July 8, Day 38

July 8, Day 38
Rest Day, Indianapolis, IN
Dear All,

This will be a short report.

We spent the day washing bikes and clothes and then taking a walk around the center of downtown near Monument Circle. It really is a very nice area with plenty of shopping and many, many cute little places to eat.

For a good portion of the time downtown we were with a really great guy. “Sarge” from Trinidad.







A nap was fit in during the day as well.

Tonight we'll look for a nice spot for an early dinner and then prepare for tomorrow when we pedal to Richmond.

Take care all and thanks for the good vibes.

John and Amy

July 7, Day 37

July 7, Day 37
Crawsfordsville to Indianapolis, IN
Mileage: 64.2
Weather: Rainy in the AM: not so bad in the PM

Dear All,

Amy's Birthday. So far, we have ridden 2, 735 (give or take) miles.

We awoke to a thunder lightning storm and rain that would have fit perfectly as a jungle downpour. It was coming down in buckets. The staff was doubtful as to whether or not we would be able to ride at all. In addition, we have a meteorologist in the group who suggested that the weather patterns indicated that it was likely to be an all day event. As a result, a sizable number of riders decided to scrap the day and were SAGed by van to Indianapolis. We decided to hold out a while and see if the weather cleared. Our choice was the lucky choice.

By 10 am, the belly washer had been reduced to a light rain and about 11 of us started out. Within 45 minutes the rain had stopped although it remained cloudy. Since we had a late start there was some question as to whether we would be able to accomplish all the neat things that were on our schedule for the day. But, it all worked out perfectly.

At about the 33 mile mark, we pulled into the Roark Bike Factory. This specialty bike company makes parts for many of the sophisticated jet fighters in the US arsenal but has a tiny side line of making the most beautiful titanium bicycles you would ever want to see. Two and three men hand craft about 100 frames a year. You could buy a very nice used car for the price of one of these bikes. They are really gorgeous bikes.

After the tour of the bike factory, we pedaled another 20 miles or so and pulled into the Indianapolis Speedway. Our great friend,Tom Barney, had told us for years about the speedway and we had always hoped to see a race, perhaps even with Tom and Marge. That didn't happen but as we rolled into the speedway we couldn't help but think of Tom.

The speedway is HUGE. Inside the oval there are four holes of an 18 hole golf course and god knows what else. We took a tour around the old brickyard and it was really fascinating. Someday, we'll be back to see the race.

From the speedway we journeyed to the Major Taylor Velodrome. For the unitiated, a velodrome is a high banked oval that one races bicycles around. You will be able to see some of this really great racing this summer as part of the Summer Olympics. In any event, a number of us arrived at the veleodome and stood around watching. John decided “what the heck” and walked over and asked the folks in charge if we could ride it. We had been told by staff that we should be able to ride it although because of the rain delay, we were a good four hours past when we were supposed to have been there. In any event, the fellow in charge asked about a waiver and John simple responded that he was giving them his verbal waiver of liability (probably not worth a thing) and the head honcho said “go ahead, give it a try”. It was a HOOT!! After John had finished a couple of laps the other riders in our group figured if he could do, they would ask as well. Before long everyone was taking laps including Amy who actually went far higher on the banked track than John did. A great birthday present. Amy was smiling from ear to ear.

We left the velodrome and proceeded to follow pretty complex instructions into the city. As is not uncommon, we quickly were lost but lost on a wonderful canal that ran thru the downtown. Bikes weren't apparently allowed but on we rode. It was great.

Very late in the day (around 5:30) we finally pulled into the motel. Amy indicated that it was, without doubt, one of the most unique birthdays she had every had.

Tomorrow is a well deserved rest day. We hope to see some of the downtown area since for once our hotel is within walking distance of the downtown area. Then, of course, there is laundry and cleaning bikes that are required.

Thanks, as always for the good vibes. Keep praying to those weather gods.
Amy and John

July 6, Day 36

July 6, Day 36
Champaign to Crawfordsville, IN
Mileage: 84.3
Weather: Again, another lovely day. (Thank you, weather gods!)

