Days 7 and 8 - Mark Twain Lakes/Fin

Will has experienced numbness in his hand since our second day of riding, and during our rest day off the bike his symptoms did not improve.  It is very likely that it is Ulnar neuropathy.  I'm sorry to say, with deepest possible disappointment, that we could not continue.

Will and I had a few discussions about his hand in the preceding days, and decided that our rest day at Mark Twain Lakes would be the junction at which we would decide how to proceed.

When we arrived at camp, we were dismayed to find that the "primitive" campsites at Mark Twain Lakes State Park were gravel parking spaces.  Out of 60 or so sites, we were able to find about 3 that had enough grass to pitch a tent, and even so, we had to pitch our tents in the dirt.

We were both extremely restless.  Will sat on a tarp in the shade and read a book and I decided to go off for a ride and explore the surrounding area.  I rode to the "Mark Twain Historical Site," which turned out to be a modern "memorial shrine/museum" that I decided to forego.  Afterwards, I biked into the next town, Florida, MO, Mark Twain's birthplace.  Markers on the road referred to it as "Historic Downtown Florida" so I assumed it would have at least touristy amenities which would be lovely because the two next nearest towns were 10 and 15 miles away.  When I rolled into town, I discovered that there was one house, one permanently situated RV, and several condemned buildings.  Florida has a population of 9 according to the 2000 census.

I really enjoyed stomping up and down the hills between camp and Florida and decided that if Will couldn't continue that I would go on alone.  Somehow the loneliness of riding down sparse country roads eluded me at the time.

On the way back I noticed a bait shack not far from camp.  I decided to stop in and see what they had to eat.  They were surprisingly well-stocked, so I decided we would return there for dinner.

When I rolled into camp, the first thing I said to Will was that if he couldn't continue that I'd go on alone.    As soon as I said it, I realized how ridiculous it sounded.  Even together, the loneliness of midday on vacant country roads was strongly felt.  By this time, Will had made his decision.  While I was out, he rode a few hundred feet up the road to speak with the ranger and the tingling and numbness moved from his palm into his fingers.

We rode down to the bait shack and picked up some hot dogs and beer.  While we were in the store, the proprietor's toddler grandchildren ran into the store naked, ran up to a bin of peaches, and the proprietor admonished "Jus' one peach, and eat it outside, ya' hear?"  He was very friendly and cheered us up quite a bit.

We roasted the hotdogs over a small fire, and made short order of the beer.  We stopped back in at the bait shack again later.

The next day we rode back to town and hung around all day.  At some point we had become local celebrities (an experience we were somewhat accustomed to) and strangers came up to us with surprising knowledge of our trip.

Not riding was by far the hardest part of the trip.  Over the last seven days we had grown rather accustomed to riding all day.  The riding and the camping were both becoming progressively easier.  Will started out the trip with sleeping problems, but by day 6 he had fallen asleep face down in his tent in a puddle of mud during a nasty electrical storm.

We both have a strong sense of having some unfinished business out in MO.  I have some vague plans to get back out there soon, but it doesn't seem that any of the possible plans would be the same.  Harry Wray reminded us that he had made his trip at age 35 and that we had many years still ahead of us to do it.  I am going to.

Telling our stories to Will's dad helped remind us how great our week was.  We met some incredible people, saw some incredible places, and developed new perspectives on a great number of things.  I'm greatly disappointed that we weren't able to continue, but don't regret our week on the road in the least!

We rode 400 miles.

Day 6: Mississippi

We had a rough start this morning. All of Will's gear was soaked and that almost doubled the weight of his load.

The miles got progressively easier as we neared the river (in spite of the hills). Beautiful country. The bridge across the Mississippi was very narrow.  Will and I crossed the bridge thinking we were alone, when we pulled off along the west side of the river, we noticed we had backed up traffic for almost a mile.  Nobody honked. They enjoyed the view as much as we did.

The afternoon brought some tough miles along with it.  We've had some fairly extreme whether on the trip (temps up to 95 degrees, electrical storms, etc) and today was no exception. On the road this afternoon we ran into a terrifying storm. Sleet and 25+ MPH wind along a completely uninhabited country highway. We were moments away from bailing and jumping into an abandoned barn, but we pressed on.

