My Great Trek to the Midwest
Day 5, Friday, May 12, 2006
 Rolla, Missouri to Bloomington, Indiana

Day's Route Overview:
Today I went from Rolla to Bloomington.  I will take a side trip to visit the town of Xenia, Illinois.

I thought it would be about 350 miles, but it turned out to be 401.

The weather report the night before was hardy encouraging.
Wind and rain throughout the whole Illinois and Indiana area.
In fact, they were predicting rain as far west as St. Louis.
Bad news, If I can't use the camera because of rain, I would
have ridden for five days only to get rained out on the final day.
Starting out: Trip / Odometer / Time: 57.7 / 32,272 / 7:15 PDT
The day started out very sunny but cold.  46 degrees when I
started out.  I'm all bundled up as much as I can be with the
stuff I brought.  I decided I would be in warm and hot weather
so I did not bring any flannel lined jeans or any long sleeve
shirts to wear under my denim to allow multiple arm layers.

Visited a Missouri rest stop on the way to St. Louis.  It's nice.
Parts of Missouri are very pretty, but everyone smokes. Even
riding along behind a car, I am constantly aware of second-hand
smoke pouring out their windows.  They still have non-smoking
sections in restaurants.

Here's Lola taking her place among the big boys.

St Louis looks like a normal old city.  Many big buildings built
50 to 100 years ago.  Many of these are boarded up and
abandoned now.  Spotted the arch.  Really neat.  Tall. Shiny.

Into Illinois.  Pulled over in one of their rest stops.  They are
nice here also.  I guess of all, my favorites are those in
Oregon and Washington states.

By the way, the towels on the back are my bug rags.  I use them
to try to debug the windshield when needed.  Then, on the back,
they can dry for next use.  Besides, they help visibility.

Xenia, Illinois an "X" city!  One of the very few in the country.

I actually got here.  Over half a continent to get an "X"

Xenia is small.  How small is it?  They have a emergency 911
phone system, but only on the pay phone on the front of
the police station...

From Xenia, the route to Bloomington is along the bi-ways.

  
One little town I passed through is Olney.  Evidently, a
self deprecating city of bad spellers.  (that's a joke)

Spelling aside, as an "O" city, with the "X" from Xenia,

my ABC cities are complete!  I'm not sure how many future years will see me do this.

At Olney it is starting to sprinkle pretty steady.  Hmm, not a good sign.
Further on, it is raining pretty good.  Dang.

The rain continues light and then hard for the next four hours.
No more photos today.  I'm in Indiana, but with no formal evidence for my ABC's.
I used the Magellan Navigator to plot my way from Onley to Maureen's house. 
It got me there, but not by the route I had previously gotten from MapQuest. 
In fact, I think the route the Magellan suggested was very circuitous.  I'll have to investigate further.

I took me east on I-50 and continued on Indiana-150 all the way to the little town of Paoli.
The route was curvy and through some really beautiful country.
Under different circumstances, this would be a fabulous motorcycle ride.

Very cold, very wet, very tired, very late, I finally arrived.

Bushmill Dr.
Bloomington, Indiana 47403

There then arose a circumstance that put the day's and indeed life's events into stark perspective.
Maureen's father has been seriously ill for several years.  She received news from her sister Stacy
in Terre Haute that the hospice staff believed his suffering to be coming to an imminent end, perhaps
even this weekend.  Of course, her place is with her mother and other family members so she is in
Terre Haute and we were not able to connect this weekend or even this trip.  I wish Maureen and
her father and family love, peace, and acceptance.

Done for the day:
90.8 / 32,673 / 6:42 PDT

ABC Letters: Cities: O, X, States:  Kansas

Total: 401 miles, 11 hours 27 minutes
Trip Total: 2,454 miles, 55 hours 10 minutes

Updated: Monday, May 12, 2014 08:19:50 PM