Another day of beauty, another crash!

Today I woke up feeling refreshed and ready to achieve the west bank of the Mississippi. I also felt smelly. Riding is somewhat physical when you do it for miles a day and like to keep a spirited pace all day long. The last couple days the spirited pace has not been there but my jacket continues to bear the results of the previous days efforts, including the post crash clean-up exertion sweat - where I forgot to remove my jacket.

I stink....Bad. I smell like a mixture of ass, pencil shavings (who knows why?), a hampster cage, and since it rained all day I now also smell like a wet dog. All I know is I need a shower very soon. 

Today the objective was low and slow. I would stick to the banks of the Illinois river until crossing the Mississippi at the route 6 crossing in the Quad Cities area.  The Quad cities are Davenport and Bettendorf (in Iowa) and Rock Island, Moline, and East Moline (in Illinois). For those of you out there with thumbs that's five cities not four. I guess the area was named before we grew the 5th digit. I do know it's a very cool area worth checking out if you are nearby. I won't elaborate further, please come explore.

Back to travels of the day - I set off around 9 am and did a reasonable series of concentric loops around Morris, IL. It is a very well kept town whose streets are packed with historic colonial houses. I enjoyed my neighborhood exploration for about 30 minutes before choosing to access interstate 6 west. I meandered along that route until I got to Marseilles (Mare sales), IL. At this point I made what turned out to be a tactical error. I turned left onto a road closer to the Illinois river. about 10 miles later a large, slow moving truck appeared in front of me. It was a tree trimming truck looking for a tree to trim. The driver was going 25 in a 55 with his flashers on. This flasher use indicates and intention to continue a slow pace for most folks - I made my move - moments later I find myself receiving more crash therapy, on pavement this time. This crash was due to this nut deciding he would abruptly turn left in front of me without signals causing me to attempt a panic stop. My attempt was nearly successful until the lawn of the Church of Jehovah's Witnesses intervened. Grass surfaces and road tires don't mix when brakes are added into the mix and I was soon sliding along the driveway beyond the grass. 

I was genuinely annoyed by this inconvenience. It would be no surprise if the occupants of the cars following us could hear me screaming as I fell. I'm not sure what I was yelling but I know the word NO was in there. The other day I earned my accident through blatant ignorance, this one was just some inattentive driver making an ass of himself. I hopped up and picked my bike up off the ground in one quick motion. I then assured the drivers of passing cars that I was fine and didn't need assistance from them. Meanwhile the driver of the truck is approaching me. This could be a huge mistake on his part as I outweigh him by at least 80 pounds and am easily as strong as 3 of him. Fortunately for him I am almost stupidly nice, totally neglecting to ask him for insurance info, money, or his name. I am satisfied with calling him stupid in a roundabout way. I then mention to him that 4 ways are not an indication of a turn and that he may want to consider another approach next time. I would normally freak out in this situation but not working has it's psychological benefits I suppose. 

After departing the scene of the accident I hit the Ottowa, IL Suzuki dealer. He has the mirror bracket I need but nothing else. He does allow me use of his electrical outlet to make some calls for more parts I need. Over the next hour I order all the replacement luggage pieces I need, sending them to my future self in Longmont, CO.

Cheers future self. Put those parts on with accuracy and a smile.

Tomorrow I will be at Millstream Brewery in Amana, IA. Following that I will be at The Doodle Brewing Co. In Liberty, MO. I will then make my way to Left Hand Brewery in Longmont, CO. Following that I will try to make it to stone before the end of Sept. I hope I can make it. I intended to keep the brewery visits relatively fast paced and it looks like I will be doing that in the coming days. Wish me luck.

Again if anyone reading this would like me to stop at their brewery please contact me and I will try. It has been a pleasure to meet everyone so far. The more breweries I hit the more successful this trip will be.



Stay Tuned.