July 3, 2008
Day 52: Kewanee, IL to Wilton, IA
96.34 miles, 6:31:52 Ride Time, 14.74 Average Speed, 34.15 Maximum Speed
I rode out this morning to discover that I had a tailwind - despite what the guy in Bradford had told me yesterday ("you'll be battling headwinds all across the Plains.")
What a difference the direction of the wind makes - I was flying out of Kewanee, in the big chainring most of the way, until I headed North to Cambridge (pop. 2,180), where I made the first stop of the day. There was a strong, bitter smell of smoke in the area, so I asked a couple of guys standing around if something was on fire. They told me that it was the nearby asphalt plant, and that it smelled like that every day. I suppose it is possible to get used to anything.
While in Cambridge, I noticed a flyer, taped to the outside of a convenience store, reminding residents of the upcoming "Carp Removal Day" at a nearby lake. Odd things begin to seem amusing when you've been on the road this long, and I found the following pretty funny: "Bring your rod and reel, bow and arrow, drinks, friend and a boat." Drinking, boating, and bows and arrows: I'm sure this will end well. (And what's the friend for? to drive you home? or to the hospital?). You just know that for a certain type of guy, Carp Removal Day is the highlight of the year.
Around noon, at 42 miles for the day, I stopped in Sherrard (pop. 694), where they had converted the old, closed high school into a library. I bought an old paperbook of science fiction stories for $.50, used their restroom, and decided not to wait around for a half hour to check my email - a surly teenage boy, doubtless dreaming of the day he could leave Sherrard forever, was dominating the one internet-connected computer.
I liked Sherrard, a nice little town, but I was afraid the tailwind would wane, so I soon headed West to Buffalo Prairie (not much left there), where I passed an old man in an ATV at about 25 mph. It's even more fun to pass a motorized vehicle than it is to pass a cyclist on a light, unloaded road bike. Childish, but I can't help myself.
After about 20 flat, fast miles in the big chainring, I checked the bike computer and saw that at 2:10 in the afternoon, I had ridden 70 miles, and was averaging 15.47 mph - one of my fastest days so far, and pretty good considering my late start this morning.
Soon, though, the road I was on dead-ended about a mile from the Mississippi River, and I slowed down considerably as I headed North. I crossed the Mississippi into Muscatine, Iowa, a busy industrial city, and the usual urban bicycling nightmare. While I was stopped checking my map, a man in a pickup truck pulled up and asked if I was touring. He was John Nupp, a local cyclist who was planning his first tour. We talked a while, and with his directions, I got out of town easily.
I slowed down for the last several miles - I was now riding against the wind, and the terrain had become rolling. When I got to Wilton (pop. 2,829), I first stopped at the Wilton Candy Kitchen, where the old couple running the place interrupted their mild bickering long enough to inform me that their establishment was the oldest ice cream parlor in the world. While I had a root beer float, I looked at the photographs of various luminaries who had visited the place; Brooke Shields and George W. Bush were the most notable.
As I made my way to the Motel Wilton, I encountered an old couple riding a contraption that appeared to be two recumbents bolted together; I asked them if I could take their picture, and while the man seemed happy to oblige, his wife kind of harrumphed. I photographed them anyway.
The Motel Wilton was the first sub-$40 place I've stayed at in a while, and was actually pretty nice (for $38). Later I rode downtown again and had a burger and fries at a bar-and-grill; when I mentioned to the waitress that I was staying at the Motel Wilton, she laughingly told me that everyone referred to it as the "Wilton Hilton."
Back at the Wilton Hilton, I goofed around, procrastinated working on this journal, and watched old episodes of The Twilight Zone on the Sci-Fi Channel. It apparently was a theme night, because all the episodes involved evil talking dolls and evil ventriloquist dummies. That stuff seemed a lot more interesting and scary when I was twelve.
A pretty great day of riding.
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
| Heart | 1 | Comment | 0 | Link |
Today's ride: 96 miles (154 km)
Total: 3,726 miles (5,996 km)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 3 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |