Day 19: Carbondale, Il to Ozora, Missouri
Distance: 70 miles
Day 20: Ozora to Johnson Shut-Ins
distance: 66 miles
Day 21: Johnson Shut-Ins to Summerville, MO
distance: 76 miles
total distance: 1428 miles
When you come across a “Best Buy” and “Macys” and think to yourself “I am back to civilization,” you know something ain’t right. This is what crossed our minds as we rode into Carbondale. With a population of about 25,000 residents and the University of Southern Illinois (which has a student body of 20,000 approx), this city was our closest encounter to a big scale city in two weeks. We stopped at a bike shop to get some quick fixes and then hit a chinese buffet (not my choice…). It was the first time during this trip that we encountered food options other than burgers, pizzas, and biscuit and gravy (only in the south, yo).
In the early morning we left Carbondale to head out for Missouri. Along the way we witnessed our first flooding just at the outskirts of Neunert, Illinois. Fields and fields of crops submerged in water. Farmers who lost all their harvest for the year. Some roads and bridges closed off. It was almost eerie seeing this. And most surprisingly, this has been the state of this area since April. We are somewhere in mid July (I think…), which means that the floods have lasted over 3.5 months now. The locals told us that they hoped for the water to drain into to Mississippi River soon, but with spontaneous down pour every so often, this was likely not going to happen. We took our bicycles and rode them through the flooded roads (a bit of flooding won’t stop us) and left Illinois via a bridge over the Mississippi.
Ending in Ozora for the evening, we stopped for dinner at the only open food place in town, “The Zone,” a bar and grill. I opted out of having yet another burger, feeling much more content with a self-made peanut butter and trail mix tortilla. But while at the restaurant, we engaged in a conversation with some folks sitting across the bar. It ain’t often that one meets the enemy face to face… The two men we casually conversed with turned out to be truck drivers. On a bicycle, your biggest fear is getting too close to a truck. We don’t often take busy roads, but when we do, I brace myself for trucks coming from behind. Whenever they speed passed you, they leave behind a draft of wind strong enough to swerve you off the road a bit. It’s not pleasant at all. So here we were sitting in “The Zone” facing the enemy. And you know what… it was pretty awesome. These guys were just like us. They traveled by truck to places unknown and remote. They loved not knowing where exactly they would be a week from today. They had a final destination, but no one who looked over their shoulder to reprimand their moves. One guy told us it was much better than working for corporate. And the second guy mentioned how he had hiked the entire Appalachians long ago. We exchanged blog addresses (ha!) and left the bar. I may look at truck drivers in a different way from now on (depending on how close they drive to me on the road…)
