Day 10: 5/30/19: New Douglas to Waverly, IL

WOW!!!  Very little sleep the night before and 84 miles pedaling adds up to a fantastic night's sleep. It stormed at about 2:30 a.m., winds, heavy rain and all, but that barely phased my sleep.  If there were any other storms during the night, I was oblivious to them.

Another thing that might have contributed to a good night's sleep was that a township supervisor came by the park a little after 9 p.m. to cut off the lights at the baseball field. We talked several minutes about bicycling touring and my trip. He stated it would be okay for me to camp under the pavilion.  As I've said earlier, it's always easier to sleep in a place where you have permission.

It was very pleasant temperature wise this morning. Almost cool enough for a light jacket.

Ticks seem to be bad this year everywhere.  I've had more than my share of them in Chattanooga.  The last few days, I have knocked off about 3 crawling on my legs. This morning, I found one of the little suckers attached behind my knee. :(

My campsite in New Douglas below.

Litchfield, IL (pic below) is the end of Phase 2 of my trip. I usually divide my trips in days when developing a route, but since this is such a long route, I divided the trip in Phases. Each phase varies in miles and was governed by how many times Google Maps would let me change the route without shutting me down. I guess the system operates under the assumption that no sane person would make that many turns to get there. So basically, completing Phase 2 of my trip means absolutely nothing, except that I am now about 12 pieces of paper lighter than I was when I started. :)

Historic Route 66 runs through so naturally I had to get a few kicks on Route 66 before continuing on my journey.

The Sky View below is the oldest remaining drive-in along Route 66 in Illinois.

The small Town Hall in Brushy Mound.  This is the only building in town.

Below is the Heron hanging around the old Macoupin County jail in Carlinville.

Photo of Macoupin County Courthouse.

The temps today remained in the 70s.  It was a perfect day for cycling. Most of the day the sky looked like this.

Tonight I will be camping at Waverly Lake. The camping is free, and it is very serene until the train comes by right next to the camping area. Hopefully, not many trains will run tonight. Pic of campsite below.

Did I mention gnats?  They will drive you nuts around here. As soon as I stop, they swarm around my head. I put on bug spray and I think that attracted more.

Total miles today: 74.5

Day 9: 5/29/19: Tamaroa, IL to New Douglas, IL

Last night was quite eventful.  After watching some little league at the city park, I finally got settled into my tent at about 11:30. I chatted with a nice local family that has 9 children, with the 10th one on the way.  We checked the local weather and there was only a 30% chance of rain last night, and 60% today.

As a precaution, I pitched my tent under a large pavilion and saw no need to use the rainfly. I left a few things laying on a picnic table under the pavilion. At about 3:00, I was awakened by thunder in the distance. At about 3:30, the storm was on top of me. It consisted of pouring rain and extremely high winds. Things were starting to get blown around, so I get out of the tent to round up my stuff. About that time, the winds increased and I had to catch my tent. Rain was being blown into the pavilion and into my tent. This intense storm lasted only a few minutes, so I settle back into my tent, inventory everything, and lay back down. Still no rain fly. I think the wind in this storm was much greater than the winds I rode through in Fredericksburg VA that were the remnants of hurricane Michael.

Well, at about 4:00 a.m., here comes round 2. Again wind blowing the rain into the pavilion and into my tent, which was more in the center of the pavilion after being blown by the first storm. So out I go again, this time moving my tent further away from the blowing rain and attaching my rainfly to it. Attaching a rainfly in extreme wind is quite the adventure. I got it attached, and crawled back in my tent. That storm also lasted only a few minutes.

Then sometime between 4:30-5:00 another storm, not quite as intense as the first two, quickly came through.

Lessons learned last night: 1) These Midwest storms mean business; and 2) Don't think you don't need a rainfly just because you are under a pavilion.

I'm glad I was under a pavilion instead of riding that one out in Darrell's yard. Once again, God provides.

My ride from Tamaroa to Nashville, IL was definitely on roads less traveled. I traveled much of the way on roads that look like this...

I also had to cross this...

And this...

These were on a road called Lake Road. Not sure why it's not called Lake in the Road. I walked my bike across these areas and the water was mid way up my shin with a soft muddy bottom.

 I thought it was neat how you could see this road cut in the wheat field.

Lisa told me at about 2:00 p.m. weather.com showed a big "green" area setting it's sights on me. At about 5:00 p.m., I started noticing more dark clouds in the distance. Of course, tthat made me start pedaling faster. I was on back roads and did not know when the next town was coming up. It started lightening closer to me, and I could tell I was losing the race. I pulled over in an old abandoned shed thinking I would stay there until the storm blew over. I pulled out my phone to look up churches close by that may have a pavilion. I saw there were a couple of churches in New Douglas, IL, about 3 miles from me. So off to the races again. As I entered the town, I found a township park with a couple of pavilions. I did not get rained on at all, but as I pulled under a pavilion at about 6:30, a torrential rain with lightning and high winds began. I have decided to make this home for the night because the storms could continue  throughout the night.  It's going to be another rough night.

Total miles today: 84.6

Day 8: 5/28/19: Metropolis, IL to Tamaroa, IL

I had a very good night's sleep last night. It is always much easier to sleep well when you have permission to sleep somewhere.  When "stealth" camping, I tend to sleep lighter and every little noise wakes me up.

I was able to "do" laundry in the bathroom sink last night. I hung my clothes out to dry, but there was not enough sun and wind to dry them.

So this morning during breakfast at McDonald's, I found a sunny spot and hung them out to dry some more.

No trip to Metropolis is complete until you go visit the big guy.

I made it to Vienna, the self proclaimed bicycling capital of Illinois.  However, talking to a local, he stated he would not ride on the roads "around here."  He sticks to the local rails to trails.  At the park where all the bicycle facilities were, the bathrooms were closed and the water was shut off. So as far as bicycling capital, all I can say is, "I don't know about that!!" :)

I had a nice tailwind today, and have really enjoyed it.

Below is a pic of Tall Tree Lake.

I got to enjoy Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge during my ride today. A couple of pics below.

In Energy, IL I had a couple of burgers and some fries at Nesler's Polar Whip.  Man it really hit the spot. The single burger was only 90 cents and the double was $1.15.  they only had onion and mustard on them. They operate on a cash only basis.  As Wimpy always says, "I'd gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today."

My last few miles today we're on a gravel road in the middle of farms. Pic below.

I made it to Tamaroa and talked to a guy named Darrell who was cutting his grass. He stated it would be fine for me to pitch a tent in his yard, but he needed to finish mowing his grass. So I rode around town for awhile and then returned to his house. He stated that his wife is a nervous type and was afraid to let me pitch a tent in their yard. Oh well.  Darrell called a town official who okayed it for me to pitch a tent in the town park tonight.

Total miles today: 100.8

Day 7: 5/27/19: Land Between the Lakes, KY to Metropolis, IL

My breakfast this morning consisted of a banana and then this....

And this.

And I was glad to have them.

Went across this neat bridge. Google maps let me down. About when I was in the middle of the bridge, I saw a nice pedestrian/bike path going across. It is usually good at directing me to such paths.

View of the lake from the bridge.

Below is an interesting sight I passed. I would think it would only be popular at Halloween, but maybe not.  Dr. Morg's Haunted House

I'll bet this road is prone to flooding. It runs through a National Wildlife Refuge. The green on the left side is water and the dark on the right side is also water. The water on both sides was right up to the road.

One bridge I have been uncertain of on this trip was the Highway 45 bridge that connects Kentucky to Illinois across the Ohio River. When I made it to the bridge, the road was closed and blocked off. My first thought was how much distance and time will this add to my trip. Then I thought, "I'm on a bike and it's Memorial Day.  Bike bridge!!!!". So I push my bike around the gravel blocking the road and head over the bridge not knowing if part of the bridge was missing or why it was closed.

(The above road closed pic was taken from the Illinois side. The Kentucky side looked the same.)

Below is a pic of the Ohio River from the bridge.

The bridge has a metal surface, and the pic below shows how one can see through the road to the river.  It was kind of eerie having the bridge to myself, but was also quite enjoyable.

I made it to Illinois.

(Above pic would not have been possible if the road was open.)

I took a bike trail that connected to a road in the Fort Massac State Park in Metropolis. It was quite an enjoyable ride (pic below)...

Then I got to another road closed sign that said bridge out, and this time it really was under water.  I had to backtrack about 3 miles. Pic below shows where the road should cross the water.

I'm camping tonight at the Fort Massac State Park. Tent sites are $10, and it was worth that to get a shower.

Although Lisa is not physically here with me, it is almost like she is taking the trip with me. I have a tracker that allows her to follow me.  As I was riding in the boondocks of Kentucky this morning, I get a call from her telling me that the restaurant I just passed looks like a good one.  I was looking at the restaurant while we were talking. It was still breakfast time and since I had already eaten my biscuit and ice cream, I did not go to the restaurant.  She was just trying to take care of me and make sure I don't go hungry.

On another occasion, I was in Paducah KY and she called to let me know that John Scopes of the Monkey trial was buried in a cemetery about a block from me. Well, figuring it would be like Billy The Kid's grave in Ft. Sumner NM (previous bike trip) with a well marked grave in a small cemetery, I went to the cemetery. The cemetery was several blocks long, and had hundreds of graves in it. I could not even figure out how to enter the cemetery, so I passed on locating his grave. After all, it's not like he was Billy the Kid. :)

Total miles today: 70.1

Day 6: 5/26/19: TN Hwy 7 to Land Between the Lakes, KY

Below is a pic of my shadow.

Yesterday, all I had to eat was breakfast, a leftover egg and bacon biscuit for lunch, and a pop tart and banana for supper, so I was pretty hungry this morning.  I had to ride 22 miles for breakfast. I picked Shoneys in Dickson for their breakfast bar.   Below is a pic of 1 of 3 plates of food I ate there. 

Today took me through the small towns of Dickson, Erin, and Dover. I rode about 1.5 miles on the paved pedestrian path in Erin (pics below).

In Dover, I went to the Donelson National Battlefield and the Surrender House (pics below).

It was hot again today as indicated in the below photo, but I did not need that to know it was hot.

Pics of a couple old furnaces below. 

This is my solar set up on my bike. It is not the fastest charge, but it is doing a good job keeping a charge on my phone during the day. It's nice not to have to sit around waiting for my phone to charge. So far, I have not had access to electrical outlets at night.

I made it to The Land Between the Lakes and camped in woods there. As much poison ivy as I have seen in the woods in my last 2 camping spots, I'm surprised I don't have it all over me. I guess time will tell. 

Buffalo below

Kentucky at last

It rained just a little when I was close to my campsite. First rain of the trip, but not a soaker.

A couple of pics from today's scenery.

Total miles today: 102.9