Funny helmets and smooth roads...

After 34 dys and some 2500 miles people start getting a little nutso... probably something akin to prisoners who get 'stir crazy'. So today was designated "decorate your helmet day" and the idea was to use the day off to come up with something a bit wacky and show it off this morning before getting on the bikes. Tom took all the photos (I wasn't thinking - mine was encased in plastic because of a forecast of rain) and there are too many for the blog. I have included Tom who had balloons with the number 7 for the seventh week when it will be party time. Mine was the Superman logo and the little corkscrew with the saying I thought appropriate for the 2nd oldest guy on the ride. There were some pretty outlandish outfits including the Englishman in the group (actually from Liverpool) who decorated not only his helmet but a good part of his body and bike as well - mostly in red, white and blue. And in case anyone wonders I did pull the corkscrew out before I hit the road but I kept the Superman logo on all day.

It was another day that started out looking very doubtful. We had thunder and lightning through much of the night and the clouds were dark and heavy this morning with a forecast of showers through the morning. So again, we left on wet roads but no rain and with our fingers crossed. The good news was that there was no wind - hooray. We headed out right through downtown Champaign and wound our way back to University Ave and then right through the university itself so we did get a chance to see the raison d'etre for Champaign. Almost immediately upon leaving the city we were on a state road and, not too surprising, back into farm country and more cornfields. One of our group is from this area and made the comment that the farmers here are expecting one of their best crops ever. They have had an abundance of rain and the predictions are very positive. I just look at the soil and we go by and it looks so dark and rich it just seems like the ideal farm land.

With no wind and pretty decent roads we made good time and actually rode with a group of 8 or 9 riders for probably 30 miles or so until half of them and decided to stop at a store and four of us kept up the same pace through the little towns and cornfields. After a quick stop at the only SAG of the day we came to the Indiana state line...if there had not been a couple of folks stopped there I could easily have missed it because at this point we were moving. In any case we took our pictures, did our little ritual with the Pacific sand (I occasionally wonder whether in this day and age we might not be violating some state law that prohibits bringing foreign matter into the state) and crossed into another state in our "epic journey" across America.

By this time the sun had made it's appearance and it was turning into a great day. I am easily satisfied with blue skys, puffy white clouds and a nice road - no wind is a bonus. And so a perfect day for a bike ride and we continued to the little town of Veedersburg (pop probably about 796). At the four way stop in the center of town there was a restaurant called the Bus Stop on the corner that looked perfect for lunch - first because it was the only place in town, and second because it was filled with customers. So the five of us went in to all the stares of the locals and a few of the usual questions - "You started where? Going to Boston?" There was a very cute baby with her mom at the table next to us and Hank, Mr Personality always, went over and asked the mother if she would allow the baby to be in a photo with him - and both the baby and Hank were delighted with the affirmative response. It was a great little place with homemade pies and filled with friendly people. And the kind of place most people in cars would simply fly by and never even see.

And so we left after continuing a couple of conversations on the little deck and headed back out into our perfect day. One of the little towns had the bike garden on the wall of the building. They were all lined up and filled with flowers - and the photo does not show it but at the corner was an ice cream store - bikes and ice cream, perfect together.

And finally, the little town of Hillsboro: their sign made us all smile. And all we saw were the happy people - they must keep the soreheads under cover. So we have now changed to the eastern time zone and are sitting in Crawfordsville and looking to a short, i.e 65 miles, ride to Indianapolis tomorrow. We did 80 miles today and had 5 hours and 20 minutes of riding time but it didn't seem like that much. The day off was good for us and tomorrow's short day almost seems like a recovery day too.

And just a bit of trivia to finish off the day...Crawfordsville was home to Gen. Lew Wallace who was the author of Ben-Hur (among other things) and I do not think we will make it to the Lew Wallace museum. But I thought I'd pass along that bit of information just in case Jeopardy comes calling....And on that note, good night.