Eight State Line – Indiana

Eight State Line – Indiana

Thursday 13^th June, 2019

Day 34

Location: Champaign, IL to Crawfordville, IN

Distance: 81 miles.

Temp: 54 – 64 F heavy overcast

Dew point:  47 F

    Winds:  22 mph, crosswind to slight tailwind

 

Cumulative climbing distance:  1,985 ft

Cumulative descending distance:  2,021 ft

 

 

Biking today reminded me of biking in October in New England.  Temperature was in the mid-50’s to 60 F most of the day with a strong wind and overcast sky.  Wore a wind breaker all day and was cold when stopping for morning photos.  Tomorrow morning will be even cooler with a forecasted morning low of 49 F.  The 10 day forecast has highs of 75-81 F.  BUT we should be most thankful because the temp easily could be in the 90’s F with high humidity.

 

Had breakfast with Les and Robin followed by an early morning sendoff as we started our ride at 6:45 AM.  They also had a early morning departure as they were driving back to Minneapolis today.  We were fortunate that they were able to spend our rest day together with us.  As always great conversation and laughs followed by memorable dinners.

 

Departed Champaign for Indiana today.  The main campus for the University of Illinois is located in Champaign.  U of I was founded in 1867 as a land-grant institution.  Champaign has the look and feel of a university town, as it is the dominant employer and focus of city life.

 

Crossed our 8^th state line today and entered our 9^th state – Indiana.  So far Indiana looks a lot like central Illinois.  Mega corn fields and flat to some rolling terrain, especially near small rivers and streams.

 

 

 

 

 

Corn fields in eastern Illinois and Indiana often 1 mile long by many miles wide.

 

First corn field observed on trip with corn at normal height (2 ft) for early June.

 While corn is the dominant crop, a few percent of the fields were wheat.

Interesting small town on our journey to Indianapolis.

 Bike art on a small town store wall.

 

 

 Another family farm past its prime.

 Old gas station with collection of sign memorabilia.  Note sign for Sinclair Man Cave.

 

Also the signs for S&H Green Stamps brings back memories of the late 1950's and 1960's.  S&H Green Stamps for were a manual version of today's shopping reward points.  The company operated from the1930's until the late 1980's. One received an amount of stamps equivalent to the dollar value of the purchase made at many retail stores.  We glued the stamps into a special stamp book.  The filled books could then be redeem for consumer products at S&H Green Stamp redemption stores or through a catalog.