Friday, July 03, 2009
18: Green Day
 |
| Stoker's Log Day Eighteen |
| 7/03/09 |
| From Terre Haute, IN |
| To Greenup, IN |
| 53.3 miles |
| 10.1 avg mph |
As we were getting ready this morning, our bike and everything on it suddenly crashed to the ground. We were confused until we saw the kickstand in pieces. Apparently we're carrying too much weight because that is a serious piece of metal to snap in half.
This essentially means we'll be without a kickstand for the rest of the trip; even if we could find the heavier duty kickstand that we apparently need it would probably be out of our price range. Instead we'll make creative use of benches, trees, fences, our hips, and anything else we can find to steady the bike.
Once we righted the bike, we enjoyed pedaling in the pleasantly warm morning, though my feet were back to their usual burning agony. We rode through part of Indiana University, which offered nice bike paths and tennis courts but otherwise seemed stuck in the 70s. Then we took an early break in an expansive park by the river, which featured many attractions for my camera.
When we were done dancing and reciting Shakespeare on the stage we got back on the road. Before we knew it we were crossing into Illinois and a new time zone.
And the Lincoln love continued in every town we passed.
The charming town of Marshall was our lunchtime stop. We sat on a time capsule marker in front of town hall and ate peanut butter sandwiches and apples. Squirrels frolicked around us and a cyclist sporting overalls and lots of gray hair zipped around the square. It was delightful.
We then left town for the wide open country and, more problematically, miles of soft shoulder. As we passed a scrap yard a new friend ran out to meet us. Not that I ever consider a sprinting, barking dog a friend, but he was nice enough once Kyle calmed him down.
Unfortunately our new friend quickly wore out his welcome. Whenever we started pedaling he would chase alongside us; he seemed determined to follow us all the way to Oregon. Not only was I nervous that he would lunge at the bike or my ankles, even just in play, but he would often zigzag out into the middle of the road and would have been run over if traffic was any heavier. The guy running the machinery at the yard said the dog didn't belong to him or anyone he knew, so there was no one to take him off our hands. Eventually we had to get rid of him with a light spray of Halt. We felt really bad about it, but we didn't know what else to do. We just hope that it taught him to avoid chasing things in the road.
Our other animal encounter today was with turkey vultures. Yes, just like the ones that circled us back in Ohio. We apparently still look like carcasses. These vultures stood like sentries guarding the nearby barn; whenever I got close enough to startle one into flight it would flap a few times and move to a post at the end of the line. They were eerie but fascinating.
Today was a relatively short ride, so we reached our destination with sunlight to spare: the very green Greenup Motel.
All of the reviews described a sketchy outside but a clean and accommodating inside, which is exactly what we found. The new owner explained that he had just finished renovating the rooms; in fact much of the old furniture was still piled on the lawn. While Kyle checked in I stayed outside with the bike and had an awkward conversation with an older woman whose voice was hopelessly garbled, presumably by the cigarettes that she wasn't giving up anytime soon. Luckily her son was there to interpret with a mixture of love and embarrassment in his eyes. He liked to build and modify bikes from spare parts so we had a good chat about the Pino until Kyle came out with the key to our room.
After showering and settling in we decided to walk into town. Greenup calls itself "The Village of the Porches," and they were all decked out for the 4th.
We had hoped to find internet in town, but unfortunately the only coffee shop no longer existed and the library was already closed. The local museum was also closed, so we looked around the outside and garden before searching for a place to eat. We settled on an overstaffed pizza shop (4 waiters for 2 tables of customers) and enjoyed both the food and the fitting booth art.
Dessert was icecream at the soda fountain next door, which also served a startlingly green soda. Then it was back to the hotel to relax and watch Dirty Dancing, which Kyle had somehow never seen. But the best entertainment of the night came from the commercials for indispensable products like the Pee Patch. If you aren't aware of this little piece of genius, the Pee Patch is essentially a square of absorbent astroturf that owners are supposed to train their dogs to pee on when inside. The footage of dogs peeing and looking around for the patch was strange and amusing enough, but when the announcer got to "Great for outside use too!" we just about lost it.
When the movie ended we decided it was time for tired cyclists to get to bed. Kyle got up and wandered around the room for a few minutes before I asked him what on earth he was doing. With a forlorn look he explained:
"I can't find my Pee Patch!"
← 17: A Pig, a Monkey, and a Water Baby | Home | 19: Effingham is Effing Amazing →
| posted at: 10:01 |
permanent link and comments
