68.7 miles today and 2803 overall
We left Gnawbone Campground around 8 AM after not the best night sleep. All of us struggled with the heat and humidity that made our sleeping pads too warm but the ground remained too hard. Today was a zigzag day, a right, left right day, a 90 degree day, or something like that. Our direction was north east but we got there by going due east for a mile or fraction of then due north for a mile or fraction of, and repeat. Early in the day the roads were well paved farm roads with very little traffic. This continued through most of the day until just before we reached our camp for the night at Lake Sara outside Effingham.
In the morning the sky was mostly gray giving us relief from the direct sunlight that we’ve experienced for the past few days. The forecast was in the 80s not the 90s which was a true blessing. One of the locals did tell us, looking at the sky in the morning, “It’s gonna rain today”. In addition to relief from the sun we also had a favorable tail wind for a good part of the day making for a really pleasant ride. We did have to contend with some hills but nothing like the hills we had to deal with in Kansas or Nebraska. The hills were 50 or maybe 100 feet versus the 200 to 300 feet have to deal with earlier in the trip.
One of the things that is impressed all of us along the way, and we were reminded of today, is some small towns in America, whether it’s Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri and now Illinois can be truly food deserts. Plenty of cheap calories can be found, but the options for getting fresh fruits and vegetables are limited at best. We are reminded of our privilege.
Preparing for the trip we considered the hazard of unleashed farm dogs that might not be particularly friendly to a strange creatures on strange vehicles passing by their territory and so we’re well prepared with horns, etc. What I found is that there’s more show to the to the chasing away of people on bicycles. Today we were confronted by a couple of large unleashed farm dogs. Bob and Colin managed to make it past, but I was pulling up the rear and so I was confronted by these two big dogs. I completely neutralized any threat, real or imagined, by uttering the secret phrase, “Who’s a good doggie? Who’s a good doggy ?” They turned out to be gentle giants, a bit starved for affection. One of them got up and put his paws on my shoulder insisting on a fair bit of head scratching. I couldn’t stay all day so I said goodbye and we got rolling again.
So it was a pretty long day. We got into camp set up tents, checked out the area, showered, and headed off to get some cold beverages and some food.
The predicted rain arrived as we returned from dinner. It started slowly the became a heavy rain.
We raced to button things up and retired to our tents for the night. I listen to the pitter patter of rain as I compose this report. It brings a coolness which will help. I think everybody needs a really good night sleep.
Thanks for following. Take care.
Some pictures from today
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