From: "Christine W" <christineweir@hotmail.com>
Subject: Kiwis crossing USA: hi from Frankton, Indiana
Date: Tue, 25 May 1999 13:58:49 PDT
Hi to our ever-increasing fan club!
Someone said we have more followers than the Tour de France. Oh well, such fame, it's not
going to my head at all.
Since my last report we left the luxury of our Kansas City hosts, and headed off through
Missouri, took a wonderful rail trail called the Katy Trail, it's pretty flat, bikes and
walkers only, so not a lot of traffic. On the way to finding it we stopped at Warrensburg
Missouri at the Chamber of Commerce to get a map. Well, talk about famous! The lady rang
the newspaper and a reporter came along and interviewed us and took photos! This is the
town where the saying "a man's best friend is his dog" originated, and we were
given a badge of the actual dog! A bit further up the road, just past a secret squirrel
air force base at Knob Noster, we saw some stealth bombers flying around, that was
exciting. They are pretty stealthy, don't make a lot of noise. We found an abandoned barn
and dossed down in there on lovely dry hay, much to the consternation of some swallows
that got a bit agitated for a while! Three days on the Katy trail, we could have done it
quicker but wanted to spin it!
out before getting back out in automobile country. One morning we rode the whole morning
in a thunderstorm, it was warm enough, very spectacular with the lightening flashing ahead
and thunder rolling across. At one place we camped, this guy came along and took our
photo. I said are we famous celebrities now? He said I don't know, I just take pictures of
people who ride on the trail! That camp had a lovely sign, a wee entrance over a bridge,
and absolutely nothing else. It got flooded out in 1993 when the whole place got flooded.
On the trail we saw small snakes, beavers, heaps of birds. It was very hot and humid too.
We stayed in another barn on the trail, could have camped if we could have found a level
spot, it was easier to sleep on the hay bales again.
We crossed the Mississippi River at Alton, Illinois, a huge slow moving brown river. Found
a corner of a parking lot to tuck away into, I don't know what the workmen thought when we
emerged in the morning!
Illinois is such a beautiful state, very appealing to me because it is so flat. Even
flatter than the parts of Kansas that we went through. We took a North-East track through
there, met up with Scott from Wisconsin who we had previously met in NZ 2 days before we
left, while he was doing a tour of the South Island. I'm going to include his account of
that section, to save me writing it, as some people won't have received it:
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Cycling with Kiwis in IllinoisMay 18-21, 1999
Tuesday night, I drive down to Ramsey Lake State Park, about 50 miles south of
Decatur, to join Christine and Madi for a few days. Christine is riding her
bike around the campground when I arrive at 10 PM. The night is peaceful,
except for some kind of critters that sound like a cross between a cow and a
foghorn. In the morning, we first encounter the ubiquitous Two Tent Rule.
You can have up to 8 people in one campsite, but only two tents, no matter how
tiny.
Wednesday is sunny, warm, and nearly windless. After just 10 miles, we come
to the tiny town of Herrick. Bakery, reads the unpretentious sign, so we
stop in. Theres a great selection of pies, cookies, etc. We get to chatting
with the woman who runs the place, and soon shes giving us more pastries
free! How far are you going today? she asks. Depends on how many more
bakeries we find, answers Christine. Another 10 miles to Cowden, where we
find a 50s style diner. Over ice cream, we have a long chat with the woman
who runs THIS place. Outside the cafe, an elderly woman stops to chat, and
invites us to stop at here house on the way out of town. Is there a pattern
here? Its a good thing were not in a hurry, because it takes half an hour
just to explain where were from (New Zealand, Switzerland, and Wisconsin) and
where were going (New York and back to Ramsey Lake). Touring cyclists are a
real novelty around here, and folks are as friendly as they are in New
Zealand. After visiting an old covered bridge, we ride to the larger town of
Shelbyville for groceries, then on to the Corps of Engineers campground at
Lithia Springs. Here they also enforce the Two Tent Rule with military
inflexibility, demanding $28 for two sites if we use all three tents. We
agree to use only two for the sake of the warden, then put them all up in a
deserted loop. No one checks. Its a very nice place, with more of those
noisy critters. Sometime during the night we hear coyotes, as well.
Thursday is warm again, a bit hazy and more humid. 8 miles from the start we
reach Windsor. By the time we finish chatting with the folks in the grocery
store, theres a reporter with a camera waiting outside. Looks like well be
the big story in the weekly paper, with a photo of the three of us with our
bikes in front of the post office. We inadvertently take a scenic route out
of town, so its well after lunchtime when we arrive in Humbolt. Theres
nothing there but a bar and an antique shop. Madi finds a cheese grater to
carry along with the life presever cushion she found on the road in Oklahoma.
