Tuesday, August 3, 2021

Grand Illinois Trail: Day 1

Tuesday

Sitting in a camp site on the banks of the Illinois River across from the town of Marseilles, pronounced by those worldly Illinoisans as Mar-sale. I reserved the site online last week, and managed to pick the worst site i have ever stayed in. It was in full sun when I got here and stayed in full sun until a little after 7:00. There was nothing to do and nowhere to hide.

Rode 44.3 miles today and it took me 5 and a half hours. Pretty slow ride, even though some of that was breaks. Ran into two bridges that were closed, which meant in both cases that i had to backtrack and invent a detour. Then a section of the trail was closed so i had to do it once again.

I was tired when i got here. The sun just beat it out of me today. And tomorrow may be the longest day of the entire 10-day trip, at around 70 miles. I’m looking forward to the time out on the trails but i know that distance is going to be brutal for me. Told them i wouldn’t arrive at the campground until late afternoon.

The Cicadas are out in full force here and it’s going to be a loud night. Not much more i can think of to say tonight. Sitting in the sun all day has really messed up my brain. I’ll try to think of something to talk about tomorrow.

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