Day Twenty-Six - Hello Illinois.

This post refers to Tuesday 26th May.

I woke up at 6:30 this morning to my sweltering room. I'd left the heating on all night to try and dry my stuff from yesterday, which nearly worked, but some things were still damp. I got going by 8:45 after eating, and rode the last 12 miles of Kentuky to the Ohio River, where I had to get the ferry accross to Illinois. The transition between states this time was a lot more of an occasion. As I got on the ferry, I imagined the Crystal Maze tune, I felt a bit like I was on there.

Anyway, within 30 seconds of touching dry land again, I was chased up a hill by a little mutt of a dog, past smoking barrels. Not great first impressions, and they got worse when I found myself on the side of roller-coaster hills. I spent the next 30 or so miles going up and down over steep 'rolling hill's. I'd heard that they didn't put switchbacks in the roads to save money on concrete. I was pondering this today, and decided it was probably more likely that the hills aren't high enough for them. They only apan a few hundred feet maximum, so they wouldn't really serve much use other than taking up space.

I arrived in Golconda at around midday, and found the motel I was staying at. There was no one there, and I had to call a number to get in. It was then that I had no signal, and I couldn't get any in town. After thinking of what to do (including looking for a payphone, there wasn't one), I decided to look for some WiFi. I found some outside a bank, and contacted home, to try and contact the motel from there. After that failed, I went back to wait for the german cyclists, who had reserved a room. It was 2pm at this point, and I had to wait until 2:45 to be let in.

I relaxed until about 6:45, where I walked back into 'town' for food. The only place I found was a diner, where I got an 8oz steak for $6. Unfortunately, it came between burger buns, but of course I ate it anyway.

Tomorrow Im headed to Murphysboro, where I will be exhausted if today was anything to go by.