I almost made it to the Illinois border today, but while the border was close, the next place to stay was about 18 miles further, and I decided it was time to stop. That was after playing head games with myself all afternoon - it's too far, it's not too far, etc. Maybe the warnings about the bad bicycle / car interactions that I got over the past 2 days made me want to get out of Indiana fast... By the way, my experience with the drivers here has been fine. (And Suze, I'm sorry I made you cry again!)
I spent the entire day today on US 24 - no route finding, just riding. From Peru to Logansport, I followed Business 24, and west of Logansport the road turned into a 2-lane road. For the most part the riding was good. There were just a couple of sections with a bad road surface. Well, not the entire road, just the shoulder. Luckily the bad sections weren't too long.
As I was making my way through downtown Logansport I saw a sign for a carousel in their riverside park. I headed over there to check it out and was very lucky to be able to go inside. It's a historic landmark, a beautiful carousel. It doesn't actually open on the weekends until the afternoon, and it was only 9 o'clock in the morning. But a group of people had rented the space and were setting up something around the outside of the carousel, so I was able to go in and look at it. It reminded me of the carousel I saw in Missoula on my 1998 bike tour - very cool.
I stopped in Monticello for lunch. First I stopped at the Chamber of Commerce office to find out what towns up ahead had campgrounds or motels. (I did pass a single campground today, but it was 25 miles before I stopped riding, and it was not too inviting. I was in a big grassy field by a man-made pond - not too bad so far - but it was right next to an interstate.) Then I rode around town to check out the lunch spots. Abe's Pizza caught my eye, so I headed over there. As I was attempting to prop my bike up outside of the restaurant (it was one of those bike falling over days), Darrell came out to ask where I was headed. Darrell is the owner of the Abe's Pizza. He treated me to lunch, and we sat and talked for at least an hour. After I left I realized I needed to adjust my rear brakes, so I went back in and asked Darrell if there was a bike shop in town. I really just needed to borrow some regular (not folding) pliers. Darrell said he had tools in the back, so we rolled the bike around to the back of the restaurant and adjusted the brakes. That's a much easier operation with an extra set of hands! Many thanks to Darrell for good conversation, dynamite bread sticks and pizza, and the chocolate chip cookies he sent with me for an afternoon snack. He also gave me his phone number and offered help on the road if I needed it. And he rode after me to tell me where I could find his brother's place about 12 miles down the road if I needed to stop for rest or some cold water. People like Darrell are one of the reasons why I find bicycle touring so appealing.
When I checked in to the motel tonight, the receptionist and I had a little bit of a crossed wire for a bit. She was telling me that there is a camera on the parking lot, so my "cycle" would be safe. You should have seen her face when I told her I was planning to bring it into the room - she thought I was riding a motorcycle! I got that straightened out pretty quickly, and my purple bike is sitting in it's usual spot - in my room!
I had dinner at Joe's Filling Station - a truck stop right down the highway. I had a delicious fish sandwich and coleslaw - and it cost all of $3.15! Before you ask - I know it doesn't sound like enough, but I've been eating all day, and stopped for ice cream just 6 miles before I stopped riding because I was still focused on going on to Illinois. So that was fine for dinner, and I can finish up now with my remaining chocolate chip cookies.
Now all I need to do is get a hold of Verizon Wireless customer service and find out why they think my cell phone is out of service even though I am successfully using it. Very odd.
And I need to figure out if I'm going to get back on-route tomorrow or if I'm going to continue on US 24. I'm planning to cut over toward the Mississippi before I get to the end of this Northern Tier map section because it starts heading too far north for me - I might go as far as Kewanee, IL, or I might cut over sooner.
Hey Rover, we're not in Kansas anymore. No, wait, I have that backwards - there are still 2 states between us and Kansas!
