Wednesday, June 17: Man, I’m about to rename this trip American Drenched! P.S. If any of you would like to email me your new name for this trip, I’ll post a list just for the giggles. I mean all I can do is laugh at the situation - and I hope you will to! As I’ve told Judy and as I’ll say here, we’ll either make it to the Oregon coast, run out of time, run out of money or run out of both. But I’ll continue on until one of the above happens!

Soooo…yes indeed, rain did return last night. During the 10 PM local newscast we watched a short piece on the local flooding in the rural areas, specifically Schuyler County. In this short piece they were talking about how the farmers were somewhat stranded because of not being able to drive out on some of the little county roads, and not able to have any delivery service in for their supplies for farming. This was amazing to us because this county was one of about 6 counties that we had planned on doing all the little gravel and dirt backroads. Some film footage showed the creeks and streams a good 2-4 feet above some of the roads out there. Was very shocking to see the extent of the flooding AWAY from the big rivers like the Illinois and the Mississippi. And just a bit more flood related news: during my ride today I saw farmers digging these drainage ditches to try to drain some of their corn crops before the plants rotted in the field in several feet of water. Saw tons of “Road Closed” signs as we moved south. Listened to flood warnings for numerous cities, towns and burgs along the Illinois River. I could go on and on. You get the idea. I mean it’s getting very serious. 

Well, with that being said, I had gotten up in the morning, and I’ve been so snake bitten with the flat situation, that the first thing I’ve been doing in the morning is checking the Mt bike tires to make sure they’re still holding air. Today my rear tire was flat. So I pumped it up to see if it would hold air while I was working, eating and getting everything ready to go. , Finished everything, was packed and ready to go so I gave it the tire a check….and it was pancake flat. Ok, back to the drawing board. Pulled out my camp chair - and it’s starting to drizzle now - and got to work on the tire. Found out that one of my Park glue-on patches had sprouted a leak right on top of a seam in the tube. So I just popped a new tube in, and then went through the same hell as usual trying to seat that damn tire back inside the rim. I mean this is WORK! Finally got it as my heart rate was about Z4 by the time I’d gotten done. 

So we got out of Macomb and continued to drive back down Rt 67 south towards Rushville, IL - in a pretty hard, driving rain. By the time we reached the Schuyler County line, where I stopped yesterday, we were in a total white-out rain. Now I was already about an hour late on my ETD because of the flat. Now add more time for us sitting in the car for a good 40 minutes hoping that thing would just blow over. It did…to a point, but then just stayed on a holding pattern with light drizzle. Had to at least get something today, so I put on my neon vest so traffic could see me, and got out into the mess to ride - on freaking crappy berm.

Wind was out of the southwest about about 10 mph, and honestly, I was going so slow - 9-10 mph - that it just didn’t matter. Only when you go FAST does a headwind actually count for something. Nope, with the crappy, unconsolidated gravel berm that’s as saturated as beach sand, with washouts, and with 18-wheelers whizzing by at 60 mph, fast wasn’t in my cards today. And I was good with that. I mean with this trip, the speed is quite different than during my prior trips X country. On this one, shoot, 13 mph is flying, 10 is moderate and anything below 8 is slow. So maintaining 9-10 was ok with me. You just have to get used to not covering big chunks of distance per day that’s all. But I think the thing that really bugged me today wasn’t riding in the rain, wasn’t going moderate in speed, and wasn’t even not going very far…it was the fact that I was on a state route with this frenzy of traffic whizzing by me non stop - exactly what I didn’t want. I’ve been there and done that with X country travel. This trip, I was looking forward to just getting away from all the hubbub. And where was i today? Ass deep in the thick of hubbub!

Ok, so much for me feeling sorry for myself. Got going in this light drizzle and it just continued for a good hour. The berm consisted of the new gravel that had been tossed on top of the old hard pack gravel, so it made for some rough, soft, and tough riding. Right about the time I got to Rushville, the sun made a very feeble appearance and then was gone again in a thick veil of dark cloud cover. And bing bango we were right back into the drizzle, then light rain. Judy stopped several times to see if I wanted to get in the van and wait it out, but I just motioned her to go on. I was willing to ride in the rain as long as it wasn’t a whiteout where drivers couldn’t see me, and as long as I wasn’t riding in lightening. So on I rode, just trying my damnedest to make some miles today. 

