After the quick start, Mike and I took a break by raiding a local grocery's discount, about-to-expire section. In addition to whatever I had eaten before leaving, I ate 1.2 pounds of potato salad, 2 bagels with generous helpings of cream cheese, a pint of whole milk, 5 molasses cookies, a bunch of grapes, a banana, some samples of Mike's haul, and possibly some things I've forgotten.
It was a little while before we got back on the road, but we eventually did. We had more farm roads in store, but nearly all were paved. We followed the Constitution Trail into Bloomington and saw a grain elevator with some strange specks on the side. On closer inspection, the specks turned out to be a climbing wall. Someone had the genius idea of turning disused grain elevators into climbing gyms once they had been surrounded by urban sprawl, and this was apparently the 4th such gym they had set up.
We left Bloomington on Highway 150, which meant dealing with moderate traffic even though it paralleled a much more modern 4-lane highway. We were doing well on time, so we stopped in a small town named Le Roy and, somewhat unintentionally, fell asleep in their central park. I awoke to discover that we were no longer doing well on time. We continued on Highway 150 for most the way to Urbana, but as 5 PM and rush hour approached, we abandoned the straight-shot highway in favor of more protected farm roads. We saw a few local road cyclists among the corn and soy, which we took to be a good sign.
Eventually, we made it to Champaign, which is part of the same urban area as Urbana as indicated in the name of the local university: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Having basically completed the day's journey, we again napped on a firehouse lawn. Eventually they came to see what we were up to, so we made the last 3 miles to the place that will be my home for the next year.
Part of what spurred this trip was the fact that my girlfriend Halley needed to move to Urbana-Champaign to complete an internship so she can become Dr. Halley. She had only recently arrived, but was nice enough to cook dinner for Mike and I once we showed up. It felt kind of surreal, but nice, to see her out here.
Mike and I didn't spend too much more time awake. I don't know how people like Laura Wilcox, winner of this year's Trans-America race, manage to average 240 miles a day; I end up pretty wiped after 100 miles. It's not my energy levels as much as it other parts of me, specifically my butt, which had chafed to the point of actually tearing a little when I sat down to use a toilet at the firehouse (sorry). Suffice it to say that I will be happy to spend a week or two here before continuing on.
No comments:
Post a Comment