I find myself writing this from Subway in a town called Marion, about 12 miles from the Kentucky / Illinois border. I've managed to guess the WiFi password,which is pretty handy seeing as my Motel doesn't have any.
I set my alarm for 7:20 this morning, but it felt like 8:20 because of the time difference. I felt a lot better because of this, and I was in a good mood knowing that this was my last full day in Kentucky. I got out my room at about 8:45, and went to this place called White Castle. This is a fast food restaurant that I saw a film about when I was waiting in my hotel room in Yorktown for my bike to arrive. I don't know if it was a promotional film, or it was made by chance or what, but it was about these two guys that had a craving for White Castle, and their adventure in getting to it on a Friday night. This theme was evident when I went inside, they had all sorts of stuff about satisfying your craving 24 hours a day. I think it's appealing to the American 'Doner Kebab' market. The interesting thing about there though was that they sold small hamburgers in large quantity, rather than large individual ones. I ended up having three, though I only ordered two. He made too many or something, I don't know. For $15.99, you could buy a briefcase of 30 hamburgers. I'd love to give that one a go one day...
After all this, I started on my way. I got distracted after cycling half a mile though having spotted a shopping mall. I've been wanting to buy this thing called a buff, something that is very difficult to describe what it is. It's essentially a piece of headwear that I can wear under my helmet to keep the sun off my head/neck, but also I can wash it, something I can't do with my helmet. I failed miserably at describing what they were to the various shop workers, and concluded that they don't sell them if they don't know what they are. One guy was interested in my trip though, and gave me some energy chewy things. :)
At last, I got on my way, and took a road that would join up with my route further up (If you remember, I had to come off my route to find somewhere to stay). This worked out well in my favour, and I didn't go much further than I would have had I started where I was meant to. These first 20 miles or so were easy, and I did those in not a huge amount longer than an hour. I stopped at a service station to check my map, when all of a sudden the heavens opened. I was under the shelter so didn't get wet. I put my rain gear on nonetheless, by which time the rain had stopped.
Fast forward another 20 miles, and I stopped at a diner for a rest and an Oreo milkshake. By the time I came out of there, it was starting to rain slightly, but I didn't think it would be much more than that. I was wrong though, and after a mile of drizzle it absolutely poured for about 10 minutes. This was enough to soak me through, and so by the time it stopped I was forced to remove any non-essential clothing. By non-essential, I mean my 'over clothes', a t-shirt and shorts I wear on top of my cycling shorts. I don't like wearing just Lycra on it's own, mainly because there is no hiding the fact that it makes you look ridiculous, but I had no choice. After a further 10 minutes, the sun came out on full blast, and I was forced to stop to put on sun cream and get my sunglasses out.
Time went on, and to cut a long story short it absolutely poured again. The rain this time was so bad I couldn't see where I was going and I sought shelter under a tree at the side of the road. A flash of lightning as bright as a camera flash and a deafening clap of thunder made me decide that under a tree wasn't the best place to be, and I pedalled back to a house about a quarter of a mile away where I'd seen children playing in the rain. When the parents saw me at the end of their drive, they ushered me into their garage, where I waited for the storm to blow over. It did, and after declining the offer of food and drink, I set back off.
The last part of my ride was uneventful, it was fairly hilly though, something I didn't really appreciate after spending all day on relative flats. It was made worse by the discovery that my waterproof overshoes aren't in fact waterproof (partly because I've worn a couple if holes in them, and partly because it all got in through the top. Either way, my feet were damp and horrible. I finally arrived at Marion, and found the motel I planned to dry out at after a bit of hunting. I saw a tandem bicycle parked up there, meaning I've caught up some more people in front of me. I didn't get their names, but they are two Germans (different to the other two Germans that I'd met), who are having to stay in Hotels the whole way accross after finding their trailer was too heavy to pull along. I chatted to them for a bit (the owner of the motel had a note on the door of the office saying 'back in the afternoon', they had been waiting since 2pm), and after about 10 minutes the owner arrived. I tried to explain sods law to them, but they didn't get it.
Tomorrow, I'm heading for a town that is only about or so 30 miles away. This is partly because I need a rest, and instead of taking a day off, I can have a half day, and partly because Murphysboro (where my map changes) is too far to go in one, and there isn't another proper town west of where I'm going. I'm yet to decide whether to get up early and get there fast to relax in the afternoon, or take it easy in the morning and get there later in the afternoon. I expect I'll do the former so I can speak to home without it being too late, a problem exacerbated (good word!) by the time difference. I'll also reply to emails and messages then, I havnt forgotten, I just havnt found the time. This mammoth post has taken nearly an hour and a half on my iPhone keyboard, and I think I've got my moneys worth on the free refills. :)
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