were very tired when we got in to Gobaville. We saw a house that had 2 zebras and a camel we did not stop to take a picture because I was tired and grumpy. I regret that now.
Monday June 19th. to 42 miles (actual 32 miles).
It started a little rough this morning. Morgan was really sleepy when I woke her up at .
We got the tent down and the stuff on the truck. I stripped the bike down even further and letting it go in our bags on the truck. Morgan was not helping for the first five miles. We talked and she helped after that. I could really feel her pedaling all the time after that.. I could tell when she thought that we were going too slow because she would start to hammer on the pedals to get us to move. After the lunch stop I decided to take a short cut and cut off about 10 miles. It helped a lot. We had to walk two hills again today. The first we just didn’t ma
ke it. I need to get the tandem looked at so it will shift correctly. The second we didn’t even try because I could see it was too steep and my legs are really tired. There are always lines on GOBA.
We got to the fairgrounds and put the tent up. We took showers and headed out to dinner. We went to Stephano’s for a pizza buffet.
We went to Wal-Mart for more tent stakes. We got back to the tent and high winds had started. I put in a couple of the new stakes and we ran for shelter before the rain hit.
We forgot to close up the screen all the way and my sleeping bag was soaked. We watched the Blue Steel band. Morgan was dancing on with to the music in front of the stage.
I decided to dance a slow song with Morgan in front of about 250 people. Morgan thought it was great that I did that with her.
Tuesday June 20th. 0 miles.
It was an optional day and we decided not to ride. What a great day. Morgan and I slept into . We got ready and hit the shuttle bus. We went to Bob Evans for Breakfast. Morgan entered a coloring contest to win a Scooby Do, well a stuffed animal not the real Scooby. We played Phase 10 dice while we waiting for the movie theater to open. It is a real cool game. We meet a father and daughter and they are on their 5th GOBA. She is 13 years old. Both father and daughter love doing GOBA. They were waiting to see Cars and we were waiting to see Over the Hedge. Great movie. Morgan and I hung out for a while back at the fairgrounds and went out for dinner. Morgan was falling a sleep on the bus. I had someone adjust the shifting on the tandem.
Here is Morgan in front of the information tent the center of GOBAville
Here are pictures of just some of the tents.
Wednesday June 21. to Circleville 68 miles.
Today we rode 68 miles, it is the most miles in a day that we will do doing GOBA. This morning we started out at after about 5 miles we ran into a heavy thunderstorm. We sought shelter at a house. The family that lived they were very nice. They offered us shelter, bananas and coffee for 25 people. After about 45 minutes we started to ride again.
It rained on and off for the rest of the day but we didn’t see any more lightning for the rest of the miles.
We stopped at the afternoon break and had cookies and fruit. We stopped for to take a picture of Morgan with a Lama.
We meet several other father and daughter teams. Leah and her dad had a really neat paint job on their tandem it was black with a drips of different color paints. I gave them our email address so we can keep in touch till the next GOBA. I am so proud of Morgan for doing 68 miles in one day.. It took us 5 hours and 12 minutes of riding time to complete it. It was nice to have the computer working again. The bike shifted great today.
Thursday June 22nd. Circleville 11 miles around town.
I am writing this at on Friday. We are sleeping on the stage in the auditorium of the high school.
We got heavy rain last night, it is started about . The tent leaked, I didn’t waterproof the bottom. Next time I will know. I am very nervous about the ride on Friday, it is supposed to rain and chances of Thundershowers. We had Cris Cakes for breakfast. Morgan had a one in shape of a turtle and another one in the shape of Mickey Mouse. The thing about the way they are served is that Chris flips them to you so you have to catch them.
Later we took the tandem and rode around the town. Here is a picture of us getting ready to explore the town
The Underground Railroad went thru Circleville. There were a lot of old buildings in Circleville. The Oldest was the Moore House built in 1820.
We had lunch at the Court & Main restaurant.
Here is a princess in front of a castle.
The watertower is shaped like a pumpkin.
Friday June 23rd. Circleville to . 54 miles (Actual 50).
I got up this morning at . As the song goes “should we stay or should we go?” It is and it is raining outside. We have to take the tent down. I should have done that last night. I told Kim that we may have her come and pick us up and call it the end of the vacation. We have 54 miles to ride today. At I was taking down the tent and getting everything on the truck. If we do ride today I want to get an early start. I woke Morgan up at . I talked to Morgan about calling it the end of the trip and getting Kim to pick us up. Morgan wanted no part of that. I told her that it is supposed to rain all day. She said it wouldn’t bother her to ride in the rain. I am so glad that she wanted to continue on because it was a great ride even though it did rain the entire time. We were on the road at and in the high school’s parking lot at . I was hoping to find room inside the school to sleep but they were all taken by people that had friends in cars that drove there. The ride was flat with no headwind so our ridding time today was 3 hours 12 minutes. We set up the tent in hopes that it would stop raining and our things dry out. We went to town on the shuttle bus. Then played games and listened to Harry Potter on the ipod. It stopped raining at about . They played a the remake of the movie Yours, Mine and Ours. We got to bed at about . It didn’t rain for the rest of the night.
Saturday June 24th. to 42 miles (Actual 35).
We got up this morning and packed for the last time. Here is the view outside the tent this morning.
We are taking the bike path back which will save about 7 miles and is very flat. We got in at . It was a very nice ride. It was a train track that was changed into a bicycle path. We both want to do GOBA next year. Each year it goes to different towns. This was an experience that most fathers do not have with their daughters, a week with just the two them. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Trying to keep track of Morgan 24 hours a day for 8 days. We brought 2 way radios so we could keep in touch if one of us was not by the other. Several times we did not have the radio’s (one was ruined from the rain. I left it out in the tent instead of putting it back in the plastic bag). We lost each other a couple of times. That was very scary for both of us. Morgan knew what to do. After not finding each other for about 10 minutes, she went to a husband and wife to asked if they saw me. She then gave them my cell phone number. The husband went to look for me. I asked her what she would do if he said that he would help her find me and to go with him. She said she knew to stay where there was a lot of people and not to go with him. SMART GIRL. It was also very cool, to be able to spend that much time talking and just being together with out interruptions of the phone, computer and television. Morgan and I played a game that she likes to play called would you rather, we spent hours playing. Like would you rather be a frog or a snake? Why? Would you rather be a tree or a book? Why? It was a silly game but I loved her questions and answers.
Here is Morgan on the trip home.