Dear All,

We woke at the appointed hour, 5:40, and again your prayers to the weather gods had been answered. It was a beautiful, clear, and most importantly, still morning. Breakfast was in the hotel where John had the good fortune of spilling a whole box of Frosted Flakes all over the floor. This engendered some comments concerning his dexterity but mostly it caused laughter.

This was going to be an 82 mile day. Within the first 3 miles, we came to a railroad track with the guard rails down and the red lights blinking. The slowest, and we mean slowest, freight train known to man was inching its way across the intersection. This train looked to be a mile long. It proceeded 200 yards up the track and stopped.
This created a collective groan from the riders. It then decided to back up 100 yards and stop. There was some discussion about crawling under but wiser heads prevailed and we proceeded to follow the directions of a local truck driver that took us a bit out of the way but under the railroad tracks.

Back on route, three of the very nicest guys and best riders in the group, Wayne from Wales, Steve from Australia and Al from Germany invited us to join them. You should understand that these guys generally motor at well over 20 mph all day and can leave anyone, with the exception of perhaps George and Larry, in their dust. Amy refers to them as the “hot shots”, a phrase she uses with real respect for them and their riding ability . We rode with them all 83 miles. It was a delight. As you might expect, John was full of questions about government, culture and sport. It took Wayne and Steve a good 30 miles of patient (perhaps the patience of Job!?) explanation of the game of Cricket before John finally saw the light. Now we need to find a TV station so John can watch a game. Thanks guys!!

After the first SAG stop, we, the foreign contingent, and Sue who joined us, rolled into our 8th state, Indiana. It seems that everyone is claiming good ole Abe as their patron. Back in Springfield, IL, you couldn't go a block without seeing an Abe historic marker. We enter IL with immediate reference to this state being Abe's childhood home.

The people of Indiana must have a great sense of humor. Where else would you enter a town with a sign such as the one depicted here. As we rode through town we tried to find where the soreheads lived, but they were not immediately obvious. A little further up the road, we discovered what Indiana residents do with old bicycles. They plant them on the sides of buildings.

Nearer the end of the ride,Wayne, who you will recall is from Wales, discovered that the good folks of IN decided to name a town after him. At the very least, it was a Kodak moment.
Well folks. We have passed through all the time zones in the continental US and today have set our watches to the same time as it is in Buffalo. That's a lot of miles on two wheels under our own power.

One more day of riding before a rest day. As we enter Indianapolis tomorrow we hope we have an opportunity to see the “brick yard” (the Indy speedway). Last year the riders on this trip had the opportunity to ride their bikes around the track but this year we do not believe it will be possible. We hope to at least visit the speedway.

You all have been doing a marvelous job in your prayers to the weather gods and your sending of good vibes. We feel your good vibes each day and appreciate them. When the days are long and all we want to do is get out of the saddle, we feel your good wishes and continue on. Thanks.

Amy and John

July 5, Day 35

July 5, Day 35
Springfield to Champaign, IL
Mileage: 98.2
Weather: Another lovely day

Dear All,

Today was another long one, just shy of a century.

We started out with breakfast at Bob Evans. Now you would expect that everyone would know of Bob Evans. You would be wrong. Many of the riders including not only those from overseas but many from the US as well had never heard of Bob Evans. It might also be of interest (probably very little interest) that we saw for the first time a Dunkin Donuts. We guess that is evidence that we really are moving east.

The day started dead calm as you can see from the smoke stack. As we are fond of saying, if the wind can't help us we ask that it at least be neutral, particularly on hard days. And today, neutral it was.


Within the first 5 miles, a group of about 11 riders hooked up and we ran a beautiful pace line until the first SAG stop at 31 miles. More on pace line later.

The first SAG was at an historic Lincoln spot. Apparently there was a cabin that Lincoln lived in but it was 600 yards into the woods and given that we had over 65 miles to go, no one decided to hike to see it.

We rolled out of the SAG and continued through flat farm land that really is incredible to see. The corn goes on forever. And when it is not corn to the horizon, it's soy to the horizon. At one point, Amy took a hike into the field to see just what was growing. She's probably guilty of a IL felony, but she got away with it. It is truly amazing the fertility of this land. Now you would expect most people to ask questions concerning the number of people an acre of corn or soy can feed. And yes, we are curious about that. But in today's world, one also has to ask how far will an acre of corn take an SUV?

