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After a two-year delay, we finally decided to fill the gap between Cin-cinnati, which we reached from Pittsburgh in the spring of 2016, and St. Louis, which we reached from Kansas City in the summer of 2016. This was a special trip for Nancy, a Hoosier by birth, to transverse her home state by bike. According to our usual routine, we drove to St. Louis, left our car at airport parking, and took Greyhound to Cincinnati. Once you arrive, there’s no turning back - St. Louis or bust!

As usual, seeing middle-aged bikers with packs always draws attention and interest. We made our first new acquaintance while assembling our bikes outside the Cincinnati Greyhound - the security guard, who shared some of his life experiences with us and wished us well on our journey. The ride through Cincinnati provides a scenic view along the Ohio River, but soon it’s time to turn inland to face the somewhat intimidating hills leading out of the Ohio River valley.  

 

The first major site of interest along the way was in Greensburg, IN. The city is famous for, believe it or not, several trees growing on the roof of their courthouse. The trees took seed about 100 years ago and were left undisturbed to grow into mature trees. Greensburg holds special memories for Nancy, whose uncle lived and practiced dentistry there most of his life. An elderly gentleman in the local diner where we lunched remembered him well, and related that his second wife still ate frequently at the diner.

Traversing Indiana by bike turned out to be challenging. The east-west routes are either county roads that provide a roller-coaster, up-and-down experience, or state roads that are busy with traffic and have narrow shoulders. Heat was also a factor the made the trip more tedious. The “curse of Kansas” haunted us again, since apparently some of those minute Kansas thorns were still embedded, hidden in Nancy’s tires, which caused a number of flats along the way, especially in Illinois (see below).   

On the positive side, we came upon and rode through a number of historic covered bridges, for which Indiana is well known. While eating lunch next to one we met a couple traveling the USA to see as many covered bridges as they could. They shared some of their expertise with us on the history of covered bridges. Another point of interest was riding (seemingly forever) past Camp Atterbury, a former WW2 training center, now used by the Indiana National Guard (no pictures allowed!)

We got a taste of Hoosier hospitality at Lake Melissa campground in Quincy, where we set up camp after the office closed, and after hunting down the owner in the morning to pay, were offered free camping instead. Another Hoosier hero helped Nancy through a minor emergency. At a gas station, she dismounted her bike just to discover a huge spider crawling on her leg. After she brushed it off a passerby made quick work of crushing the monster.  

Our Indiana adventure ended with a pleasant morning at Terre Haute on the banks of the Wabash River near the Illinois border. In need of a new intertube, we found J’s Bike Shop, which opened a half hour early for us and then took our picture to post in their store along with other cross country bikers. Fun! We ate our McDonald’s breakfasts at a pretty park along the river and said our farewells to the Hoosier state.

Riding through Illinois turned out to be logistically much easier - just follow Hwy 40 west from Terre Haute! There’s a decent shoulder most of the time and most of the traffic is on adjacent I-70. This wasn’t our first encounter with Hwy 40. We rode the “National Road” out East near its origin in Cumberland, MD. It was the first road to cross the Appalachian mountains to provide a direct route to St. Louis and the Mississippi River, although in 1837 the project ended up a little short of St. Louis in Vandalia, IL.   

Unfortunately, the heat did not let up at all in Illinois, forcing a number of stops for cold liquids and some time in AC. On one such scorching day, we stopped at Lion’s Den Pizza in Marshall, IL for drinks. The owner, sitting at a table doing paperwork, learned of our adventure and treated us to free soda and pizza! It continues to be one of the most special features of our trips - the people we meet and the kindnesses we’re shown.

We made several unexpected discoveries in rural Illinois. The first was the town of Casey, where we were just planning a routine stop to do laundry. Turns out that Casey is the home of several world records for the largest items of their kind. It gave us some interesting sightseeing while our clothes tossed in the washer.

The collection includes the largest wooden shoes, pencil, wind chime, golf tee, rocking chair, knitting needles, crochet hook, birdcage, pitchfork and mailbox. Most of the items were made by order of local philanthropist Jim Bolin, who had Bible verses inscribed on all his projects.   

A little down the road at Effingham you’ll encounter another giant - the largest cross in the USA. The 198 foot cross was erected at the intersection of interstates 70 and 57 by the Effingham Cross Foundation and is visible to thousands of passing cars. What a great way to draw attention to the most important event in history - the sacrifice of the Son of God for the sins of the world!

Another discovery was just as unexpected - Vandalia, which we learned was a former capital of Illinois. Here Abraham Lincoln began his political carrier as a state representative while simultaneously studying law. It was in the Vandalia State House that Lincoln gave his first anti-slavery speech. We shared lunch on a park bench with Lincoln (immortalized in bronze) at Lincoln Park opposite the State House. Never know who you’ll meet on these trips!

Eventually we veered off Hwy 40 to intersect a bike trail heading into St. Louis at New Douglas. The trip to New Douglas was eventful. Nancy’s thorn-infected tires decided to act up big time, forcing many stops for tire repair. Eventually we ran out of both useable tire patches and drinking water in the tiny wayside town of Reno, still ten miles from New Douglas. While Tom worked unsuccessfully on tire repair, Nancy knocked on nearly every door in town for water (only about 5 or 6), getting no answer. Thankfully, a passing pickup, driven by Joe Paige, stopped to inquire and, learning of our plight, Joe drove 8 miles to the nearest store to bring us back water and new patches. Thank God for his kindness.

We finally arrived at New Douglas only to discover that services there were nearly as sparse as the 35 previous miles from Vandalia. After catching a quick dinner at a bar, the only place with food in town, we headed down the bike trail, patchy tires and all, toward Edwardsville near East St. Louis. The delay kept us from reaching our destination on time, but we were able to roll into a hotel in the dark, the sun having already set. A good day to have behind you.  

All that remained was crossing the Mississippi into St. Louis and heading out to the airport where our car was eagerly awaiting us. The bike trails into St. Louis were terrific and made the trip smooth and enjoyable. We were saddened, though, to see so much poverty as we rode through inner city St. Louis. Maybe the most remarkable part of that ride was that Tom transversed all of St. Louis wearing his Chicago Cub’s cap and made it out alive!  

Well, the gap from Cincinnati to St. Louis had finally been filled. Now we could focus on the West and crossing the Rockies to the Pacific. The best is yet to come!