Day 20 ending near Spencer, IN

September 12, 2015

When I woke up this morning, it was 6:45am. I wasn't too concerned about getting an early start - I had a short day planned, just to McCormick's Creek State Park on the other side of Bloomington. According to the weather radio, there is a 40% chance of rain today.

Everything I had hanging up had dried overnight, with help from the room fan I left on for half the night. I got it all back together, worked more on the report, then got ready for what might be the biggest challenge of the day: getting the bicycle up the stairs from the walkway for the cabin rooms to the parking lot. In spite of the worst step-spacing (for this job), I made it to the top at 10:30am. One other task I kept thinking about until I did it was to return the room key.

Now I can have some breakfast! I sat at the counter like I had last night. The waitress cautioned me about the size of the pancakes when I said three, so I cut that back to two. That was just about right. Finally told the waitress I didn't need any more refills on coffee, and got going.

Started north on the wide shoulder of IN-446 at 11:46am. It was sunny, but sort of cold with the north breeze. Several bicyclists going south all returned my wave as they passed by on the opposite shoulder. Nobody but me heading north.

I wasn't very far along at noon today: 1.8 miles.

When I plan my routes, I usually aim to avoid bigger cities. Trying to avoid Bloomington looked like more work than just going through it. And since I would be in Bloomington, I'd loaded waypoints for a few locations I'd like to see - places shown in the bicycling movie "Breaking Away" (1979). One location from the movie that would be cool to see would be the quarry swimming hole, but that's on private property.

Bloomington has well-marked bicycling routes, and I started through town going west on one them at 12:23pm. Took a break in a park at 1:00pm. There's more up-and-downs than I expected in this town. Since it looked like it was going to rain, I checked the weather radar to see where the rain was. Scattered spots here and there. Might as well move on.

I came to my first movie site: the house portrayed as the home of Dave Stoller and his parents. Got a picture and moved on to the Indiana University campus. One clock there puzzled me. I think I'm still in the Eastern Time Zone.

I came to another movie location: a place called Rose Well House. Workers were setting up chairs in front of that. There are a lot more students around than I thought I'd see. I had to go slow walking my bike. On the west end of campus is a downtown street going west (and downhill a little) that's lined with places students like to go to. That street got me to the courthouse block. The courthouse, as well as an across-the-street pizza place, were also shown in the movie, but I couldn't get photos of those with this BlackBerry, since it had started raining! I found an empty storefront with an awning to wait out the rain.

My waypoints led me next to the B-Line Trail. It's very nice. That ended for me at West Vernal Pike Road, on the west side of town. I stopped for a break and decided to give my friend Jim, back in Morton, a call to update him on where I was. I had to cut the call short, since it started raining again, and I needed to move to under a tree across the road. With that round over, I continued on to the intersection with IN-37. My surprise when I got there at 3:08pm was that Vernal Pike Road (my route) was closed to the west. I checked the map, and decided to go up to IN-46. It felt like I was on an expressway, with an interchange loop for getting onto IN-46.

Since there is a good, wide shoulder on IN-46, I decided to stay with it. When I got to Ellettsville, it was a curb-and-gutter layout. I stopped at a Fast Max convenience store there for an ice cream bar at 4:00pm.

5:00pm had me once again under a tree, avoiding getting wet. This time the sun was still out. The clouds have been awesome today, and this rain came with a rainbow.

I'd had somewhat of a headwind today, and it continued as I made my way on to the state park. I had been wondering if this should be a motel evening, with a mid-40s low predicted. But since I was still dry, I should tough it out camping.

I arrived at the park entrance at 5:55pm. There was a banner near their sign with information on a 'BBQ and Blues' event, apparently happening today. If I could get a sandwich here at the park, that'd be better than a can of Beanee Weenees. After paying the $2 bicyclist entrance fee, I continued on to the Nature Center area.

What a party! Families all over, people eating, and good music. I went through one food line, then back again through another. I couldn't have had a better supper. I wanted to stay longer and try out a cup of coffee from another vendor, but it would be getting dark soon.

I arrived at the campground gatehouse at 6:45pm. The attendant said they had been booked completely full, but a few cancelled/left early since they'd had rain here earlier in the day. She had someone check on available spots. Primitive site #193 was open, and that's where I ended up at 7:00pm.

Got the tent set up, the gear inside, and guess what? It started to rain. It wasn't much, but enough to get me into the tent. I talked to my wife on the phone, worked on selecting pictures for the report, and got ready for the cold night ahead - all to the faint sound of families having fun listening to Blues.

Jeff

Spent: $10.97 plus $3 (breakfast) + $1.49 (ice cream bar) + $2 (park entrance fee) + $14 (BBQ supper) + $12.84 (campsite) = $44.30.

Day 20 - Bloomington, IN to Spencer, IN

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+ plus signs indicate pictures added after returning home from the trip +