May 20, 2009
Day 3 - Destination: Jerseyville (again!)
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How could it get any better than this? Perhaps if I hadn't camped so close to railroad tracks (580 feet). Trains, with whistles blowing, passed by at 10:35pm, 11:25pm, 3:13am, and 3:53am! No matter. It didn't take me long to fall back to sleep, and I was beginning to think it was funny. I was up at 6:00am. It was a beautiful morning to be camping by a lake.
Packed up and ate breakfast while the plastic ground cloth I used under the tent dried in the sun. The drink was from the shopping stop at Casey's the evening before. It wasn't hot coffee, but it did have caffeine!
Received another email from the ferry company:
Subject: Golden Eagle
Date: Tuesday, 5-19-2009 8:18 PM (forwarded to me at 10:15pm)
From: Calhoun Ferry Co.
The Winfield Ferry will be open at 5 am tomorrow, Wed May 20th.
The Golden Eagle Ferry will be open to trucks only and that is only if we have a dock sticking out of the water tomorrow.
We can not trust the prediction for the Mississippi river but if it is right we will be at 29.3 feet tomorrow.
We believe the Illinois river may be backing up the Mississippi and that may be the reason we did not crest early today.
We called lock and Dam 25 this morning and they said it crested early today but since then we have raise at Golden Eagle.
If we had known that we would get this much water we would have closed today, but could not do so once we told people we would stay open.
We will give an update tomorrow as soon as we know something new.
Thank You for your patience!
The Calhoun Ferry Company
I oiled the bike chain, loaded the bike, and was on my way out of the park at 9:00am. Here's a picture of the railroad tracks (looking east) where the park road crosses the tracks.
A heading mostly due south got me back on my previously-planned route. There was still a stiff wind from the south. I tried to capture its force in this picture of the bike's flag. Now I see I should have also taken a picture with the bike facing the other way to compensate for any preexisting non-vertical slant of the pole.
All along the way I found places to stop for a drink and sometimes a snack. Traffic was nonexistent.
At 1:55pm, less than a mile south of Route 108, - BANG! The rear tire blew out.
I couldn't of had this flat at a better spot - a shady area was just across the road. I left the bike on the road until I got it unloaded.
After getting the tire off, I looked and found what I was afraid of - a rip in the tire. I also looked for a sharp object in the tire, but there was just a very small hole. The pressure from the blowout must have blown out whatever caused it - perhaps a Tazewell County cactus thorn!
I decided my only hope was to put this damaged tire on the front, and the front tire on the rear. I had a new tube and tools.
I'd read on the internet about using a dollar bill to keep a tube from protruding through a tear in a tire, so I tried that, along with putting only 38psi in this 58psi-rated tire.
I moved the bike back on the road to load it, and started moving again at 3:15pm. I needed to get my mind off the tire, so stopped to take a picture of flowers along the ditch.
At 4:25pm I stopped at Witt Cemetery for a break. I called Tahdra, who searched the internet for bike shops in Jerseyville and found one. I called the shop for their hours. It was too late to get there today, but they would be open tomorrow at 8:00am.
Farther down the road I saw this field that had yellow plants of some sort.
Approaching Jerseyville, I decided to avoid the city streets I had previously routed and come in from the south, where the motel (Frontier Lodge) was. I missed the motel, according to the GPS's, so turned around and finally asked directions from a family sitting on their porch. "Right across the street." (I was at the side of the building, which apparently shares space with 'Century 21'.) It was 7:25pm when I met the motel manager. She was very accommodating, providing a secure place (the laundry room) for storing my bike and Room #12 on the ground floor to stay in. I also found out that the motel manager had worked at Caterpillar in East Peoria, where I had also worked in the past.
After a shower, I walked over to Pizza Hut, a half a block away, arriving at 8:45pm. There I had a Supreme Personal Pan pizza, one-trip salad bar, and a Dr. Pepper, paid for with a gift card given to me before the trip by Jim and his wife Dianne. I very much liked the picture mounted in the Pizza Hut entryway.
Back at the motel I had a cup of coffee from a one-cup coffee maker (never seen one before) while I tried to figure out where the bike shop was. Its address was '608 State Highway 16'. My GPS's and the map in the phone book were no help.
Another ferry email:
Subject: ferry
Date: Wednesday, 5-20-2009 2:39 PM (forwarded to me at 10:18pm)
From: Calhoun Ferry Co.
Wed. May 20th
We will remain open tomorrow morning, May 21st at the Winfield Ferry.
If the river falls tonight we will move to Golden Eagle for the afternoon.
The Golden Eagle Ferry will remain open to truck traffic only, the water is about 12 inches deep,
Hopefully this will change by tomorrow.
Thank You,
The Calhoun Ferry Company
Well, that was the end of my hope for a ferry ride. I also worried if the bike shop had the size tire I needed, whether roads in Illinois or Missouri were flooded by high water from the Illinois River, and how was I ever going to make it to tomorrow night's destination. Finally I just went to bed. These concerns could wait until tomorrow.
Subject: Day three - 23 miles on a dollar
Date: Wednesday, 5-20-2009 10:26 PM
Left at 9am
Rear tube blew at 1:55pm. Took tire with it. Switched tires and patched tear with dollar bill. Back on road at 3:15pm.
Arrived at frontier lodge motel (jerseyville) at 7:25pm.
Supper at pizza hut after shower.
52miles total.
7:16 moving
29.1mph max
7.1 average moving
Ferries are closed. Alton bridge tomorrow.
Jeff
Day Three: 52 miles in 10 hours, 25 minutes = 5.0 mph average travel speed (includes flat tire repair time).
Spent: $6.64 plus $2 tip (Pizza Hut supper using gift card) + $54.63 plus $12 tip (motel) = $75.27.
Today's ride: 52 miles (84 km)
Total: 159 miles (256 km)
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