Saturday, July 15. Springfield, IL, to Carlinville, IL. Today's ride was not too different from the last two days: hot, flat, rural. We saw corn. We saw soybeans.
There, now that we have that out of the way, on to the good stuff. As we sat eating breakfast this morning, perusing the local paper, we came across a story about a couple who had a daughter with a weight problem. She was 11 years old, and, according to the story, couldn't get enough exercise because a) they live out in the country and no kids her age live nearby, and b) in order to get somewhere there ARE kids her age, she has to be driven.
Ordinarily, this story wouldn't be very funny. But the solution that her mother came up with was completely hilarious. She formed an organization for other people in similar situations; to participate, one would pay her $80 for 4 once-weekly walks lasting 30-45 minutes. Funny as that is, what had us rolling was that she named it Operation Wonderful Women Walking, or OWWW. Insert punchline of your choice here.
We actually got a fairly early start today, but as we rolled through Springfield we found that we were right next to Lincoln's Tomb. We had to stop there.
Of course, we got there about a half-hour before it opened for the day, so we stood there in the shade waiting; as we waited, the other person in line struck up a conversation with us. He is a Methodist pastor from Tennessee, visiting Springfield for a convention, who skipped the morning session so he could come see Lincoln's Tomb. He was full of all kinds of trivia. It passed the time well before opening.
On departing, we stopped by an adjacent gift shop on the off chance they might have a Lincoln shot glass (poor taste, perhaps, but morbid curiosity drove us). They did, along with a couple of Route 66 glasses. We picked up one of each and some postcards.
It turns out that the portion of our winging-it route today traverses a large section of the historic Route 66, which passed through this area from 1926 until 1930. We saw several signs attesting to this as we went, riding on IL-4 south.
On our way through Springfield, we got to ride on a paved trail called the Wabash Trail. It helped us get to the southwest side of town while avoiding the heavy traffic on Wabash Avenue and IL-4 in town. It was a short trail, but nice to ride.
Some of the route heading out of town was littered with gravel and, in one place, glass. It was inevitable that we would have to replace Nancy's rear tire; I was just hoping it would be closer to Kansas. Surprisingly, she didn't develop a flat until we were in Verdin (VRR-dn), almost 10 miles south of Springfield. At that point, we inspected her tire and decided it was time to replace it.
Side note: we have ordered replacement spare tires and are having them shipped to Becky in Colorado so she can bring them down to us in Pueblo when we get there. It turns out the Continental Top Touring 2000 has been discontinued, as I suspected, and the tire that Continental supplies as the replacement is what will be shipped. Thank you to everyone who offered to find us replacement tires.
We rolled (Nancy a little uneasily) into a thin sliver of shade at the side of a grocery store in Verdin to replace the tire. While there, I got a recommendation for lunch in town, so that when she finished changing the tire we would have a place to go. But as we went down the road, we saw a DQ Brazier and veered in. We needed the ice cream on such a hot day. That's where Nancy penned her addendum to yesterday's blog.
As we were leaving, two women at an adjacent table stopped us to talk; Marcia and her mother, Virginia, had seen our bikes and trailers out front and wanted all the details.
It turned out Marcia was a lifelong resident of Verdin, and although she and her husband have bikes and ride a little locally, she always wondered what it would be like to ride long distance like we are. On a hot day like this one, she perhaps didn't envy us as much as she said, but she was clearly fascinated.
Arriving in Carlinville, we at first were not sure where our intended stopping point was; we saw a little motel on the corner where 4 and 108 diverge, but it did not inspire much confidence in either of us. We were expecting to find another place, but we didn't see anything else in the vicinity; so, we went back to the Shell station we had just passed to ask directions. There we met Bill and Stacy; Stacy is a student at the local college, Blackburn, and so was not very familiar with the place we were looking for. She deferred to Bill, the manager, who told us that if it weren't for the trees, we could have seen the place from where we were. They were great to talk with, and gave us some good information about the roads we will take tomorrow, including a little warning about hills. He had described the motel we were heading to as about a mile or so down the road, and a restaurant near it as not more than a half-mile from that; it was actually a little less than half a mile from the Shell station, and the restaurant is across the street from it. Good food, too. We'll post the picture we got of Bill and Stacy when we get a chance - no telling when that will be.
Tomorrow we cross into Missouri and will start the Katy Trail on Monday. The forecast is for more hot, dry conditions, so we will not have any muddy portions of the trail. We are staying well hydrated, so don't worry, Mom. More soon!
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