July 19, 2019
Day Forty: Mount Vernon, Illinois to Henderson, KY
An epically long last day.
As was often the case recently, I was ready to go well before it was light enough to ride. I went down to the lobby for breakfast, but unlike at the Hampton Inn in Litchfield, where the staff gave me access to the hot food before the official 6:00 start time, this time the no-nonsense old lady in charge of things wouldn't allow me to rush her into putting the scrambled eggs out early, so I had to make do with oatmeal, cereal, yogurt, and pastries before riding out with my red blinking lights flashing.
As I was leaving, the Sysco driver came in. He told me it was the hottest day of the year, and he was already sweating heavily at 5:30 as he made his first deliveries.
It was much easier leaving the hotel than it had been getting here yesterday. Traffic was light, and I only had to go through one stop light before getting onto empty country roads.
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I crossed the narrow northern tip of Rend Lake and rode through Bonnie, population 397. I didn't see anything of note other than the rusted water tower, but now, looking at Google Maps, I see there's a cafe there. How did I miss that?! It would have been the perfect place for "second breakfast", one of the most important meals of the day.
In my perpetual quest to avoid traffic, I got on some extremely rough roads after leaving Bonnie. One stretch was some sort of ultra-bumpy, dark, tarry gravel that I'd never seen before. Even for Illinois, and its degraded standards for barely maintained roads, this was pretty bad.
That didn't last long, fortunately, soon turning into regular old gravel. A couple of dogs came out, and before I determined their intentions, an old man called out from his tractor, "Now them dogs ain't gonna hurt you."
He was correct. They just wanted to play.
I arrived in Dahlgren, population 525, hot and thirsty. Virtually everything was closed, but a man walking into an insurance agency improbably located in this near-ghost town invited me in and gave me two bottles of ice-cold Gatorade he had in his refrigerator. I talked with him for a while, then rode out of town on the highway, IL-142. After the rough roads this morning, I thought I'd give a smooth, albeit busier, road a chance.
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After a few miles I stopped at Hamson's Trading Post, a small grocery store. I didn't really need anything so soon after the Gatorade in Dahlgren, but I got a Diet Pepsi and some cookies anyway. While I was sitting at a table, a couple of the old men who always seem to inhabit these places in the morning asked me about my travels. A younger guy came in, listened attentively, and then, apparently having given my bike a close look before walking in, asked me where in the world I'd gotten all that mud on it.
I left and got back on the highway. It wasn't bad, so I stayed on it all the way to McLeansboro, population 2,743.
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There was a Dairy Queen located right on the town square. Of course I stopped there, and ordered a banana milkshake and french fries. Afterward I walked around and took a few photos.
The highway seemed busier leaving McLeansboro, so I tried riding on some gravel roads, but they were just too rough, and I was just too slow. I still had a long way to go before reaching Kentucky, and I was getting concerned that I might not make it before dark, so I got back on the highway.
I stopped in tiny Dale and went into a hardware/grocery store and drank a couple of bottles of Body Armor. Two men at the store asked me where I was going, and hearing that Henderson was my destination, offered to drive me there, since they were on their way to Evansville, just across the river from Henderson, anyway. I wasn't that desperate yet, so I declined their offer with thanks.
It was so, so hot. I rode through El Dorado, population 4,122 and stopped at a Casey's as I left town. As I sat outside drinking what seemed like my 100th bottle of sports drink of the day, a guy walking to his car looked at me, shook his head, and said "Buddy, it's just too hot to be riding a bike today."
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Several miles later I turned left onto IL-13, a busy state highway with a decent shoulder. I'd ridden this before, so I wasn't surprised by all the coal trucks. Not happy about it, but at least it wasn't a surprise.
I rode through Shawneetown, the last Illinois town before the Ohio River, and Kentucky, without stopping. I wanted to get over the bridge and be done with it.
I'd ridden over this narrow bridge several years ago, in the early morning hours when there was no traffic, and it had been alright. Today I was doing it in the afternoon, and there was some traffic. It wasn't terrible like the bridge into Beardstown the other day, but I was glad when I was across it.
A few miles later I stopped at the first Kentucky convenience store, Smokin' Joe's, located next to the rest of the Smokin' Joe's business empire: Smokin' Joe's Fireworks and Smokin' Joe's Auto Sales.
As you'd expect in a rural Kentucky convenience store named Smokin' Joe's, there were overflowing ashtrays everywhere inside. I don't think any state I've ridden through allows smoking in stores; it's always an unpleasant surprise when I return to Kentucky and find that this is still a thing.
I sat for a while watching people, mostly motorcyclists, come in and make purchases of gasoline and cigarettes, both presumably cheaper than just across the state line in Illinois. I was shocked that a carton of cigarettes now costs more than $60 with tax! That's what a night in a reasonably-priced motel costs... My own bad (bike touring) habit.
I left and followed KY-56 for a while. The lack of a shoulder was irritating. But then as I approached Morganfield, a wide, smooth shoulder appeared. Iowa and Illinois, THIS is how you do it!
I rode through Morganfield, making a penultimate stop for sports drinks at a convenience store, and then, too tired to devise a lower-traffic route on country roads, just followed the Google Maps bicycle directions, which used a couple of roads that were a little too busy to be ideal, but which weren't terrible.
I'd ridden well over 100 miles today by now. Joy sent a couple of texts offering to come pick me up, but I was close enough to home, and there was enough daylight left, that I wanted to make it on my own.
I took US-60 into Henderson, a busy road I'd normally never ride on. I made one last stop at a convenience store, where I bought and quickly drank a couple of Propel drinks, then got off US-60 and into the relatively tranquil Henderson downtown.
Then I exited the city onto a country road. I'd ridden 120 miles today, and had about seven to go. I knew I could make it home under my own power now.
Joy was waiting for me. Our cat, who I hadn't seen in about fifty days, seemed to remember me, but was mostly interested in smelling the contents of my panniers.
Our house seemed so large, clean, and cool after the long days outside in the sun, and the many cramped, sometimes nasty motel rooms.
When I left my original route back in South Dakota, and started drifting towards home, I told myself that I'd take a short break and then continue on to the east coast. But in the last few days I'd come to the realization that I was going to end this tour when I got home. Work and other responsibilities had begun to encroach and distract. I was homesick. And lonely. I needed to make some money to pay for the many nights of indoor lodging.
So, this was the end. I'm glad I did this tour, especially the western portion. John Egan's route through Oregon and Idaho was very, very good, as were the Wyoming and South Dakota portions (except for Yellowstone National Park - being among all those tourists is just not my favorite thing.)
As Joy predicted, the "vortex of domestic comforts" at home sucked me in.
...But when the days grow shorter and cooler in the fall, I might feel the urge to do another, shorter tour, and get back on the road. It could happen!
Today's ride: 127 miles (204 km)
Total: 3,245 miles (5,222 km)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 11 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 14 |
4 years ago
You strike a perfect balance of describing your tours and the events of the day without going into excessive detail.
Both yours and Joy's are among the Best of the Best of bicycling touring journals.
Thanks for all the effort that goes into producing them.
4 years ago
4 years ago
Bob
4 years ago
-Greg
4 years ago
Thanks for your compliment on my writing. Your journals are always very entertaining, so it means a lot coming from you. In past tours I think I took a little more care with the writing, and this time I was concerned that the entries were a little too much like simple, dry accounts of what happened each day ("and then I ate another granola bar", etc.)
Jeff
4 years ago
4 years ago