Day 26: 47 Miles

Vienna, IL to Carbondale, IL

Today started on a bike trail which was a nice change of pace from the rolling hills that I’ve been riding for the last few days. The crushed stone is much slower than pavement, but there is something nice about getting on a bike trail and not having to change gears for 10 miles. The bike trail went from Vienna, IL to Tunnel Hill, IL. The tunnel into Tunnel Hill was a terrifying experience. There were no lights in the tunnel and it was long enough that light from the ends did not reach the middle. I got to the center and it was pitch black. I couldn’t see the walls or floor, just the opening at the end of the tunnel. My cell phone light was no help so I pedaled onward blindly and thankfully made it out the other end.

Once out of the tunnel I hit the hill part of Tunnel Hill. I didn’t have trouble with the hill until I got over the top and hit the bottom on the other end. I was cruising down the hill at around 25 to 30 mph when I hear a dog start chasing me. My new plan of stopping for chasing dogs has worked, but I’ve never tried it at such high speeds. It was way more dangerous than I expected. I hit the brakes and went swerving across the road. I steered myself back onto the shoulder of the road and managed to avoid a turtle while also keeping the dog away. A driver going in the opposite direction slowed to a stop to watch the whole thing and gave me a wave and a smile when it was all over. It must have looked ridiculous.

The rest of the ride was pretty easy. More rolling hills which I’ve gotten very used to at this point. It was nice scenery though the Giant City State Park and its surrounding area. On the way, I meant a couple of people traveling east on the Trans Am bike trail. The first guy was from Amsterdam and had started in Portland, Oregon. He had great things to say about what is to come in the next few weeks. He even spoke highly of his trip through the Rockies even though he saw a lot of snow as he was passing through. The second guy I ran into was not doing the full Trans Am route, but had an 800 mile loop planned. He only had turn by turn directions, with no maps or data plan on his cell phone. I hope he makes it.

I’m still traveling with Charlie, who has now been my riding partner for 3 days. We don’t usually start or finish our days at the same time, so we aren’t actually riding with each other, but we have had the same ending points which makes finding a place to stay much easier. Charlie used Warmshowers to find us a place to stay in Carbondale, IL tonight. Warmshowers is a website that cyclists can use to find people willing to host them while they are traveling. Tonight, we stayed with a guy named Jack and his dog Sebastian. This was my first time using Warmshowers, so I was a bit skeptical, but everything turned out great. Jack had a bedroom for each of us and we were able to take a shower and do some laundry as soon as we showed up. After that, Jack gave us a tour of Carbondale, which included a drive through Southern Illinois University which is right in town. I had seen SIU coming into town and found a picture of former Jets player Bart Scott. Charlie was nice enough to take my photo.

We then headed to the lodge at Giant City State Park, where we had a great meal of all you can eat fried chicken, mashed potatoes, coleslaw, green beans, dumplings, and corn. It was a really good meal, but at this point anything that starts with “all you can eat” is going to be good in my book. We talked through dinner and continued the conversation back at Jack’s house. Jack had a guestbook of all the cyclists that have stopped through on their trips across the country and was also able to tell us about some of the people that are just a day or two ahead. Jack has had people stay at his house every night this week.

Tomorrow I am going to take a late start and try to get a few things done. The first thing on my agenda is to get to the post office and mail a few things home. I decided if there is anything I’ve been carrying for 3 weeks and haven’t really needed, I don’t need to be carrying it. I think I’ve got a good 10 to 15 lbs. of stuff to send home. The next stop will be the bike shop to hopefully get my biked tuned up. After 1,300 miles, it’s time to do that and hopefully stop the squeaking noises my bike likes no make. Then it will be on to Chester, IL which sits right on the Mississippi River.