Day 23 - Danville, IL to Anderson, IN

We started the day with scrambled eggs... good way to start, I think. The temperatures were already warm as we rolled out. Our route took us due east from Danville into Indiana, a short 5 miles away. While we were getting our bikes prepped before breakfast, the dumpster truck showed up and one rider had to move her bike. The driver chatted with her about all the bikes, where we were from, and where we were going. When she said we were riding to Indiana, he said "all that way?" As I remind my students, context and perspective matter. He couldn't imagine riding a bike five miles to the border with Indiana, while we were pleased to have a short day of only 118 miles. We stopped for pictures at the border, or at least some of us did. For others the charm of the welcome sign picture has been lost. Note that Indiana's tag line is Lincoln's Boyhood Home. Clearly a jab at neighboring Illinois.



The terrain and the scenery along our route was interesting. It was certainly flat, but most of the roads meandered through the countryside and we saw many very nice little towns along the way. One in particular stands out. Hillsboro, where we had our first stop has nice welcome signs at each end of town. Fortunately, we didn't run into any of the soreheads mentioned on the sign.

The heat and humidity weren't as apparent on the bike, but once we stopped we felt the heat and moisture. We ate at a park in a small town today. They had nice restrooms with the "xcelerator" hand dryers, which according to some of my fellow riders could be directed to dry out wet chamois as well.

We've seen a lot of trains, especially out west, and have crossed many tracks along the way, but today we had to wait for a corn syrup train to pull through one of the towns we visited. While it provided a photo opp it also gave others a chance to catch up to me. Earlier in the morning I had worked to catch the front group just as they realized they had made a wrong turn due to some construction. By the time we figured out the error, the riders behind had all caught up. With the train, I had gotten enough distance between myself and the group behind to even stop for a bathroom break and ice and water at a gas station. I hustled back on the bike only to be stopped by the train.

Speaking of context and perspective. Today's ride had one of the lowest climbing totals for the tour. As we rode along through Indiana, which is very pretty in its own way, I even wondered where kids would go to sled. There were no hills anywhere. But then I saw it and was quick to pull out the camera and take a picture of the warning sign, which clearly cautioned that I was approaching a hill. The "hill" in question is at the end of the road in the picture.

Roads were good today and my legs felt good as well. The next two days are short, 80-90 mile days with little climbing, which will be good for recovery. I'm exhausted at the end of each day, but feeling good about things - much better than a few days ago, which was clearly the low point. I don't want to jinx anything, but the bike is working well. My tires are holding up well and I hope to run the original pair for the whole trip. I'm going to have the chain checked, but it seems to be working fine too.

No laundry at our hotel tonight and I had some pretty funky cycling gear and other clothing. I've washed clothes in tubs at other hotels when necessary, but it's hard to get anything to hang dry effectively with the humidity. Luckily, Michael, one of the other riders had relatives visiting and they were taking him to the laundromat. He volunteered to throw mine in with his. Much appreciated.