Days 33 to 35: Peru, Indiana to Odell, IL

Note: Dan is providing a brief update for Liz

Monday, July 17 the smoke returns — even worse today. Elizabeth decided that it was better to be uncomfortable riding with a mask than to inhale all that smoke during the 47 mile ride across Indiana. Her knee is ok but she reports that it takes 10 or 15 miles to warm up each day.

As Elizabeth rode along, she saw a box of cucumbers set out for folks to take. She pulled 4 for the group’s dinner. She was writing a thank you note to leave behind when a 4 wheeler came up and stopped to talk. Turns out Wally is the one that put out the cucumbers – and he encouraged her to take as many as she could carry. After greetings and explanations, Elizabeth asked one of her standard questions: What is on your bucket list Wally? Wally said that at age 90 he’s done everything he wanted to do!

Elizabeth cycled on and was soon looking for a place to stop and eat her lunch. She quickly spotted a driveway with a three wheeled bike adorned with “permanent” flowers arranged in a rear basket — what could be more inviting to a cyclist! Elizabeth stopped and ate her lunch next to this interesting cycling monument.

This ride was a little warmer and brought out a few more general aches. It was pointed out by one of the guides that riders needed to “camel up” — that is, drink a lot more water now that the sun is a bit hotter. Elizabeth decided she would work more on hydration before, during and after each days ride.

Tuesday’s ride was 74 miles — still relatively flat. The smoke subsided, the wind cooperated, and the 74 miles went by without a problem. In fact, with the focus on extra hydration, most of the aches from Monday were gone even though this ride was significantly longer.

Elizabeth has been very dedicated to getting pictures of the “Welcome to…” state signs. The day that Daniel rode to meet her, she had actually veered several miles off course to get to a different road that had such a sign because the road they were riding did not have one. Alas, as they crossed into Illinois once again there was no welcome sign. Elizabeth went into a conveniently located library and with the help of the librarian crafted a solution.

Tuesday night’s campground was actually the Ashkum town park (they call it a city park, but with a population of 724 there is no way anyone could confuse Ashkum with a city). The mayor and his wife came out to welcome the group to town.

Wednesday’s ride was a short 39 miles. Elizabeth had noticed that the mayor’s wife had a shirt with “Janie’s Mill stone ground grain artisan”. She assumed that it must be in Ashkum and she was right. Since she had time with the short ride she decided to pay the mill a visit. Elizabeth got to meet the staff and was given the full tour. I (Dan) was told to expect a box of grains to arrive in the coming days!

Underway Elizabeth found a gas station that was on the national registry of historic landmarks. This route 66 gas station was owned by Standard Oil.

The short ride was uneventful and once again the group was camping in a town park in Odell. These town parks were very nice but were not designed for camping. They lacked “campground amenities” like showers, laundry, and wifi. In fact, this entire 11 days between rest days was going to lack laundry facilities. The extra time afforded by the short day allowed Elizabeth to hand wash her clothes in a sink as well as take advantage of the park’s swimming pool. The Odell park was spacious and allowed the group plenty of room to spread out their tents.