Day 27 Vandalia IL to east of Edwardsville

June 7, 2023

Late start today as Peter ran into another cyclist while walking Henry. Laurent is from Lyon France and is cycling from Los Angeles to NYC.

He had lots of questions about the best route to New York City but I couldn’t help him much. Wish we had met last night when we had more time.

It was a little over 5 miles to Vandalia. I missed a turn and ended up climbing a steep hill with a brick street. Wahoo made me correct my course so it ended well. There were some very nice buildings in Vandalia and a downtown that appeared to be doing well.

I saw this house on the way out of town. It just made me smile.

I got on good old US40 and after a while came upon another Road Closed sign. So of course I ignored it. There were no construction workers and the three bridges they were building were close to completion and easily passable on bike.

Just as I was enjoying US40 all to myself, the route turned on to SR140 which was in dire need of resurfacing. The route passed through several small towns. Mulberry Grove had some great old trees.

This one appeared to have had some recent storm damage

Ok. This is weird. Outside Greenville IL if you’re interested.

In Alhambra, I turned onto the Nickel Plate Rail Trail after encountering these two brothers:

They’re Yorkshire terriers with matching haircuts

After about ten miles, I had a flat. It was hot and extremely humid. Since I didn’t have anyone to help, I turned my bike upside down. I’ve never done this before so it was rather disorienting. Then I remembered all my tire stuff was in the handlebar bag. Flip it back, get tools and tube. My new never used pump was in the pannier. Got the tube replaced and tried to pump it up but the pump kept falling apart near the tubing. It’s a Lezyme pump so how could it break when it’s never been used. I took everything out of the pannier looking for possibly another part that might have fallen off in the bag. By now I’m really frustrated. There were no riders on the trail who might gave a pump. I finally called Peter and asked for a pick up as it was getting late. While I was waiting for Peter to come, I went through the handlebar bag completely and found a CO2 cartridge and inflated the tire and replaced it on the bike. I cleaned up my stuff strewn all over. Looked like nothing happened.

We’re staying in a motel tonight as there are no nearby campgrounds. I’m so excited to sleep in a king size bed!

Today's ride: 51 miles (82 km)
Total: 1,012 miles (1,629 km)

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Julie O’NeillGood job on the tire change : ) You earned the big, comfy bed!
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10 months ago

Charmaine RuppoltGood work on finally getting the tire changed! Good thing you had the C02 cartridge! Hope you were able to get the pump working for the future!
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4 months ago