From the first SAG stop to the second SAG stop, our resident, virtual professional rider, George, from Frisco, Co., tried to organize a Tour de France type pace line. Such a pace line would have a lead rider “pull” for no more than 15 seconds and then move slightly to the left allowing the next rider in the line on his right to pull while the first rider slowed enough to come in at the back of the right hand line of riders. Think of it as an oblong, vertical clock rotating slowly counterclockwise. When done properly, it is poetry in motion. Since many of the riders had never been involved in such a pace line, George was having a difficult time setting it up. In fact, he said it was a little like herding chickens. Amy loved it. Many of the other riders were having difficulty with the system, but not Amy. In the words of the Spitzmillers, she thought it was a hoot.

We reached the second SAG stop at 62 miles in no time flat. After that stop, just the two of us peddled the final 36 miles on delightful back roads many of which were only one and half car widths wide. We took a short break by some sewer pipes and Amy decided it wasn't a bad spot to get some shade.

Given that the day was 98 miles long, some of the riders rode an extra 2 miles so they could call it a century ride. We pulled into the motel figuring 98 miles was enough and that no one (including you, our dear readers) cared whether it was a full century.

When we arrived we heard that another rider, Rob, went down. We don't have all the details, but apparently his wheel came in contact with another rider's rear wheel and he was down in an instant. Apparently his shoulder was dislocated and he was taken to the hospital. We wish him the best. We don't know if his head it the pavement, but nonetheless please dear friends keep wearing your helmet. This is a fun thing we're doing but, like anything, it has risk.

Two more days until we get a rest day. Given the miles over the last 5 days, the rest will be well deserved.

Finally, we continue to give thanks for your good vibes and in fact were reminded of those good vibes within a mile of our destination today, as the picture shows.

Prayers to the west wind gods will continue to be appreciated.

John and Amy

July 4, Day 34

July 4 Day 34
Quincy to Springfield, IL
Mileage: 106.8
Weather: Lovely with a slight but not unbearable headwind.

Dear All,

Happy Fourth of July! It is fitting that on the 4th of July we cycle to Abe Lincoln's home.

The group as a contest on the 4th of July to see who can dress up their bike or themselves in the most festive manner. We had no intention of participating except that a couple of days ago as we rolled in to some town we spotted a Dollar General and pulled in. Our bikes simply had an American flag attached however, we decided to decorate ourselves for the occasion. As you can see, helmet covers, face decal, flag vest and in John's case, borrowed American flag underwear were donned. Others, such as Richard, from Ireland, wore an American Flag cape and Steve, from Tasmania, and Sarge, from Trinidad, decorated their bikes to perfection. It was all in good fun.

Today was another century. We really have lost count on how many 100 miles days we have ridden but it is a pretty good number.

Illinois is really a beautiful state. We started the day with hills that were not as steep as MO but added a lovely variety to the riding. We rolled through little towns including one called, Liberty. Again, appropriate for the day.

Back in MO, we saw corn fields but not like we saw today. After the first SAG stop, the road straightened out and we crossed the Illinois River. It's big. Not like the the Big Muddy but big none the less. The road leveled out and the corn became king. As you can see in the picture of Amy riding along side Don, from Las Vegas, corn was everywhere. At one point, Amy got off her bike in an effort to see if there were any ears of corn on the stalks. She found none. Obviously, not being farmers, we are a tad curious as to how you can have a corn stalk over 6 feet high with no ears of corn on it. If we can stay awake past 8:00 pm we will try to find the answer on the net.

In the middle of all this corn, we did come across a rather curious sign. We're guessing you all know what it means.

At about 70 miles out, both of us begin to hurt in various ways and on various parts of our anatomy. The last 20 miles of the century days always seem like 40. At about the 80 mile mark today, we simply stopped, parked our bikes, sat on the local church front steps and ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich which John had been carrying in his bike bag all day. We chatted and watched the locals mowing their lawn. The simply pleasures of bike riding.

We rolled into Lincoln's hometown, rode past the capital, and into our motel. It was a long day but a nice one.

By the way, Ed (our son), spent some time in this town after medical school and despite our visits during these years, nothing we saw today was familiar. We either rode through a different part of town or our aged memories are failing. We arrived too late to do any Lincoln sightseeing.

