Day 2 - Half "Slab"/Half Enjoyment

The first part of the day was riding the "slab" (freeway) to get out of Chicago and down past Indianapolis IN. It took about 1 1/2 hours to get out of the Chicago area but since it was Sunday morning the traffic wasn't bad. I sure enjoy having the GPS on the bike, it is much easier to navigate that way than trying read maps while driving in Chicago traffic. For the first part of the ride the weather was again overcast and had a few light showers but not enough to put on rain gear. I did clear up nicely for the second part of the day.

After I got south of Indianapolis, I went through Columbus Indiana. This is the headquarters for Cummins (the company I work for). I almost felt like I should stop in and do some work while there but I contained my desire to work and drove on through. Once I got south of Columbus, I took more back roads and the scenery and roads improved nicely. I picked up hwy 421 at the Kentucky boarder and that was great road to ride. Up and down and around and around. It had many small towns but other than that it was great. It sure beat driving the "slab".

South of Lexington and Richmond Kentucky I picked up Hwy 421 and then another great back road. My plan was to find a place along there to pitch a tent. No luck with that plan. I guess camping isn't done much in this area. I ended up drive almost another 75 miles beyond where I had planned and finally found a hotel for the evening. It was approaching 9:00 by the time I got here. Considering I left Chicago at 8:15, it was a long day. I covered 593 miles today.

No photos today other than of the route I took. Roads have been great to ride but not to picture. The most interesting pictures would probably be of some of the homes on the back roads. However, I'm afraid someone could come out and shoot ya for taking those pictures. Some of the places look in pretty rough shape!

There aren't many campgrounds in the area but churches are plentiful. I estimated (no statistical data to support this hypotheses) there is about 1 church for every 10 homes! Don't see a church at this corner, don't worry, go another mile and there may 2 or 3 there!

Tomorrow I will continue through Kentucky and should also be in parts of Tennessee and Virginia. Depending on how far I make it, the "Snake" (road with 400+ turns in 12 miles) is towards the end of my planned route. Not sure if I will make but I'm looking forward to one day soon.