Live for the Path

112 miles in 9.75 hours – Max Speed 23.5mph

Not to be repetitive, but I woke up reasonably early and headed out to try to get breakfast 15-20 miles down the road. Something I didn’t mention yesterday is that when I crossed into Indiana, the shoulder grew from like six inches to maybe a foot, which makes a huge difference. Sadly, today they shrank back down to almost nothing. And the traffic was extremely heavy on my trip to Monticello. And the whole town was packed with people everywhere you looked. Eek. So I went to McDonald’s.

A lighthouse in a swampy lake?

I went inside and bought my usual large breakfast, and sat down and was eating it. As I was some guy sat down at my table and started talking. But the thing was, didn’t actually get all the way into the booth, so he was facing 90 degrees away from me while he was talking. He allegedly bike toured all over the world when he was younger, and we talked about it a little. He then mentioned that Indiana Beach is the vacation destination for all of the surrounding states, so that is why traffic was so heavy. He then talked about how the mosquitoes were worse in Indiana than in the rest of the country and started questioning me on what strength bug spray I used. Well, I don’t use bug spray, and I sit outside at dusk almost every night working on my journal, or looking up where I am going to go the next day, and I am almost never bothered by mosquitoes. And suffice it to say that Indiana was not close to having the most bugs that I had seen thus far: it was the same as any most other states (Wyoming and Western Nebraska were by far the worst, need you know). He then suddenly proclaimed that he had to go home to set some bug bombs in his back yard. It was a really strange encounter to say the least.

Anyway, I headed out, and the traffic did get better as I moved away from Indiana Beach. I went through the somewhat large towns of Logansport and Peru, and after having lunch in Peru, I got on state route 124 for the rest of the state.

Indiana is pretty, but it get a little repetitive after a while (though I do like this picture).

State route 124 was absolutely fantastic in that there was almost no traffic whatsoever on this road, anywhere. It was quiet and flat, and with the tailwind, that made for really good time. The only problem on it is that there was almost nothing on it for long stretches. I would look at my phone from time to time and see a ‘town’ was coming up, and then get to said ‘town’ and there would be nothing there. It was okay, because I didn’t really need anything, but it could be annoying if someone was planning to stop anywhere on it.

Fly fishing.

Why wouldn't you use proper grammar on a sign?

These guys are always interested in you. Seriously, they will always stare as you go by, and sometimes they will run after you. Horses are the same way.

I disagree - this town had a bait and tackle shop that I could get Gatorade in, many other towns on the 124 had nothing.

Anyway, I reached Bluffton, and saw there was a KOA there. Sweet. I stopped in and talked to the people who ran it for a while and got a tent site. I mentioned that I wanted to do some laundry and the woman offered to keep it open late for me (it closed at 8 in theory, and it was just about 8), but after setting up, I realized that I simply did not have the time or the energy to do laundry so I just told her never mind and I headed into town to find food. After eating I got back to the tent, showered, and went to sleep.

112 miles in 9 hours – Max Speed 18.5mph

I woke up, and took it easy for a little while I worked on my website. I walked outside at one point just to see what was happening, and lo and behold… wind from the west! Hallelujah. I went back in, finished my website work, and headed out.

I know that people may not necessarily understand how much of a difference having a headwind or tailwind makes when touring. But when I have a headwind, I average between 8 and 10 mph, and then when I have a tailwind it goes up to between 12 and 15mph, and it can be higher in bursts. So it can literally take me half the time to get somewhere with a tailwind compared to if I have a headwind. Believe me, 7 or 8 hour days are far preferable to 10 to 12 hour ones.

I started out and went through a few of the usual small towns, and the usual larger town (Pontiac) when the road intersects with the interstate.

Back on historic roads.

A REALLY old road.

Another look at a courthouse which is in all the towns.

None of this was anything new, so I was just cruising along until I reached the intersection of the 116 and the 115. There was a sign that said that the bridge was out around six miles ahead, so you had to take a detour down to the 24 to go around it. I thought about going on and hoping that the bridge only went over a small river that I could hop over or ford, but decided against it, and just went down to the 24.

Excitement.

