June 20, 2012
Day 5: St. Francisville, IL to Jasonville, IN
(By Joy)
Even with Jeff's rough night of sleep and our late-night dinner, we were up early and ready to ride. Our first stop of the day was at the toll booth at the crossing of the Wabash Cannonball Bridge, where the booth attendant didn't charge us (bikes are free) and told us he hoped we didn't get run over. The bridge is an old railroad bridge repurposed for one-lane car traffic. We were hoping we were up early enough to avoid meeting anyone on the bridge, but most morning traffic was going our direction anyway as people crossed the Wabash to get over to Vincennes, Indiana.
The bridge looked like it had been pieced together bit by bit with a board here and a board there, bolts added whenever a creak or crack developed, and we quickly decided that it wasn't prudent to ride since the risk of getting a wheel turned sideways in a crack was too great. It seems most bike accidents are caused by similar things, so we decided to risk impatient traffic (where were they going to go anyway? They couldn't pass us). Jeff walked his bike, and I half walked/half coasted along while sitting on the bike but keeping my feet down.
The bridge is in three sections-one length before the main span, the main span, and a tiny section after it. The whole thing makes quite a racket when a car hits it, so we tried to hurry along, stopping briefly to take pictures of grass growing on the railroad ties (!), the general deterioration of some parts of the bridge, and the usual bridge graffiti. I don't know why bridges attract such graffiti, but I've rarely seen a rural bridge without it.
From the bridge to Vincennes, we had flat, well-paved roads and made some of our best time of the trip, probably prompted by a need for breakfast. Vincennes had some traffic, but we found the architecturally interesting downtown along with a hearty breakfast of eggs, bacon, toast, and pancakes at a local diner.
I really, really wanted a bag of ice for my Platypus (camelbak-type thing), all our bottles, and our little lunch-sized cooler we'd bought in Olney, but we initially got very vague directions to a gas station and headed in the wrong direction before Jeff found a nice lady who gave us remarkably correct and detailed directions, including a trip through an alley. It's rare to get good directions on the road since people are so used to just driving to things and not so good at explaining locations to other people, so we were grateful to her for her help.
On our way out of Vincennes, we passed Vincennes University and went past the Red Skelton Center, headed for a number of miles of good country roads. We did, however, have to cross 41 a couple of times, which was really busy and sometimes scary. I ran my bike across when it was really busy since I sometimes can't get my bike started very quickly, especially if it's a bit uphill.
We stopped for some much-needed ice cream at a farm market and stayed too long, but I was tired and needed to get revived by shade and a cool mint chip cone. The day, however, went downhill (figuratively, not literally) as I got overheated and had to stop just a few miles down the road despite a nice tailwind. In Carlisle, we were by the very busy highway again, but I had to get off the bike and get some Gatorade. That revived me, but I still went into a nearby gas station and wet down everything I was wearing, including my shoes, in an attempt to stay cool. I almost checked into buying a shower there to get really wet, but I managed well enough in the bathroom and we got on the road.
The Gatorade really did help, and things were looking up for a while as we made reasonably good for a while until running into the worst gravel of the trip yet. I got off to walk almost immediately, and Jeff did the same just ahead of me. We had a mile-long slog through deep, loose, godawful bad gravel in that heat and sun and humidity that nearly sapped all the rest of my energy. Jeff's bike took a dive to the ground at one point, but he finished the slog before I did and came back to help me push my awkward-to-push bike the last 100 yards.
I was done for.
I knew there was a possibility of a motel in Jasonville, but I couldn't find a phone number, which meant it might not be there. We were planning to camp at Shakamak State Park, but the only entrance was way the way around from our route, and I was getting progressively weaker and slower. We stopped to ask an old man about the hotel, and he assured us there was no motel in town. At that point, I figured I had another 5 miles to do to get all the way to a campsite, but I wasn't feeling so well. We got to the main drag in town, and I headed straight for Casey's and more gatorade. Jeff downed a quart of chocolate milk and asked the lady at the store about the possibility of a motel. She said there was one in town but that it was 'less than one star.' I was spent and really didn't think I could do much more, so I didn't really care if it was a flea bag joint-that's where I was headed.
We found the motel, and the owners-a hairy shirtless dude with a big beer belly and his wife who wouldn't consider giving us a discount for cash-seemed reluctant to let us preview the rooms. Turns out their reluctance was justified. The place was so below Jeff's normal standards that I think he would have rather camped, which is saying something. He said it was the dirtiest place he'd ever stayed and warned me not to look behind the shower. I hazarded a look anyway-years and years of dust, dirt, and whatever else people drop behind things in motels. I didn't care. I mean, I really didn't care. There was air conditioning, and I didn't have to go any farther, so that was good enough for me.
By the time we got settled in and I was able to move again, Casey's convenience store was the only place still open for dinner, so we had pizza there and went back to the room, where we were thankful for dim lights that still showed us more than we wanted to see.
As we got there, we saw we had a neighbor-a single unemployed woman in a BMW who had been on the road for two months and seemed very excited about the late check-out time and seemed not to notice the large stains on the carpet in her room. I understood her excitement. Jeff was just desperately hoping for me to get stronger and faster so he wouldn't have to stay in places like this in the future...
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Today's ride: 63 miles (101 km)
Total: 243 miles (391 km)
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