Now last evening I had to apply the old “goosegrease” to my poor butt due to all the sweat, rain, grit and constant bouncing from  berm riding. I was downright raw last evening and I applied the ointments liberally. Today, I just had to lock out the shocks that I had ON all of yesterday. Seemed to make my butt feel better NOT getting so much bounce. Now my hands…that’s another story. Hands, triceps and shoulders take the brunt of the road shock when those front and rear shock absorbers are locked out. But I just had to give my butt a break for a day. This also helped to give me a bit more bite with each pedal stroke. Kept on rolling and rode across this massive bridge spanning the Illinois River into Beardstown. The river looked to be a good 2x bigger than normal judging by all the trees and foliage that was in water. It was a brown gurgling mess. Did a quick food and drink break in Beardstown and then continued south on Rt 67, still riding in and out of either misting, drizzle or light rain. Once we crossed over from Cass County to Morgan County, the cloud cover just got really ominous looking, and the light rain turned into a steady rain. 

Judy was up ahead and I told her I’d just keep going until it got dangerous. And wouldn’t you know it but within the next quarter mile the rain just exploded into a full on whiteout rainstorm. Thankfully Judy had taken her time pulling out, so I got off the bike and motioned her into this gravel pull-off to get me. Loaded the bike in and that when all hell broke loose. Rained so hard that you really couldn’t see more than a couple hundred yards ahead of you. I’d say we sat there for nearly an hour, just hoping like heck that it would clear once more. By that point I had in 33 miles, and I was really wanting to get further down the road. Well, after playing with my phone checking the weather, booking a Super 8 motel in Jacksonville, IL, checking emails and just shooting the breeze with Judy, the rain settled down to a light drizzle again. And out I went. 

Now we were kind of kicking around several options today as to which direction we would go. With all the bad “Sky is Falling” talk on the news I was inclined to stay on US routes due them being a much dryer, safer choice. My original intention, and this is after I 86’ed going country roads where all the flooding issues are, was to go with a couple State routes like Rt 100. But after this morning’s newscast, I thought that might even be a problem, especially when Rt 100 was down inside the Illinois River valley. But Judy was kind of intent on giving it a try, this because taking Rt 67 all the way south would be WAY out of the way. So I agreed to give it a try, with the restrictions that: #1 it had to have descent berm to ride on, and #2 there had to be zero flood issues. I sucks when all the recon I had done is just thrown out the window, and there we are - guessing where to to? Well, we agreed to give 100 a shot. So when we came to the Rt 100 split, off we went, staying down inside the Illinois River Valley. And to my surprise the berm was better than on Rt 67. The traffic wasn’t as hectic and the flooding didn’t seem to be a problem along this road - yet. Well, the berm ebbed and flowed from great to ok, but it was still a really good, safe route. So chalk one up for the Jude, she made a good choice and I’m glad I went with her suggestion. 

We made it down to the junction with I-72/Rt 36, and at that point I was at 47 miles. I checked to see if Judy was good with me getting in three more miles just to make me feel good with 50, and she was game. So I got in the last three and called it a day. On the way to Jacksonville my mechanic Steve Thomas called and gave me some tips on getting that damn tire seated back on the rim - use a little spritz of dish soap on the rim to help the tire’s bead slip on. Thanks so much Steve!!

And I’d like to give some more kudos…to my number one supporter, Judy. Man, those of you out there reading this, imagine if you were asked to give up your whole summer to drive a vehicle across the country, driving through God knows where, day after day after day,  dutifully supporting, helping, encouraging, making arrangements, all that. Imagine doing this! That’s what Judy is doing for me. And though there are times where we have our moments, she is just amazing at adapting to the situations and trying to help me be successful each and every day with this silly endeavor. For that I am truly humbled! I’m a damned lucky guy.

Ok, so I still have a LONG day’s ride to make the Golden Eagle Ferry Xing of the Mississippi River, right across from Machens, MO, where the Katy Trail starts. I’d originally planned to paddle the Mississippi starting further north, and Xing right where Judy would take the van for the ferry Xing. But obviously the ferry is in my future to now. So that’s what we’re pointing towards as we move south. I’ve no idea how the berm will be on more of Rt 100, which goes all the way down to this ferry Xing. Will it be flooded out at some point? Will the berm be ridable all the way? Will the ferry even be operable with the flood conditions (Right now the ferry is still running, BUT the gentleman told me to call 24 hrs ahead just to be safe)? All this we’re going to answer shortly.