There were these in every town too. They varied from having some ok deals to being exorbitantly expensive though.

The 24 started out fantastic, with the six foot shoulder I have come to know and love, but when the road stopped being a four lane divided highway and just went down to two lanes, the shoulder disappeared as well. I mean, there was still a small one (maybe 6 inches right of the white line), but when there is as much truck traffic as there was on this road, it isn’t enough to feel good. But, when the signs for the detour reappeared telling me I could go back up to the 116, I had to think. I could stay on the 24, where I knew there was an RV park coming up, in 30 more miles, or I could add 12 miles to the journey by going back up to the 116 and then back down to the 24 again. I decided to risk it on the 24.

Luckily, the traffic thinned out as I crossed I-57 somewhat and entered the town of Gilman. I stopped there for a snack, and McDonald’s actually was selling Cheeseburgers for $.59. I bought four, ate them, and then carried on, blessing my good fortune.

By far the sweetest water tower of the trip.

I crossed into the State of Indiana shortly thereafter and stopped at another McDonald’s for three more $.59 cheeseburgers.

I think that Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky should have a cage match to see who is allowed to claim Lincoln once and for all.

I went into the Eastern Time Zone, and rolled up to the RV park at about 8:30, having lost an hour to the time zone change. I picked a spot right on the lake, and went to sleep after showering and doing all the other stuff that goes with that.
View Larger Map

96 miles in 9.75 hours – Max Speed 26mph

Dirt Road I took in the morning.

I got up and did the customary 20 miles before breakfast, and I stopped at Burger King in Canton, IL. They had a deal where they had two Whoppers for $2.50, and not only that, but Burger King serves burgers all day. The perfect start to the day.

I headed north in Canton and got on the 116, so I was back to the John Egan route. I headed towards Peoria, and then, an unmarked Police Car passed me and pulled over and turned on its lights. Uh oh, I thought. Finally time to get in trouble for having earbuds in, perhaps (illegal in pretty much every state). Nope, he just wanted to talk because he had done a bike tour from New Mexico to Peoria when he was my age. We talked for a while, he called me crazy for going alone, and then he told me to hurry through Peoria because I was going through a bad area. I sort of shrugged it off and thanked him, and carried on.

Flower.

I headed the last couple miles towards Peoria, and then into the city. And sure enough, I was in the ghetto. I mean, this was no doubt about it, I was in the slums. And unlike in LA, I was in the residential area of the slums, and not the commercial area, which is an even worse place to be. I was pretty surprised, even though I had the warning, because in my experience police officers often overstate the roughness of an area, but not this time.

I made it through in one piece, and then had to go over the Illinois River. The bridge over it was four lanes, and had absolutely no shoulder or sidewalk. This was the worst bridge I had to go over the entire trip. I just took the center of the right lane, and chugged up the one side of it and back down the other. Then, in East Peoria (much much nicer than Peoria) the 116 had no shoulder again for five miles despite still being four lanes and very busy.

Finally, a nice six foot shoulder appeared and I went up a serious hill as I was leaving the Illinois River Valley. Then it flattened out and I got to do some easy miles.

The Americans have captured some random hill in Illinois.

I approached the town of Minonk, and I knew that there was another cheap motel 6 there, so I turned and went north to it. I walked in and took the bike. I talked to the desk guy for a while, who was a bicycler, and he gave me a big discount, so the room cost me $27.99. Not too bad. I showered, updated the website, and did laundry, as usual in places like this. The main excitement of the night came when I checked my weather app on my phone, and it said that I would get a wind out of the West tomorrow. I had had a headwind everyday since the Laramie, WY day, so this was exciting. I tried to temper my enthusiasm, but I was praying that the forecast was correct.

58 miles in 5.66 hours – Max Speed 26.5mph

I woke up early and went down to the lobby to get breakfast at 6:15, as soon as it opened. Got to love free breakfast. I went back to the room and did a bunch of website stuff until around 9:30, when I went down and ate another free breakfast. I mean, you have to make the most of what you paid for (or in this case, didn’t pay for), right? I finished the website stuff, packed up, and got out of the hotel like two minutes before the 11:00 check out time.

