It was a nice night with the sounds of the Mississippi River nearby and it was only cool, not cold. I took one last photo before the sun went down last night but didn’t get it posted to yesterday’s entry so here it is.
Once I got and rolling, I still needed to find a place for tonight and my previous search has turned up only a few possibilities and they were all from HipCamp, which is like AirBNB but for camping. The first one I’d picked I decided against due to access issues. Walk-in sites and 4-wheel drive recommended. I selected another one and actually made a reservation but it turned out to be way too far south in Ohio and would add lots of miles to the ride so I canceled that and looked for something halfway between where I was and where I am going. After much fiddling around I found a place in Murdoc, Indiana, made the reservation, got the address and put it in the navigation tool on my phone.
I decided to ride The Slab again because the 2-lane route just paralleled it through the same terrain and would take 90 minutes longer with almost the same distance. Good practice anyway.
And there’s really not much else to say. I stopped at a few rest stops and got gas a few times. Outside of Danville, IL I stopped at a convenience store and got water and some cheese sticks. I had those as my lunch with my apple while sitting in the park across the street.
Here’s some random photos from the day.
Oh, yes, water. The water in Blue Creek didn’t look appetizing so I didn’t keep it. At the campground last night I got water and it didn’t look much better but I filled my 1/2 gallon jug anyway. I wanted to put some of the water I bought for lunch in that jug and when I dumped out the old, there was sediment in the bottom and it left a yellow-brown scum trail behind. I wiped that out and added the clean water. The campground I’m at tonight doesn’t have water so I’m rationing. Luckily I have 2 beers left. Oh, and after riding on a motorcycle, unchilled, the can gets rock hard and when opening it sounds like a gunshot.
The last 30-40 miles was on back roads through some beautiful farmland and past a few tiny towns. There was road closure but when I turned to follow the detour, the navigation software figured it out and guided me along. What was surprising is not just the wind farms that I am starting to everywhere here but the large swaths of solar farms. Huge expanses of them.
I finally arrived at my destination and Jeremy, my host, met me in front of his house. I filled out a form and then he led me on his 4x4 to the back, wooded area of the property where I met his brother, Steve. Nice guys and very helpful. Jeremy led me through the sites and let me pick the one I wanted. It’s way in the back, pretty secluded. Steve came back later and brought me a table from another site. He also brought out a large jug of water.
So, this is it for the day, 377 miles. Tomorrow is Pittsburgh.
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