We're spending the night at Mark Twain Lakes where we're going to spend our rest day.  Swimming, sightseeing, and resting.

We have ridden 65 miles today, 370 so far, 2130 to go.

Day 5: Pittsfield

We woke up well-rested at a motel in Springfield and began rolling westward.  This was Will's first full night of sleep so far.

We strongly disliked Springfield and Jacksonville.  If there was ever something like community in either town, they were completely gutted by a mixture of tourism, big box stores, and sprawl.

We had a long day of fairly monotonous riding, except for the introduction of hills, which got progressively steeper as we neared the river.

When we arrived in Pittsfield, IL, we saw a sign for camping and thought it would be fun to interact with other campers.  We pulled in and were almost immediately invited to dine at an RV potluck. It was delicious. We had chicken dumplings, ham, and potato salad. For dessert, we had brownies and bread pudding. The campers were very friendly.  The camp fee at the site was only $5 which was great considering they had showers.

At about midnight, we woke up to a very violent storm. We got very wet and very little sleep. In the morning Will discovered that his phone had gotten wet and broke. He was very upset.  He won't be able to replace it until Kansas City at the earliest.

We rode 70 miles today, 305 miles so far, 2195 miles to go.

Land 'O Lincoln

We woke up to an unexpected photo shoot with Carleton and his mom.  Such is the life of high fashion models.

We stopped off in Elkhart, IL (population 450) for lunch.  We had something called "pork fritters" and ravaged the salad bar repeatedly.  It was a nice small town, but I think people there found us odd.

Over the past few days, I have found it humorous the way in which various towns along old 66 each try to stake out their claim on Abraham Lincoln differently.  Some towns, like Lincoln, IL have seemingly legitimate claims like "named for and christened by Abraham Lincoln." Talking small town politics last night in Mclean, we discovered that their mayor had recently (to everyone's displeasure) purchased an old barn for $75,000 that supposedly had Lincoln's signature on the wall.  Keeping track of these claims quickly became impossible.

After lunch, the complete monotony of 66 set in and put both Will and me to sleep on the bikes, eventually resulting in a wheel-overlap crash.  Will went down hard (and slid a few feet down the pavement), resulting in abrasions to his knee and shoulder, a tear on his shirt, and some damage to his bike that I managed to repair while he recovered.  He is OK.

After that, riding wasn't easy and the remaining miles to Springfield didn't pass quickly.  Still, we got to our motel by 3:00, leaving us plenty of time to rest as we had planned.

I feel extremely refreshed, already.

Tomorrow, we want to ride 80 miles west, ending just 10 miles east of the Mississippi river!

We've ridden: 50 today/235 so far/2265 to go.

Day 3: Route 66 Revisted

After some coffee with Milt and Nancy, we spent another day riding down 66.

We stopped off in Pontiac, IL to visit a bakery Milt had recommended and load up on maps at the Pontiac visitor's center.  Pontiac is a very nice town.

Will suffered from heat exhaustion/dehydration/space madness around lunch time. A quick stop at the Towana bar and grill fixed him right up.

We pressed on to Normal, IL and stopped at a bike shop there for some spare spokes (I broke a spoke on day 2 and only had one spare).

We encountered a lot of motorist hostility today, which we hadn't since riding through the south suburbs.

We stopped to chat with Carlton of McClean, IL and he offered us use of his lawn for the night. He even brought us out a gallon jug of water!

We have rode: 70 miles today/185 so far/2315 to go.

Tomorrow we're going to ride the short way down to Springfield, IL, do laundry, tourist things, and stay in a motel.

Day 2: Route 66

Today we rode down Route 66.

We had a nice day of riding, had some forgettable meals, and met some very nice people, chiefly, Milt and Nancy of Odell, Illinois.

When we knocked on their door about camping, they invited us to sleep inside (we turned the offer down). A few minutes later when they invited us in for dinner, how could we resist?  The highlight was Nancy's ice cream sundae, topped with home grown raspberries!  Milt and Nancy were simply wonderful people and have convinced me that maybe America hasn't changed so much since Harry Wray rode in 1975.

On top of dinner we have a standing offer to use their shower in the morning, which sounds pretty great!

