Day 10: Litchfield, IL to Granite City, IL

Well, the wind was back, mostly as a crosswind, but I am pretty much used to it now. On the rare occasions where it isn’t windy, it feels almost other-worldly!

I stopped at a café in Staunton, Illinois, and I met a couple people. The first person I met (I forgot to get his name, and a selfie!) was a fellow cyclist who has done a bunch of multi-day tours, including RAGBRAI five times, so we had a lot to talk about.

Then I met Barb, and we had a lively conversation about my journey.

Thirty minutes later, I ran into two cyclists at the Route 66 Decamp Station, Bruce and Steve. They wanted to buy me lunch in the next town, but I’d just eaten. They said a prayer for my safety, and I left them at at the station. They passed me on the trail a couple minutes later.

Much of the day, again, was on rails-to-trails trails. They were amazing. So serene and quiet. I stopped at a bench for a few minutes, and as I prepared to continue, I heard a voice. I’d almost ridden right in front of a group of cyclists, and I am so unused to seeing other people I didn’t even look. Oops!

It was a mom and dad, and their adult daughter, and the dad and daughter are training for RAGBRAI. I kept up with them for a while, but peeled off to find a nearby bike store (to replace a jersey with a broken zipper), so I didn’t get to introduce myself.

On today’s trails, I saw so many cardinals and red-winged blackbirds, and I even saw a wild turkey! I couldn’t get pictures of them, but it was really fun seeing them.

I am spending the night just on the Illinois side of the border, in Granite City. As I pulled into town, I saw three interesting Route 66 business signs in quick succession.