May 18, 2009
Day 1 - Destination: Petersburg, Illinois
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
I was up early to make final packing decisions. I wanted to take an extra pair of boots, but there was just no room. I snuck Tahdra's scale out to the garage and weighed myself (209.5 pounds), me and the bike unloaded (258 pounds), and me, the bike, and the gear (322 pounds). That's a 48.5-pound empty bike (but including the lights and battery), and 64 pounds of luggage/water. Thanks to inspiration from Jim, I'd rigged up flashing LED lights (powered from a battery mounted beneath the front basket) and installed a flag for safety. Jim said he's often told that he's not initially seen, but his flag always is. Jim also gave me an LED 'head lamp' that I converted to a bicycle headlight.
Tahdra fixed me a huge breakfast, which added a few more pounds. She also took this picture for me.
I was finally on the road at 9:06am, hoping I wouldn't have to return the same way Alvin Straight did when he first started out on his trip, portrayed in the movie The Straight Story (my favorite movie).
I had planned a route to avoid most towns, but sometimes hunger caused me to divert. I made two wrong turns this morning - one before I was even out of Morton, but the GPS's got me back on track.
Here's the first on-the-road picture I took - of the WMBD-AM radio tower array on Springfield Road.
Just before reaching Route 9, I turned right on Leslie Farm Road. This was a good way of avoiding Route 9, and a nice place for a break.
Another bicyclist passed me on one of the south-heading roads. I mentioned I was surprised by all the wind we were getting from the south. He said it was predicted. That's when it occurred to me that smart bicyclists pay attention to the wind forecast, as well as the rain chances and temperature!
Here's a picture I took on one of those south-heading roads, except it's looking behind me toward the northeast.
In some cases, my DeLorme PN-20 (GPS) was helpful in finding places to eat. More often, though, it crashed during a 'search', finally doing its own power-cycle reset. (I'd read that you should avoid overloading its memory. I guess I'd overloaded it.) However, it did successfully guide me to Flairty's Dairy Freeze in Green Valley at 12:25pm. There I had a tenderloin sandwich and strawberry shake on their covered side patio area. While I was eating, a postal worker stopped by to tell a waiting customer that there was a package for him at the post office next door.
I finished eating and left at 12:55pm, heading west through town to get back on track. At 1:30pm I stopped for a break at the Malone Town Hall side yard (at Shay and Hamann), where there was a stored culvert pipe in the shade to sit on.
As I was leaving, I noticed cactus plants here and there in the sandy soil, and hoped my tires avoided the stickers.
Mid-afternoon I heard a plane behind me. It was a crop duster. I was glad it was behind me and the wind was blowing to the north.
Nearing 4:00pm, and seeing Mason City in the distance, I decided to make my second detour of the day, to get some ice cream at The Dari Belle.
Heading out of Mason City got me on Route 10 west - actually northwest, so I turned around, riding south along Route 29 for a short way.
As I approached Salt Creek, I was glad to see that 1) the bridge wasn't closed due to all the rain we'd had and 2) there was no bluff to climb on the other side!
There was such a nice shoulder on Route 123 that I decided to stay with it into Petersburg. That gave me a nice hill to ride down (at 29.9 mph), and put me into town at 7:30pm. I turned south on Route 97 for the last few miles to my destination: Lincoln's New Salem State Historic Site.
Here's the last daylight picture I took for this day - along State Park Road.
Arrived at the campground at 7:50pm - 21 minutes before sunset. I checked in with the camp host and hostess, who showed me on the map the $10-sites (without electricity). I chose campsite #74 from the map. After getting to the site, I realized there was no picnic table for locking the bike to. So I went back and changed to site #75.
By the time I got to setting up the tent, it was pretty much dark. I could hear on a PA system that there was some sort of performance going on at the Kelso-Hollow Amphitheater at the opposite end of a map-indicated foot path, which terminated right across the road from site #75. Then I noticed a motorcycle coming up the 'Foot Path', and thought, "He shouldn't be doing that." I went and took a shower, which felt really good. Later, when I was getting settled in the tent, loads of cars came up the 'Foot Path'. I guess it's a road now! All their headlights hit the side of the tent, but I was too tired to really care. The park was virtually empty - I should have taken more time for campsite selection.
Every evening I sent out (or attempted to send out) an email (usually with a picture attached) to Tahdra and the 'support team' using George's BlackBerry. Below is the one sent for this evening. Stats in these emails are unofficial. Close inspection of GPS data when I got back provided more accurate numbers (further down).
Subject: Day one
Date: Monday, 5-18-2009 10:09 PM
Left at 9:06
Arrived just before 8:00pm
Spent 5.25 + 1.54 + 10.00
67.3 mi
8:37 moving
29.9 max speed
7.7 mpg average - wind!
Had shower
Ready for long tomorrow
Good night
Jeff
The day's statistics: 67 miles in 11 hours, 9 minutes, from start to finish = 6.0 mph average progress (includes non-moving time).
Spent: $5.25 (lunch) + $1.54 (ice cream cone) + 10.00 (camping fee) = $16.79.
Today's ride: 67 miles (108 km)
Total: 67 miles (108 km)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 3 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |