Day 22 - The home stretchAug 27, 2005
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Missouri landscape
Ruined corn crop (lack of rain)
Missouri roads are not better than Michigan roads
| Day 22 Saturday, Aug 27 Not much to tell today. My weather strategy is working well. Clear skies again and high 80's. I only used the Interstate for 60 miles going into Peoria. I left Chillicothe on U.S. 65 North then got on U.S. 34 East at Lucas, Iowa and took that all the way into Illinois where I picked up Interstate 74 into Peoria. I then got on U.S. 24 and took that into Indiana to U.S. 31 toward South Bend. I got off in Rochester and am spending the night about 50 miles south of South Bend. There was a reason for the details in the preceding paragraph. If I had done this in Kansas or west of Kansas it would have been wonderful. The highways in all those states are smooth and mostly deserted. When you have to go through a small town, it's a very small town (populations under 1000) and you speed right back up. In the states I drove in today there was a lot more traffic on the highways and a lot more towns to go through, and the roads were not as well kept. In addition, many of the towns were miles long and had traffic lights! Consequently, although the highways were still more scenic than the Interstates, the travel was much slower and not as much fun. Highways in these states are only marginally better than using the Interstates. There was really still no landscape of interest to take pictures of, but I did take a picture of a ruined corn field. The drought this summer really has affected the corn crops. I've seen fields anywhere from brown on the bottom to completely brown in Missouri, Iowa and Illinois. Didn't see it in Kansas and haven't seen it in Indiana. Also, it seems to be the corn that is affected the most. So there's the crop report from the heartland. There was one other highlight. The first 50 miles in Indiana on U.S. 24 was like a ride through Small Town USA. The city park in the middle of Goodland was like something out of the late 1800's and it was immaculately kept and landscaped. The next town, Wolcott, was the same way. It made you long for the simpler life, at least for a while. I overestimated the mileage left yesterday, so after today I should only have about 250 miles to go tomorrow. Weather should be good again since the rain has left Michigan. Mileage: 526 Total Miles on Bike: 6810 |
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