Having fallen asleep rather early last night, as I didn't have to set up a tent and I couldn't call anyone because I got no signal (also the phone is on its last legs), I woke up pretty earlier today. I was all packed up and ready to ride by 8am sharp!
It was a typical morning ride between the corn fields, and I stopped for lunch in Ashkum, IL. I noticed that they had a laundromat, and going on day 5 of using my 2 sets of cycling gear, figured it was time to do some laundry (Ed, you would be proud!) I grabbed some lunch to go and ate it while my clothes washed.
As I finished that up, I casually made my way to Odell in the afternoon. It was only about 68 miles in, as they were another town with free camping in their park, and due to my early start, I got to my destination a little before 4pm. There was a town pool next to the park so I changed and jumped in the water - felt great!
Afterwards I went and had a couple beers and grabbed dinner at Rentz's in town. The locals were very friendly and I was having a great time - until I checked tomorrow's weather... huge headwind gusting to 25 mph... nooooope! I finished my meal around 8pm and hatched a plan - I would ride another 36 miles to Wanona, which also had free camping in their city park. I figured I would rather do those miles tonight while there was no wind than tomorrow when I would be fighting it.
Before I left the waitress at Rentz's gave me a cyclist goodie bag - a couple bottles of water, a bag of chips, and a container of fresh fruit. Nice! I was weirdly energized at this night time gamble to beat the wind. As the sun went down and I was cycling at night on these back roads, I witnessed a sea of fireflies dancing in the cornfields. It was very cool to watch.
I also went by a farm house with a big oak tree next to it that had christmas lights around the trunk and lower branches. It lit up the area next to the house very beautifully, like something you would see out of movie prom scene.
But night cycling wasn't all roses... so many bugs to get hit by, and I wasn't sure how much battery life was left on my headlamp, so I had it on the lowest setting, so I only got the see about 10 feet in front of me.
And I fell over. First time with this bike. I was at a standstill after looking at the map and moved the wrong way and went down. The left pedal gave my leg a nice 6" cut and my seat got bent back (guess I need to tighten that screw) and I was pissed that it happened but everything else was fine. My panniers didn't even have scuff marks.
In a few more miles I crested 100 miles for the day and hit Wanona, now almost 11pm, and found the park. It was a lot bigger than I thought it would be, was all lit up, and had the typical "park closes at dusk, violators will be prosecuted" signage. IU walked around with my bike wondering if there was any part of the park that wasn't bathed in lights they kept on all night when I spotted a police car and asked the officer about camping there. He was very nice and told me I could throw a tent up anywhere and he would unlock the bathroom for me.
So I found a decent area to the side of the pavilion and started setting up my tent and out of no where - friendly random dog! I pet him a couple times and got back to my tent, when he starts trying to get into my food! I tried to shoo him away from the food but he would just keep coming back to it, and its not like this guy was underfed, so I ended up storing it higher up in the pavilion so he would finally leave me alone. I heard him come around a couple more times that night but my food was safe!
Start: Iroquois, IL
End: Wanona, IL
Distance: 104.14 miles
That dog was one of your care packages, you have to take him with you.
ReplyDeleteBe glad it wasn't a random friendly black bear!
ReplyDelete