Biking: 63 miles
Today looked like a straightforward ride from Highland to Flora but turned out to be an adventure in rerouting when RWGPS sent us on roads that didn’t exist and led us to crazy gravel roads that were hardly passable. But, in the end, we made it to our destination.
As we move farther east, we’re having a harder time finding campgrounds near cities. So, in some cases, Brian and I will be staying 10 or more miles away from Anita and Mark. This creates issues for our meet up point for riding in the morning, as Brian needs to work and can’t drive me back to town. So, we’re finding a logical point that doesn’t require us to backtrack. Today, I was lucky, and the meet up point cut off about 13 miles of the ride, making the 76-mile ride just 63 miles for me. I won’t complain! Tomorrow, I’ll be the one riding more on both ends of the route.
Before we departed this morning, we thought about simplifying the route and just following Rt. 50, but in hindsight, we’re really glad we didn’t. Brian drove Rt. 50, and it was a mess. Few berms and lots of traffic.
Instead, we followed RWGPS route, which took us off the main road and onto roads in a park along Carlyle Lake. It was a cool, overcast day; a perfect day for riding.
Soon after, we turned onto what we thought was a paved road, but was actually gravel. Luckily, it was smooth gravel in a lovely part of the park. That wouldn’t be the case for later reroutes.
Our lunch stop was in Salem, IL at a recently-opened restaurant called Red Brick Coffee and Deli. The sandwiches were fine, but the pumpkin spice latte was amazing! That’s the energy I needed to face the rest of the ride.
From there things got more complicated, we continued on our route only to hit gravel backroads that RWGPS indicated were paved. We switched to Google Maps which helped to some degree but still sent us the long way. Like I mentioned earlier, we were on crazy climbs, loose gravel, and at times we weren’t exactly sure where we were.
But, we eventually made it to Flora. Somehow Mark found the energy to go to the gym tonight and texted me this poster that was hanging on the gym wall. He said it was the only picture he took on this very long day.
Ya, we’re getting tired, but we see the light at the end of the tunnel. Just 17 more days.
RWGPS for today:
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