Illinois

7/14

Bloomington, IN to Sumner, IL: 95 miles 

We woke up and rode our bikes to Trinity Episcopal to have breakfast. The volunteers made us a delicious egg casserole. We began our ride as it was raining. Until then, we had been really lucky with having warm, sunny weather. The beginning of the ride was on a very busy road with a narrow shoulder so we rode fast to get it over with quickly. I felt like a warrior as the wind whipped across my face, the rain hindered my vision, and drivers yelled at me to get off the road. We had two lunches because we would be riding over 90 miles. Interestingly, the overwhelming majority of the businesses we passed along the ride were that of taxidermy services and gravestone retail. I just thought that this was unusual and noteworthy. I got my second flat of the trip and I stopped in front of Knox county fairgrounds to change my inner tube. The people who worked there came over to talk to us and let us use their bathroom. Towards the end of the ride, we crossed the state line into Illinois.

We rolled into Sumner, as the sky got darker and a thunderstorm loomed in the distance. The town center had several vacant, abandoned buildings. Once we arrived at the church, we were instructed to put our bikes in the barn across the street. 

As we put our bikes away and played with interesting things in the barn, it started down-pouring. 

Playing in the barn:

Katie had shampoo in her camelback and made the brilliant suggestion that we shower in the rain. We all ran outside and had a great time showering in the rain. It was so much fun. As we shampooed our hair, I made the comment, "wouldn't it be funny if it stopped raining mid-shampoo?" Seconds later, the rain stopped and we stood under the gutter to collect the remaining water pouring off the roof. Later on in our free time, Katie and I colored in children's coloring books that were in one of the rooms. We then hid our masterpieces in peoples sleeping bags just because we thought it would be funny for someone to find a colored picture of a dinosaur or pirate as they were scrummaging for toothpaste or getting into a sleeping bag. The host provided us with a great meal of fried chicken, baked pasta, beans, and snicker doodles for dessert. Because we crossed a time zone, we got an extra hour of sleep!

July 15

Sumner, IL to Salem, IL: 62.5 miles

Today I had a ride date with Katie Lee. The cue sheet was our shortest yet - with three turns and one stretch for 61 miles. The road was long and the scenery was pretty, but dull and unvarying after the 20th mile. 

About 5 miles after lunch, Katie and I were riding two abreast so we could talk since the road had a wide shoulder. All of a sudden, we hit a grate and swerved towards each other. We turned away just in time but then hit another bump and our bikes clipped together. We each fell to opposite sides - Katie into the road and I onto the shoulder. Fortunately no cars were passing by at that moment and Katie got up fast to move out of the road. She called Emily who was driving the van as I lay there unable to move. Everything happened so fast. I didn't get up for a few minutes because the right side of my body, the side I fell on, felt numb. I moved my arm to make sure nothing was broken. I looked behind me toward the road and saw a minivan slow down and pull over. Two middle-aged men from Indiana, named Jack and Gary, came over to us to make sure we were okay. "We saw you guys coasting and then wham! The vultures are already circling over you." They helped move my bike and the things that fell out of my bag to the side of the road. I was still lying on the ground and turned to my right to find a bird lying in front of our bikes. "Oh my god! Did we kill that bird?!" I exclaimed. The bird appeared to have died recently and it's placement in front of our bikes supported the possibility that we hit the bird during our collision. We were delirious and found this hilarious and sad at the same time. Jack and Gary helped me up to move me away from the cars. The van finally came and brought us back to the host. Sean's family provided us a great meal with chicken and shrimp skewers.