Day 18--Lafayette to Wabash, IN

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Thank you George & Kate Patrick for putting me up for my night in Lafayette and also thank you so much for your generous and unexpected donation to the Judith Karman Hospice. Say hello to Damona for me, George, when you see her in a couple of weeks.

Whatta day!  I'm giving Indiana and Lafayette an "F" for its route signs . . . or perhaps I should give myself an "F" for route-finding. I got off at 8 a.m. or maybe a little earlier I think, but got mixed up in Lafayette because there were no signs for 25-N. I rode eight miles and backtracked a bit before I found myself on high-speed four-lane 25-N (Hoosier Heartland Highway) toward Logansport.

Haven't a clue as to why I took this innocuous photo of a stretch of 24-E

The road got better with a small shoulder about three-quarters of the way to the Logansport bypass.  At the Logansport Bypass, I encountered another “Where's the sign?” situation. I wanted to take four-lane, divided 24-E to Wabash, but nowhere did it say “Wabash.” Eventually I found that 24-E went left while 35-S continued to Kokomo, so I hung a left and cycled to Wabash, never once until I was there seeing a sign that said "Wabash."

A photo taken yesterday of the Wabash River near Attica, IN; note the cloud cover.



Another photo of the Wabash River taken yesterday; note the piers from the old bridge.



Photo of the Wabash taken today from 24-E; note the lack of cloud cover

Oh well,  enough whining. I had a good tailwind for most of the ride, but the heat was on. Just cannot tolerate the heat. It saps all energy. At about 40 miles I began to flag. There was little shade, but what there was I stopped in to cool off and get some energy back.  Per my day into Fayette, my stops became more and more frequent. Because of the bonus miles I accumulated when lost in Lafayette, I pedaled over 80 miles today. The most so far . . . and I hope the most for any of the remaining days of the ride.

B.O.B. hiding out in the shade on a side road

Funny for the day: I'm hot and slowly climbing a long gradual hill on 24-E, half listening to the traffic. I hear a truck slowly climbing the hill behind me. Awhile later I realize that I'm still hearing the truck. It must be heavily loaded. I look in my mirror and see directly behind me on the shoulder a HUGE piece of looming farm machinery. Yikes! I'm being stalked. I pulled onto the grass and the machinery passed, the guy high in the cab waving thank you.

I'm in a Holiday Inn Express which is behind a Kroger's grocery store off 24-E. After I showered and cooled down, I went to Kroger's and bought myself a couple of things for a very late lunch: edamame and chickpea salad and some spicy asian chicken. I also bought a small sweet-and-sour chicken-and-rice TV dinner for tonight's supper. I will cook it in the room microwave later.


Note the strong SW wind

Did a load of wash in the guest laundry, and am now posting the blog. I didn't take many pix today to illustrate it. Sorry.

Exhausting day, daahlinks! Tune in tomorrow to see what fun I can stir up.

Susan