June 21 Crossing America

Carbondale, IL – Chester, IL.  Distance 58 miles

I had another great night sleep though disappointed Joey the cat didn’t cuddle me last night.  Guess he found one of the gal’s to be a better bed partner.  Got up about six and slowly packed up my gear and got my bike ready to ride.  Rode to the Long Branch where we had breakfast.  What a delight my S-Works is shifting smooth as silk.  Thank you Cho at Carbondale Bicycle shop you lived up to your reputation.  Also I appreciated the discount on your service and parts you provided us as a charity to our efforts.  Anyone riding the Trans-Am needing their bicycle worked on you see Cho at Carbondale Cycle he’s on Hwy 51 near Hwy. 13, his phone number is 618-549-6863.

Just as I finished my breakfast and readied to ride wouldn’t you know it the sky opened up with yet another downpour of rain.  Thank you Mother Nature.  Sometimes you just have to laugh to keep from crying.  I still have a saddle sore and yesterday I went to a Walgreen Pharmacy and consulted with the pharmacist regards to a big callus on the hammertoe next to my big toe on right foot, way too much information here.  The pharmacist looked at my toe and said I needed to see a Podiatrist and get it cut off.  I asked her the callus or the
toe.  She looked at me in a bewildered manner as if she were looking at a crazy old goot and then finally laughed when I smiled at her.  Told her I didn’t have time to see a
Podiatrist as I’m on an adventure and would only be in town today and today is already past six pm.  Thus, bought some pads with something on it to remove a callus slowly and will try that.  Hey, it’s just another challenge to completing my adventure, no big deal.

Today’s riding was pretty easy going for most of the day we rode along the Mississippi River and a back water levee area.  Still quite a bit of flooding, water was up to the road most of the way, one 60 yard stretch of road was flooded over about a foot deep.  I wasn’t going to turn around and pedal another 15 or 20 miles to get around it.  Next I’ll have rusted innards on my S-Works.   This ride is punishing to equipment and body, no doubt about it.   I observed several homes flooded and many others with water just shy of being flooded.

Shortly after going through the water covered road, I looked back to see 4 riders approaching.   It was Chet, Aaron, Mark and Trish.  Waited for them and filmed them riding up to me but had I known they were so close I would have waited for them at the flooded section of road as that would have made great footage for our group video effort.  The five us old geezers, sorry Trish you’re still a pup running with the old dogs, rode the rest of the way to Chester together, well not quite as there was a steep section of hills as we came into Chester and as always the others were able to ride up much faster than me.  I forgot to mention, weighed myself yesterday and have lost a whopping 2 pounds in 20 days.   Maybe if I’d lose 50 pounds I might be able to keep up with at least this senior group?  Not going to happen, I like my food and beer.

Good timing for arriving in Chester as a major storm was approaching and we were able to take shelter in the Eagles Lodge.  We’re pitching our tents in their back yard for tonight.  The locals, quite a few of them sitting at the bar, said we there were under a severe storm warnings with possible hail, strong winds and tornado but they didn’t seem to be much
bothered by this news.   Guess they’ve already forgotten what happened to Joplin, Missouri a month ago?  The power went out three times while I’ve been typing this blog.  Each time the locals hooted and hollered as if the storm was cause to celebrate.  Well, the storm appears to have passed us.  Chet just came in and logged into his computer to check the weather, looks there is a 50% chance we’ll get hit with another storm tonight but looking clear for tomorrow.  It would be nice not to ride in wet clothes for a change, might even help my saddle sore not to be wet all day.

I checked with  the bartender as to tongiht’s dinner Special.  It’s is fried chicken; ½ a chicken for $3.00 or a full for $6.00.  Think I’ll do the full and wash it down with a few beers.  What a way to end the day.  I just popped the top off my first beer, so here’s to
all of you following me on this adventure, may I not totally bore you with my whining.  May tomorrow bring sunshine to both the outer and inner soul.  God Bless and take care my friends.

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