1999-10-19 Maybe I'm being a little rough on this city, but first impressions go a long way, and my first impression was extreme rattiness. Much like Beloit. All in all, today has been slow going. I probably won't make goal, which is okay, I guess. And because I haven't looked to see where I should be, I won't feel bad. It's cold, and when it gets cold, the air actually gets more dense. You may not think it makes a difference, but just come out here and join me. Well I finished up on Highway 1 and crossed the mighty Wabash River on LONG and NARROW bridge. I then followed 64 to 65 to Evansville, seeing yet more oil rigs. Highway 65 is narrow and curvy and full of little hills. But it's very scenic. My legs have finally concluded that I'm not playing some kind of joke on them. Now they're mad. Along the way I saw an older guy watering his grass and decided to stop for water. "Ya travelin'?" he asked. "To Atlanta." "I'll be." "From Milwaukee." "Well I'll be." He proceded to tell me that if it weren't for the road being closed up ahead, a lot of big trucks would be coming and going. So I guess today isn't all bad. I couldn't imagine sharing that road with anything bigger than a van. And the road construction didn't phase me; I just road my bike through the field around it. When I stopped at a store today, a younger guy remarked that he'd never scene a bike like mine before. I informed him that the trailer came off. He was straight after that. Maybe I should have told him it was a Sport Utility Bike? But I'm trying to be friendly toward everyone I meet. The other day when I was resting, a couple came by and asked me some questions. After they had left I realized that I was kind of rude. From now on I'll make an effort to answer all questions cheerfully, no matter how much my body and brain feel like mashed potatoes. Indiana has lots of fake ponds. They look nice. And fewer dogs are kept on chains. Always in Illinois, the dogs would have to bark at me from a distance. Now they are more often running right down to the road and chasing me. Most of them seem pretty happy about being so successful in chasing me off. One dog was a long way off before it started chasing me, so I was out of his jurisdiction before he caught up. I'm thinking that was a good thing because as he got closer I realized he was a BIG doberman, not one of the little Benji dogs that are usually chasing me. Well lunch hour traffic is about over so I can start making my way across Evansville. It should be a pain. I looked at a map and it showed that most of the streets were laid out before north, south, east and west were invented. But on another good note, I see some blue sky sneaking in from the west. It's probably going to warm up, because the wind is turning southerly.

Indiana