Tomorrow is another century. They seem to be common place now a days although they are still long days. IL is a pretty state so far and we hope it continues.

Keep praying to the west wind gods and as always we appreciate your continuing good vibes.

Amy and John

July 3, Day 33

July 3 Day 33
Kirks ville, MO to Quincy, IL
Mileage: 87.2
Weather:Heavy rain in the AM with plenty of wind

Dear All,

Today Amy's three best friends showed up: wind, rain and hills!!!

We awoke to very heavy rain but no lightning or thunder. The weather gods have been good to us for 32 days so we guess we can give them a break for one day. As you can see, we did our best to insulate ourselves from their ravages. We rolled into the rain about 7:00 am and within no time at all, the the hills of MO made their presence felt. Since everything we had was in John's bike bag, including the camera, we didn't get a lot of pictures for the first couple of hours.

It's interesting that the manufacturers of rain gear suggest that it is breathable. Well, John doesn't mean to disagree but he was as wet inside his rain shirt from sweat as he would have been if he had gone without rain protection.

At one point along the way, we saw a quaint church and Amy said a short prayer to the weather gods and lo and behold, it worked. We think, however, that her prayer only involved rain since as it quit the wind increased, directly in our faces. The hills continued.

As we rolled closer to the Mississippi, we began to recognize that flooding is a recurrent problem. In Buffalo, we test the amount of rain by inches. Around here, they have rain gauges along the side of the road measuring feet.

Because of all the flooding, it was impossible for us to cross the Mississippi by ferry as originally planned. Rather, the staff scouted out a new route which got us close to the only bridge that was opened for miles in either direction. It has no shoulder or any available way to get bicycles across. As a result, we went across the Mississippi in the SAG wagon.

Prior to crossing, we saw substantial sandbagging as evidence of the recent flooding.
As we crossed the mighty Mississippi, we entered our 7th state which, we are told, will be substantially less hilly then MO.

Friday and Saturday we do a century each day. These could be tough days but we are hoping to see IL in all its glory.

Prayers to the west wind gods would be appreciated and of course, good vibes.

Amy and John

July 2, Day 31

July 2, Day 32
Chillicothe to Kirksville, MO
Mileage: 81.6
Weather: Wet for about half the way.

Dear All,

Well, the weather gods decided to ignore your prayers today, but all in all it wasn't too bad. We had been warned that the day would be difficult given the hills so we were on the road early at 6:30. The skies were threatening and for the first time the rain actually fell on our parade. Luckily the temperature was comfortable so although we were reasonably wet we didn't feel all that cold. The thunder and lightning hung out just to the west of us for hours with some pretty impressive flashes of lightning but nothing came close enough for us to get terribly worried.

We had been told that the first twenty-five miles were going to be relatively flat and then the hills would present themselves in all their glory. We were told correctly. Right about 25 miles the hills started. Some of them were mighty steep requiring that we use every gear that Tom at Tom's Bicycle Shop had installed. Amy suggested that a couple of additional ones might have been helpful. Apparently, there were a total of 99 hills in the last 50 miles. The total elevation gain was over 4000 feet. Riding these hills in the rain was exciting particularly on the downhills as the water on the road flew off the tires.

As we rode, we crossed any number of narrow bridges with signs announcing that cars going in our direction were to yield. John thinks he recalls looking over his shoulder and seeing signs suggesting traffic in the other direction was also to yield. This could, it seems to us, lead to an interesting situation.

Signs of the recent flood are becoming more obvious including deep mud along the side of the road and open fields that look like small lakes.

The second SAG stop was suppose to be at 54 miles, but because the group was so spread out, it as canceled. As a result, we, along with Sue and Audrey, took a bit of a lunch break on Rice Krispies Treat, raisins, and crackers. As you can see from the picture with John's bike in it, the clouds were chasing us.

For those who don't know it, Kirksville, MO is the home of Osteopathic Medicine started by Dr. Still, MD, DO. Since our son, Ed, is a DO, we certainly had to visit the museum which is really quite fascinating. Apparently, Dr. Still was the first to secure cadavers on a regular basis for his newly founded school. This created quite an uproar as evidenced by the headstone shown here. We have enlarged the bottom of the headstone for your reading pleasure, but for those of you who are unable to read that portion it says: "She was stolen from the grave her body dissected by fiendish men; her bones anatomized. Her soule we trust has risen to heaven, where few physicians rise".