I headed down through downtown Keokuk and crossed the Mississippi river and passed into Illinois. Sorry for the lack of good pictures, but the bridge I was on wasn’t really the best for stopping and snapping photos.

This was taken in Iowa. You can tell we are close to other states.

Yup, that's the Mississippi.

Luckily I did not bring any cigarettes with me.

Historical Marker

Another shot of the Mississippi.

On the other side of the river I had a pretty big climb with no shoulder (worst case scenario, always), but I made it through and it got flatter as the day wore on.

I'm on a totally different historical road.

Historical Marker. Cliff notes version: If you're Mormon you're probably getting shot in Illinois.

'Mom, can we go on an adventure today?' 'No hun, but we can go on an AGVENTURE!' 'Ohhhh, not again.'

Anyway, I had diverted from the John Egan path by going to Keokuk (any bike tourers will know that name) so I was just winging it as I went along. Quickly the 136 turned into a four lane divided highway, but a quick scan of the Illinois laws didn’t say anything that would lead me to believe that I wasn’t allowed to be on it, so I went along in a gigantic shoulder. Eventually they were doing some construction, so then I not only got the shoulder, but the entire right lane as well. All you have to do is smile and wave at the county workers.

I got into Macomb, a fairly large town at around 3, and I stopped and had a late lunch. I headed back out and decided to head north on another 4 lane divided highway and then to go east on route 9. Everything was going perfect until, as I approached Bushnell, my stomach began to feel not so good. So I stopped in town while things worked themselves out. Getting stomach issues is never pleasant, but it is particularly unpleasant when you don’t really have any place to call home and cannot really move that quickly. Luckily it generally doesn’t happen to me all that often, but it happens to everyone now and then.

After a couple hour break in the local fast food establishment I felt better, but it was already getting late, so I looked and saw that there was an RV park just a few miles away. I got there, paid the ridiculous camping fee, and set up. I took a shower, worked on the blog for a few hours, and went to sleep with absolutely nothing around me.

The road to the RV park.

91 miles in 8.83 hours – Max Speed 27.5mph

Good morning from Iowa!

I got up early and did around 20 miles into the town of Bloomfield, where I had another Subway breakfast. I realized yesterday that not only was it not so bad to go around 20 miles before eating, but that I actually preferred it. I like how it breaks up the day, because the time you ride before breakfast doesn’t even seem real because I am not fully awake until I eat something. While that isn’t entirely true, I don’t know how to better explain it. The time moves really fast before breakfast.

WARNING! IOWA MENNONITES WILL RUIN YOUR DAY!

I chugged along route 2 for a while, which I have to say, in retrospect, was probably the worst road of the trip. There was a huge shoulder, but it was a soft shoulder, and therefore was unusable for me. There seemed to be a decent bit of truck traffic, and I had a lot of close calls on it. Not only that, but it’s quality was absolutely atrocious at times. There were potholes and cracks galore in it. Finally, between Centerville and Bloomfield there was a rumble strip on the entire right side of the road, so I had to ride dead center. They had paved over it, probably due to complaints from bikers, but it was still unrideable.

Delightful.

But, at least the road does allow what has to be the lowest intersection sum in America? There are no route 0's correct?

I went through some more very small towns and stopped in the town of Farmington for a late lunch. There was a restaurant that had a buffet but they had just opened it up to the employees, but the lady said I could have it too at a discount. I agreed and ate quite a bit. I started talking to some of the locals, and one of them wrote for the local newspaper. She asked me a bunch of questions and after lunch took some pictures of me and the bike outside. They got my address so they could send me a copy if it made the paper, but I still (7/30/09) have not gotten anything from them. Oh well.

I thought the clouds in the lower right really looked funky. It doesn't really come through though in the picture. Which brings up the question of why this is here. But when you make your own website you can make your own editorial decisions.

I had been talking to my dad all day today because I knew that I was going to need to stop in a motel tonight for a shower and to do laundry, both of which I was in need of. He confirmed my suspicions that Fort Madison, my planned stop for the day was not the best for hotels and Keokuk, around 15 miles south of it would be better. So I set out and got to the town of Donaldson, where the road splits. But I noticed that the road heading south to Keokuk was a four lane divided expressway, so I didn’t know if I was allowed on it. I called him back, and he told me that he had booked me a room in the Hampton Inn using his credit card, so that if I wanted a free room I should figure out how to get down there. He then looked a little and said that there was another road that would take me part of the way down.

