Well, it finally happened – today was what I will call a “comedy of errors”!!! We left the hotel this morning in a cloud covered, cool, humid temperature and originally turned on CR 3.25 South and had several turns up to our first stop at mile 30. We turned on the gravel driveway and realized that couldn’t be right and instead of following my instincts of going on the paved road right beside it, we headed up the road about 1.5 miles – realized we were wrong and then rode back. Things were okay there except in the women’s room we couldn’t sit on the seats because they had just been painted (as one of our young ladies found out)!! Might as well have used the woods!
We headed down the road again – today we had a 3 sided cue sheet with many turns – I can’t believe there are this many back roads in southern Illinois!! Also, the roads have many different conditions!
At mile 35 we came upon a railroad track on which there was a never-ending train – this is a picture of the train depot and the train.
Next we were on a road called “Illiniwick RD. – original for Illinois!!! I must add that we spent a lot of time in the “corn tunnel” again today. I would never dream there could be that many corn fields in one state – the good thing was we had 96 miles and only 150 feet of climb – so it was fairly flat!!
We were traveling on these really back roads that reminded me of the road that our old farm house was on – paved, but very narrow – we came to a “T” in the road and there was a photographer there who pointed us the left (which was correct), but we missed the road sign and then we got lost again!! More mileage added.
Onto a gravel road with loose stones that we had to slow down for and finally to the next SAG at mile62.4 – here we were told of a detour at mile 86 due to a road being out. Before getting to that, we had to go through a town called “White Heath” and were to follow CR 1500 North after crossing a railroad track. Well, there was no railroad track on that road – stopped and spoke to 2 locals who had no idea where CR1500 was – headed out on what we thought might be the correct road and after going 3 miles and through 3 intersections with none of the roads being marked, I decided that we should go back to White Heath because at this point I was extremely low (energy) and wanted to call the van, but didn’t know where to tell them we were located.
Notice the gravel road, the really messy road, and a boulevard?!?!??At one point on the gravel road, I saw a deer cross the road, pointed it out to Marilyn, and the next time I looked in my mirror, she was missing!!! I thought she might have had to make a "nature call" and kept going. When I finally saw her again, she told me that she had fallen on the loose gravel!!! We finally arrived at a “T” of Commercial and Plum streets and called the van who was out looking for us. I rode in the van from there because I already had 92 miles on the bike and Marilyn decided to ride into the hotel – she didn’t get in until 6:30. Dinner, route rap, and to bed!!
Today's hurrah goes out to Michelle, our staff member who never relaxes until all of the rider's are in safely! We had a couple of guys fall today on railroad tracks, but neither of them ended with elbows that looked like mine last year, and both are okay!!
Thank God for the safety, health, and energy!!
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