Day 34: Champaign IL to Crawfordsville IN

Today's activities started with the (in)famous CrossRoads helmet decorating event. There were many 'over-the-top' ideas but I must admit that the design that Mike K and I came up with was simply brilliant. Although not perhaps the most extravagant in implementation, ours was the deepest in thought and meaning.

We decided to leverage our self proclaimed status as the 'Tortoise Brothers', i.e. the riders with the uncanny ability to appear slow but to actually win the race by slowly and methodically gaining ground on the pesky rabbits that claim superior skills & conditioning. [Note: claim and possess]

Hence our superior design....

Notice the confident look on the Tortoise and the shaken confidence of the rabbit!!!

Some good attempts were also noticed......but fell sadly short of our entry.

On a brighter note, today we crossed into our 9th state during this 79 mile ride. The winds were a quartering headwind most of the day but all in all this was a delightful ride with great temperatures and flat roads. A note of particular interest is that yours truly was born in Kokomo IN so in a way it is my homecoming.

I've noticed that as we move east from MO and thru IL and now into IN, the corn fields seem to be dryer and the crops very much less lush and healthy looking. When talking to the local people along the way, many have commented on the dry weather they have been having. The corn fields seem to bear this out. Pray for rain and good crops for these many good people.

Probably can't tell from the picture but the corn doesn't seem as tall or healthy.

A wonderful surprise from Jennifer, Lisa and Tim for my birthday and Father's Day

Well tomorrow is a very short 45 mile ride to Indianapolis so I'm going to take advantage of this and go to Kokomo and see some of my cousins and family. The entire XC tour group will depart at 0815 but I'm going to leave around 0645 and ride alone. I should get to Indy by 1000. Michele will meet me at the hotel, then after leaving my bike in the lobby and changing clothes (too early to check in), we will drive 1 hour up to Kokomo for a quick visit. The following 5 days of riding will be 86, 108, 97, 101 and 105 miles to Erie, PA so I'll have to be back to Indy and in bed at a decent hour. The visit will be short but its better than no visit at all.

That's for all. Talk to you tomorrow.

Tom

Click here to see details of today's ride:
Day 34: Champaign IL to Crawfordsville IN by xctom2012 at Garmin Connect - Details