Flat and mostly straight roads, except when following a river, with light rain, characterised today's ride. Some quiet but typical rural towns on the route. Not much in the way of a decent grocery store, Dollar General being the only store that hasn't pushed off to some mega mall just off an interstate. Well done Dollar General. One store, in Grand Rapids (Ohio) even had veg. Excitement was at a high at that point. We got going remarkably early - waking up at 7.15am and being on the route by 8.40am. Warm and humid with occasional light rain. Through Pemberville, then just north of Bowling Green, then Grand Rapids (immense excitement over seeing an organic lettuce), then Napoleon (named after the original Bonaparte in 1832), famous for its soup (Campbell's) factory, then through Florida (a little town, formerly the Native American town called Snaketown) to the campsite at Independence Dam State Park where we're in a rather primitive camping area with rain tumbling down, occasionally heavily. This area was known in the early days as the Black Swamp and I can see what they meant. A Canal was driven through here almost 200 years ago and that is one side of us, on the other is a large muddy river that doesn't encourage swimming. It has been dammed to provide water for the canal. Effectively we have water both sides of us. There is no drinkable water and the toilets are portaloos. Ah, there are times when you long for the comforts and conveniences of home.... The canal was a winner for the second half of the Nineteenth Century, you could get all the way from Kentucky to New York by canal, then the railroad came in and the canal towns slowly disappeared and the canal became a muddy ditch. In the UK it would be full of boaters I guess... perhaps with even a gorgeous canalside pub with a range of local beers... ah but I fantasise... we haven't even got water. The charge for camping is $28 plus visa transaction charges. I'm sure they were better value ten or twenty years ago. I predict an early start tomorrow! The photo is a grain silo with a great mural. Grain silos are every mile or so around here.