Over the next three days, we will ride 97, 101 and 103 miles respectively. If ever there was a time we would appreciate your prayers for west winds and no rain this just might be the time. In addition, of course, your constant good vibes are always welcome.

Amy and John

July 1, Day 31

July 1, Day 31
St. Joseph to Chillicothe, MO
Mileage: 90.7 (a virtual century)
Temperature: very pleasant, getting hotter as day wore on

Dear All,

Ok, Ok, it appears that Willie Nelson is beating out Papa Smurf. However, Amy has put her foot down when it comes to the ponytail. John knew this was going to be a problem when we stopped at a little drug store and when he asked where the rubber bands were located and Amy said, “not in this lifetime.”

We left at a leisurely 7:15 this am and rolled straight into what we have been calling the Missouri “lollypaloops”. A lollypaloop is a road equivalent to a roller coaster. This simply means a two or three hundred yard hill which we pedal up at 10 or 11 mph and then down the backside at 25-28 mph. Up and down, and up and down and up and down etc.....

Since we had been seeing corn forever we decided to see just how high an "elephant's eye" is (cite: the song, Oklahoma). As you can see an elephant's eye, which is the height of the corn in the song, is pretty darn high.
Amy had so much fun the other day climbing up a bale of hay that she invited our friend, Sue, to join her. The two ladies got quite a charge out of standing on this stuff. John had to convince them to get down and get onto the business of bike riding.

It appears that the folks in Missouri have a pretty good sense of humor. As we all know the real estate market has been in the tank for a good deal of time. Apparently a local rancher fell on hard times. So, rather than simply take down the sign which identified his ranch he simply renamed the place, El Rancho Bankruptus. You gotta love a guy with a sense of humor.

We have ridden a number of times in Lancaster County in PA and are well aware of a number of other large Amish communities. We were unaware of such a community in MO, but sure enough there is one between St. Joe and Chillicothe. We stopped for a lemonade (John is becoming addicted to the stuff) in the little town of Jamesport at an Amish bakery. Man, were the pastries great. We were at the 65 mile mark (meaning we had another 25 miles to go) so we decided that lunch was not such a good idea but the pastry sure hit the spot. As you can see, we weren't the only ones in the group who decided to do the same thing. Bikes were lined up as far as the eye could see.

On we rode with the hills becoming a bit less of a factor. Somewhere around the 78 mile mark or so we spotted our first evidence of the floods. The Thomas River was on our route and just before we crossed it we spotted what looked like a lake. It wasn't. Rather what looks like a lake are really flooded fields from the Thomas. The Thomas itself is a pretty large river 0r at least it is at this moment in time, although in normal times it might not have the same look.

Speaking of rivers, we are still uncertain as to how we we will get across the Mississippi. Two of the staff members will spend all day tomorrow checking the area out to see how we over the big muddy. It may be that we will simply have to put the bikes on the SAG wagon and go across a bridge. The original plan was to take a ferry across, but the ferry is out of service due to the floods and won't be back in business for at least another month.

We rolled into Chillicothe in mid afternoon (about an 8 and ½ hour day). By the way, as you can see Chillicothe is the home of sliced bread.

Tomorrow is going to be a challenge. We will only ride 83 miles. By the way if someone had said two months ago that riding 83 miles could be used in the same sentence as the word “only”, we would have put that someone in a rubber suit and sent him somewhere.

The problem tomorrow is that we will climb a total of 4000 feet going over more than 100 hills. We're told it will be a “challenge” which is a polite way of saying we're going to have our work cut out for us. Ah well, at the end of the day it's still a matter of pedaling one revolution at a time.
Say a prayer for continuing good weather with winds from the west. The good vibes are certainly helping.

Amy and John

PS: If you want to see older posts for our blog you can get at them as follows: at the top and to the right of this blog you will see "June (30)" and in front of that is a type of arrow pointing to the right. If you click on that arrow and make it point down you will be able to click on any of the June posts. Hope this helps