I hopped on the old 218 and headed south, but it again hit up with a four lane divided highway, but at least this time it wasn’t an expressway (i.e. there were no on ramps and off ramps). But, it also did not have a rideable shoulder (it being Iowa, clearly it was a soft shoulder). Sweet. So I just got on the white line and started riding. Almost immediately there was a frontage road that I got to take for around five miles, so that was a lifesaver. When that ended I was only a few miles outside of Keokuk so I just went fast until I got into the town. I checked into the Hampton Inn and then went to a nearby laundromat and did my laundry.

Showing off my stylish outfit I wore to the laundromat. That is my rain jacket, rain pants, and nothing else, cause everything else was absolutely filthy. Classy.

I worked on the website, mapped some things out, and then went to bed, late as usual in hotels.

106 miles in 12 hours – Max Speed 25mph

I got going very early, and was on the road at 6:30. I went back down the three mile side road that took me to the campground and then had to make a decision when I hit back up with route 2. I could either turn right, and climb back up the hill for around a mile to Bedford for breakfast, or I could turn left and continue East, but it looked like it may be 20 or 30 miles until I hit somewhere that might be large enough to have a restaurant. I decided to take my chances and go East.

So many hills...

I did a pleasant two hours on the road with no traffic, during which I listened to the Art of War in it’s entirety (not a very long book), before arriving at Mt. Ayr, IA which had a Subway which was open. A quick aside. It seems like Subway really is the number one fast food place in the Midwest, even more so than McDonald’s. Almost every small town has one, and there was a more obvious difference in Nebraska. While all of the other fast food places always were on the interstate, the Subway was always on the 30, as if they were going after the locals. It was an interesting difference.

Anyway, after subway I continued on past I-35 and through the town of Leon. I stopped for a snack, and then had another small snack stop in the town of Corydon. I made it to the town of Centerville at around 7pm, where I looked around for a room. I went to a cheap motel first, and saw they had a sign that said no vacancy on the outside of the door. Rats. I then went up to a Super 8 (always seems a little expensive to me), but they also had no vacancy. I asked what was going on, and the lady said that there were two weddings going on in the area, and that there was no way that anywhere had vacancy. Drat.

Sometimes there are days where there isn't a whole lot to take pictures of. Luckily sometimes there are dinosaurs in people's yards that help my plight somewhat.

Sorry. There really wasn't anything interesting at all today, so I was just grasping for straws here.

I rode back down into the downtown and ate dinner at a Hardees (a.k.a. Carl’s Jr. East – quite tasty) while I planned my next step. I looked around on my cell phone, and saw that there was a state park with 8 campsites just two miles up the road. I figured that I would give that a try, but since it was Saturday night I wasn’t too hopeful.

I got up there at around 8:30 and rode all the way back to the campgrounds. When I got there, I saw it was empty. Excellent. No running water though, which was a bummer. I set up and went to bed without a shower for the first time in a long time. I lay awake listening to freaking raccoons (my least favorite animal… EVER) opening every single metal trash can in the entire park.

A quick aside. I got chased by more dogs today, I would say around 8 in total. For me, what I did is if it looked like I could outrun them, I did. If it did not, I would get past their property, and then dismount and stare them down. I have never been someone who has ever had problems with dogs, and I think that they can tell if the person is someone that they can mess with or not, and they know that I am someone that they cannot so, after some barking, they just would turn around and wander off. I do think that you need to try to get past their property though or it will take longer for them to wander off. I know many bike tourers use much more forceful and mean methods of dealing with dogs, but it really isn’t in my DNA to do those sorts of things (I don’t even kill mosquitoes or flies (though I do dream about killing raccoons) – so I am not about to blast some dog in the face with pepper spray or something worse), and all in all I didn’t feel I was ever in danger from a dog. This was the last day that I got chased by a dog on my entire trip. I guess it is just something about Southwest Iowa.