Day 37 Napoleon, Ohio (70 miles)

Today's ride is a shorter ride then the past few days for the riders. It is on farm roads with a few larger towns. This is the flattest section of the big ride after the first 35 miles of small rollers. Camp is at the Henry County Fair Grounds in Napoleon.


Sew it, Grow it, Show it at the Henry County Fair!

Something about Napoleon: Napoleon is a city in and the county seat of Henry County, Ohio. Henry County is named for Patrick Henry. He served as the first and sixth post-colonial Governor of Virginia from 1776 to 1786. A prominent figure in the American Revolution, Henry is known and remembered for his "Give me Liberty, or give me Death!" speech, and was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States.



Napoleon is built along the Maumee River. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 9,318. Napoleon's economy is based on the manufacturing of a variety of goods. A major employer is the world's largest Campbell's Soup Company plant, located on the southeastern end of the city; also Tenneco owns one their largest Elastomer Plants there. Napoleon is also home to the Northwest Ohio Technology Society. Four buildings in Napoleon are listed on the National Register of Historic Places: the county courthouse, the sheriff's house and jail, First Presbyterian Church, and St. Augustine's Catholic Church.


Henry County Court House

On the outskirts of town at the Campbell's Soup plant stands a gigantic tomato soup can painted with a traditional Campbell's label. A water tower at the site is also painted with the Campbell's script. As a bonus, when you get out to photograph the thing, the entire area smells just like your kitchen after warming up a can of soup!


Giant Campbell's Tomato Soup Can

Today's weather forecast for Napoleon:
Temperature: 89.3 °F
Dew Point: 71.0 °F
Humidity: 97%
Wind Speed: 17.0mph
Wind Gust: 0.0mph
Wind: WSW
Pressure: 29.93in
Precipitation: 0.67in

Chuck said that since today's ride/day was going to be fairly short (only 70 miles which is 40 less than yesterday!), that it seemed like everyone was taking their own sweet time. Breakfast was provided by Parks and Rec again, but they only had one griddle making pancakes. Needless to say, it took a long time for everyone to eat. People finally did get rolling though and spent the morning riding through some beautiful fog rising off the corn fields.

Today the group crossed into Ohio. The state sign was only better than Indiana's because Indiana didn't have one at all. At least Ohio had a street sign for their State Line Sign. When he got into Napoleon , Janet's family had brought some cherries and other fruit for the riders to snack on, so Chuck said he tore into the cherries. Then he went to a nearby cafe and got coffee and was able to get on to the Internet for awhile.

Dinner was catered and it was very yummy from what Chuck said. I can't even remember everything he ate because it was so much and there were so many different kinds of foods. From the sounds of it was like he had died and gone to a bikers food paradise. Tomorrow is another flat day and the riders will be getting to Sandusky (or Cedar Point for those who are coaster enthusiasts!). Chuck said he would pass on the roller coaster's but was going to get a hotel room to get away from the heat and humidity.