Originally, I had wanted this to be a coast-to-coast ride ending in New York City, but my meandering out west has eaten up more time than I expected and work is knocking on my door at home. My intention was to cross Indiana farther south and get into Ohio via Cincinnati and eventually get to Washington DC then New York. Maybe I'll fire up that plan some other time, and do a Part 2 of this blog.
From Gilman IL, I persevered with following the US24 corridor, which had narrow shoulders and large trucks. Occasionally I would go along the parallel county roads where I couldn't see much past the tall corn plants, I felt like I was travelling along a giant corn maze (amazing maize maze?). My intentions for going a longish distance evaporated with the heat of the day and a considerable headwind, and I ended up in Remington IN which was so similar to Gilman — both are truck stop towns at the junction of the Interstate highway, and had the same setup of giant gas stations, motels, fast food restaurants and vast parking lots for trucks. I felt I had gone nowhere after pedalling for an entire day.
Being back in the eastern, more populated half of America, I get a sense of how restless of this country is. Constant convoys of FedEx or UPS trucks on the highways tell of the ease of transport; someone's Amazon.com order is always on its way. Out West I had to get my meals before 9pm because most places closed early, here so many things are open round the clock or at least up to midnight. I find these mega truck stops fascinating in their own right, there's something quintessentially American about them, from the forest of incredibly high neon signs visible for miles, to the diversity of people who stop for food and fuel. I had a chuckle overhearing a Dutch tourist who was questioning the gas station clerk why it was so hard to buy vegetables. She was looking at all the corn growing all around but could not find any fresh corn to buy.
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| Corn, corn all around; but not an ear to buy. |
I had a terrible night's sleep at the motel in Remington, and I blame a late afternoon iced coffee and the Mountain Dew refills I had with my burger. Too much caffeine late in the day, I really have to watch out as they tend to lace most soft drinks in the US with unnecessary caffeine. In Canada there's a regulation that only dark-coloured soft drinks can have caffeine.
The next day started out more cornfields and dowdy farm towns. It got a bit interesting as I got into the Wabash valley which had a more rolling terrain. This area had some glory days in the age of canals, when they built a waterway that connected Lake Erie to the Ohio River. It was the longest canal built in the US, the first link between the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. It was only viable for a decade or two until the railroad came and and much of it was demolished by citizens who hated the mosquitoes breeding in the stagnant water.
I decided to camp in Logansport, which again was a shorter distance than what I had aimed for, but I was tired from lack of sleep. I was miffed at the woman at the campsite as she charged me for a serviced site because their primitive sites were flooded. It's not my fault they're flooded, and she could have put me in any grassy spot anywhere. Despite the fact the campground was next to the railroad with trains sounding their horns at the crossing near the entrance gate, I actually had a great sleep and felt refreshed the next morning.
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| My camp mess; Sometimes I wonder how it all fits back on the bike |
US24 turns into a busy 4 lane divided highway heading towards Fort Wayne, and after a morning of meandering small roads parallel to it I decided to give its wide shoulders a try to make up some time and distance. What a mistake! The shoulders were littered with debris, and sadly ended my record of not having a flat tire since Los Angeles. Whatever it was, it must have been pretty sharp, as it went through a spot where my tire liner overlapped. I had brought 3 spare tubes with me and I was starting to question having carried that extra weight, but after I changed the tube the first time, something went awry with my pump gauge and I overinflated the tire and it exploded. Tube #2 was a dud, it would not pump up, which left me with my last spare! I carefully inflated it by feel and rode on until Huntington which had a bike shop where I checked the pressure and bought another tube for insurance. I guess I have some patching to do.
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| This century old diner was a nice place to have lunch in Huntington |
Even with the time wasted changing a tire 3 times, I made decent distance getting to Decatur, 15 miles from the Ohio border. One more night amid the cornfields!
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