Day One

Today we rode from The North Ave. beach down to Joliet.  Harry Wray rode with us all the way down to 95th!

We weren't able to sleep the night before our departure, so riding was tough at times. We encountered some very hilly terrain.  The weather wasn't the greatest, either.

Will wanted to stay in a motel tonight (which I think was an excellent idea) so we got a double in a sleazy motel for $39.  The front desk man Told us that they don't usually let two men share a room.

We explored Joliet a bit---it is a pretty interesting place.

Boring (but obligatory) equipment list

It is traditional to begin a bicycle touring travelogue with an equipment list.  So, here it is:

Bike:

-Motobecane Mirage Sport (almost every component has worn out and been replaced since I got this bike 11,000 miles ago, so it is a bit like the ship of Theseus paradox)
-700x25C Shwalbe Marathon Plus Tires (I love these tires so far, but we'll see how I feel about them a month from now)

-Blackburn EX-1 Rack
-Ortlieb Backroller Classic Panniers
-Cateye Strada Cyclometer
-Knog Frog lights (headlight serving double duty as my flashlight)
-Kool Stop dual compound brake pads (my absolute favorite)

Camping:

-ALPS Razor Sleeping Bag (marketed as a sleeping bag liner) (~1.25lbs.)

-Wenzel Starlite tent (~3lbs)

Tools:
-Topeak multitool
-Topeak pump
-2 spare tubes
-Glued patches
-Fiberfix spoke
-Emergency derailler hanger
-Spare chain link
-Craftsman 6" adjustable wrench
-Park adhesive tire boots
-Gerber Gator Knife

-Spare SPD cleat w/ bolts

-Small amount of duct tape

Clothing:

-2 compression fit tees

-Cycling cap

-2 pairs of Pearl Izumi bike shorts

-50/50 long sleeve shirt

-Synthetic basketball shorts

-5 pairs of synthetic socks

-Lake SPD shoes

Misc:

-Loads of maps

-Small compass

-Nylon wallet

-Disposable lighter

-Cable lock

Toiletries, first aid, food... blah, blah, blah.

The total weight of my gear comes in right around 15lbs, which I'm really happy about.  It seriously decreases the chance of having rack/back wheel troubles, improves handling, and makes climbing much easier.

The major thing I'm leaving behind is cooking stuff.  It would add 3lbs. and hundreds of dollars of cost to my rig.  The major reason I'm leaving it is because I know myself too well.  I barely ever cook in my apartment with all the conveniences of modern appliances.  Peanut butter off a knife blade will suit me much better. 

Lessons from Indiana

On spring break Will, Andy, and I headed off for what we thought was a four day jaunt through Indiana and Michigan to help prepare for our transcontinental trip.

On the first day we faced a constant 21mph headwind which seriously impeded our progress.  We made it only as far as the Indiana/Michigan border and found a nice place to camp with little effort.

Temperatures that evening dipped down to about 20 degrees.  Each of us was using $25 department store sleeping bags.  Mine held up nicely to the cold, Andy's so-so, Will's not at all.  On top of this, the floor of the tent I loaned Will had rotted out in storage.  It was a tough night, especially for Will and Andy.

I woke up to find that Will and Andy had already broken camp.  Anyone who knows Will knows why that might be terrifying.  Will offered to continue travelling through MI if we stayed in motels, Andy was sick and needed to return to Chicago.

The ride back was a blast.  We ditched the rotten tent in a McDonald's trash can in Gary (carefully saving the stakes for future use).  We met some very nice people and got a very interesting vantage of Gary.

Introduction

On June 14th Will and I will be departing for a roughly 2,500 mile bike ride from Chicago to San Francisco.

We will be riding 60-100 miles a day, camping wherever we feel like (if we feel so inclined), and deriving sustenance mostly from peanut butter and trail mix.  We aren't trying to follow a schedule (we know better than that by now), but we should be on an Amtrak train from San Francisco to Chicago sometime in mid/late July.

In the week leading up to our departure, I will be updating this blog with background information about our trip.  I will attempt to limit my entries to only things which some hypothetical reader could possibly find interesting.  On the road, I will be updating this blog with photos and entries using my trusty iPhone.

Anthony