May 19, 2019
Headwinds Are a State of Mind
McLean to Springfield
After yesterday afternoon’s massive feed, I fell into a food coma in my hotel room. Laundry was accomplished. Nats beat Cubs on the telly. I slept for 8 hours.
Just what I needed.
The hotel breakfast was decent: cereal, OJ, coffee, yogurt, fruit (including 2 apples for the road), and toast.
As I left the hotel the wind nearly blew me over. Once I got on Route 66 the wind was in my face. Again. I was determined not to fight it. So I plodded along at 8 miles per hour. During the day, the wind intensified and my speed crept downward.
No worries. The temps were cooperating, staying in the high 60s and low 70s.
I decided to just forget about how long the day would take. I stopped from time to time to check out the sites.
It turns out that a business in Santa Monica (the western end of Route 66) makes huge fiberglass statues as advertisements. Most of them look like Paul Bunyan carrying an axe or whatever matches the business being promoted. Mufflers were popular. A hot dog business in Illinois had one made with a giant hot dog. It’s named the Paul Bunyon statue because of restaurant trademark conflicts. It now stands next to the road in Atlanta, Illinois.
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Paul’s a whole lot bigger (and my head is much smaller) than he looks in this picture.
I was plodding along thanking the bike gods that the road was mostly level.
I stopped in the town of Elkhart and had a light lunch at an Amish cafe. I was happy to get out of the wind for an hour.
The wind picked up even more when I saw Stephen and Bernd coming my way. Steve is from New York and Bernd is from Germany. We had a nice chat. They were loving their tailwind. Steve said they rode more than 80 miles yesterday and “didn’t break a sweat.” He also said that the winds were so strong in Arizona that he was literally blown off the road into a ditch.
Isn’t bike touring fun?
I rode into Springfield expecting to camp but the campground looked boggy so I headed into town in search of a hotel.
Along the way I saw some signs for Lincoln’s tomb so I checked it out.
It turns out that 3 of his 4 sons (Robert is buried in Arlington) and his wife are also buried here. This surprised me because Willie was buried in DC (the basis for the book Lincoln in the Bardo).
I know my history fanatic friend Jessica is going ape over these pictures but there’s more! Lincoln’s tomb is just up the hill from the graves of the Korndog (sic) King and Mr. Accordion!
I’ll bet that made Jessica spit her cerveza.
After checking out an inexpensive Howard Johnson’s that looked like a perfect spot for meth sales, I rode into downtown and grabbed a room at the Wyndham. I’m on the 28th floor and I can hear the wind howling outside. I have an amazing view of Springfield and let me tell you it’s totally not worth the picture. (I grew up in Albany and I’d feel the same way about the view there so don’t give me any grief y’all).
In spite of the headwinds I logged 52.5 miles today making the tour total 225 miles.
Tomorrow I check out Lincoln’s house before riding headwinds outta town.
Today's ride: 53 miles (85 km)
Total: 227 miles (365 km)
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