Reading Time: 2 minutes This was a day filled with a few surprises, mostly pleasant ones. Knowing I had a long day ahead of me, I was packed up and out of the campsite at 6:30 am. Rain was expected so I kept my rain jacket strapped to the top of my kart. The first 10 miles was up […]
Reading Time: 2 minutes I’d intended to walk 5 miles more than I did today, but at one point I arrived at the entrance to Martin State Forest. A sign informed me that there was a campsite, and as I was mulling it over a young woman drove by. I flagged her down and asked how far the campsite […]
Reading Time: < 1 minute Despite ongoing threats of rain, nothing yet. When the rains do come, I’m sure it will be at the most inconvenient time—for me, anyway. I dragged myself across the highway to Walmart last night and stocked up on soup, crackers, protein bars, and trail mix. I also bought a small container of melon chunks, which I […]
Reading Time: < 1 minute Along with the good news that the flies have pretty much flown away, the highway shoulder seems to have been transformed. No more irritating grooves to hinder the kart. How long will this last? The heat continues. My head sweats; I wipe it off. Repeat. I’m drinking water all day long. Sometimes the clouds block […]
Reading Time: 2 minutes I can’t help but take the condition of the roads personally. Especially when the designers and builders take a perfectly good shoulder and turn it into a nightmare. For me, anyway! Some brilliant person decided that Hwy 50 in Illinois needed rumble strips that run perpendicular to the road across the entire shoulder. For miles. […]
Reading Time: < 1 minute Flies harassed me for over 5 hours today. No let-up. I left the motel at 5:40 am and had planned on staying at a B&B in Lawrenceville, but they had no vacancy. I called another place and tried to make a reservation, but they didn’t pick up the phone. So when I saw a sign […]
Reading Time: < 1 minute I’ve learned that the day goes best when I get a really early start. So that’s what I did today. I was on the road by 5:40 am, and walked 22.7 miles to the Super 8 in Olney, Illinois. It’s certainly a budget hotel and not up to the level of last night’s Best Western, […]
Reading Time: < 1 minute Early to bed and early to rise means an early breakfast. The breakfast room opens at 6, and that’s when I was there. Often I’ll bring food back to my room, but the Weather Channel was on the TV instead of Fox News, so I stayed at a table and ate Raisin Bran with milk, […]
Reading Time: < 1 minute From the Days Inn in Salem to the Best Western in Flora is 28 miles. It was a long walk. I left Salem at 5:50 am knowing I’d be on the road a long time, and finally arrived in Flora at 6:55 pm—13 hours total (including few short breaks along the way). Had I seen […]
Reading Time: < 1 minute Today was a double challenge. Rain and itching. It rained incessantly, and the gravel shoulder was frustrating. I was on and off US-50 for hours. Eventually the sun came out and the shoulder got wider. Throughout all this, I was dealing with the itching from what I’d realized were bedbug bites, most likely from insects […]