We all have bar food for lunch. There is, of course, a friendly group of
locals in the bar. Folks here talk with a bit of a southern drawl, and there
seems to be a bit of Bible Belt atmosphere. Kentucky isnt that much
further south. What really surprises us is how considerate the drivers are.
Most of the town roads are paved and nearly traffic-free, but very narrow.
Even on the busier county roads, though, drivers pull far over to pass,
patiently slow down and wait when necessary, and give us friendly waves when
they pass. Sometimes we have to get off the narrow roads to let gigantic corn
planters get by. Some corn is up a few inches already, some just going in.
When we run out of water, we pull into a farm where an elderly woman is mowing
a huge lawn on a riding mower. After we finally get her attention, she
invites us in for water, offers us cookies, and chats with us for quite a
while. A widow of 83, shes been living here since 1950. At first I felt we
were interrupting her chores, but it soon became clear we had made her wholeday.
Another 20 miles brings us to Arcola, site of the Raggedy Ann Doll Festival.
Apparently, the doll was invented here. Everyone is from elsewhere, so it
takes us a while to find the grocery store. A few miles from our destination,
we split up so I can go into a little town to pick up refreshments. We all
get a bit confused trying to find Walnut Point State Park. The farmers I ask
for directions havent seen Madi and Christine, but it turns out theyve taken
a different route and were reunited at the campsite. The park has beautiful
walk-in sites. When the warden shows up, quick-thinking Madi convinces her
that the third tent is just a rain fly to cover our food. We ask here about
those noisy critters, which we seem to be everywhere, and the warden suggests
owls. No, they dont sound like owls. Frogs? Thats it! They sure dont
sound like the bullfrogs up in Wisconsin. Oh well, at least I can identify
the coyotes we hear again that night.
Friday morning, Christine and Madi decide to spend another day at Walnut
Point. The day begins warm and humid. We have breakfast at the concession
cafe and visit with the manager. A bit later, we hire a canoe and paddle
around the lake for an hour. Its just a small reservoir without power boats,
with a wooded shoreline. A pretty place, popular for fishing. Its long
after lunchtime when I finally say farewell to Madi and Christine and start
the trek home. They are looking forward to the music and dance scheduled at
the park that night, but things get a bit wet.
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He is right about it getting a bit wet, thunder and lightning again. Oh well, we are
getting used to it. Scott would have ridden straight into it about 1/2 hour after he left
us.
We went to another state park, Shades State Park, which is really nice. No poles to hang
up the food to keep it away from the racoons, so we strung the bags up between 2 trees.
Not enough protection - they managed to open the zip on a bag and extract our bread! I was
woken at 2.45 a.m. by scratching noises and shooed them away but they kept coming back. My
first night of absolute peace, no traffic or aircraft or frog noises, and I get woken by
that animal! In the morning we went for a walk along a really nice trail, up a creek bed,
saw some deer in the woods.
At Georgetown Illinois, we stopped for breakfast at a diner (we look for the places with
lots of utes outside) and a guy pulled into the carpark to ask us the usual questions. He
said the usual "be careful" which most people say, only it was quite pertinent
coming from him because his brother got killed while cycling 6 weeks ago, in the same
area. That put a new slant on the farewell, and he drove off again. He had come in
especially to tell us that. It was food for thought.
Last night we were in Sheridan, Indiana, and cruised around town looking for a likely
camping spot. Spied this road leading to some trees, through a gate, aha that looks good.
We went in to have a look and it was the sewerage treatment plant, with another track
leading out of it to a perfect area that is used for target shooting. So we tucked in a
sheltered spot next to some trees and had a very peaceful night, away from the noise of
cars & trucks, no frogs, racoons, just a few aircraft flying in and out of
Indianapolis which was about 30km due south. It's the Indy 500 on Sunday so definitely not
the place for us to be.
We have had incredible weather, cold yesterday, usually quite warm and mostly westerly
winds which is fantastic for us. I love this flat land, Madi is pining for mountains. She
will get her wish in Pennsylvania I think.
We stopped in Frankton for some lunch to celebrate 4000 km, 2/3 of the trip. Asked the
lady in the diner if she knew anywhere we could camp and she rang her daughter who works
at City Hall, and found there was a small park we could use if we rang some lady. Anyway,
a lady sitting at the counter said we could camp on her back lawn 3 blocks away, and
guided us there! She is even taking time off work so she can stay home tonight to talk to
us!
We are making such fast progress that we are going to slow it down a bit for a few days as
we don't want to get to New York too early! It's so easy to make a leisurely start in the
morning and still ride 120km, so we are taking it slowly and using county roads, stopping
for ages in these small places and talking to people. It's such fun!
Well, time is almost up here at the library so I better get going. Thanks again for all
the fan mail, it's much appreciated!
cheers
Christine