Huntingburg, IN to Fairfield, IL

What a wonderful country we live in.   Remember yesterday when I told you I went passed “Birdseye” (city) in the hopes that Huntingburg had more eating places.   Well Huntingburg was the answer to my dreams.   I stopped at the fire station in the hopes to get a place to pitch my tent.   A police officer came out from the police station next store and I asked me if he could help.   I explained that I was traveling cross country to collect money for the Pelotonia which of course uses 100% of all funds to fight cancer.   He said that the fire station was empty but he would call the fire chief.

He called the fire chief who said he’d like to help but all of the fire station property is concrete and not suitable for a tent.   The Policeman told me to hang on as he was working on something.   He called the mayor and collectively they arranged for me to stay in a Quality Inn for the night.   They have a program that they use now and again when people are in their fair city and don’t have a place to stay.   Since I was trying to “help” others they decided to “help” me.

This alone is enough for me to sing the praises of America and the people that live there but the story continues.   This morning I got an early start (the Quality Inn had the best continental breakfast I’ve see) thanks to being able to eat breakfast while it was still dark.

The weather was good and the wind was calm so I was able to get a 13.2 MPH average and 88.8 miles in going from Huntingburg to Fairbanks.   When I arrived I talked to the Sheriff, who put me in touch with Jerod of the Fairbanks fire station.   He, with the chief’s concurrence, are allowing me to sleep in the fire station, wash my clothes and take a shower.

I think these two actions show clearly that the news hype about everything going wrong with the country is rubbish.   America is the people and the people are wonderful!!!

If you were watching my titles you will have noticed that I got my dates wrong.   Thinking about it I decided to start putting my “from” and “to” places as the title since it allows you to more easily follow me.

Today’s ride game was looking for things on the side of the road:

• Most ugly: Lots of paper, plastic, and tire litter.   Really?   Can’t we stop this?
• Most beautiful: I was riding along when I came upon a small body of water by the road.   Two Canadian Geese were swimming away from me but remained spooked.  They decided to fly away and they transitioned from swimming to flying in a seamless manner and flew next to me (about 10 feet away) in perfect formation until veering off.  Wow – magnificent.
• Most sad: Apparently turtles are crossing the road and don’t have the chicken’s agility as many didn’t make it.   Snakes and frogs shared a similar fate.
• Most unexpected: Teenage Mutant Ninja wading pool.
• Most welcome: Crossing into Illinois.
• Most thought provoking: When I saw a train going my way I wondered if I could hitch a ride.

Hey, that pretty much wraps up today’s entry.   Remember if you are reading this the reason is to collect money to fight cancer.   Spend some time talking to a couple of friends to see if they won’t join our bandwagon.   While big donations are always welcome it will take an army of people donating what they can to get us to our goal.