A great riding day into Macon for a total of 61 miles. We left at 7 and most of us had arrived at the Macon County Fairgrounds between 1 and 1:30.
Our “Resort” from the night before had a philosophy against breakfast so we headed straight for Paris 13 miles to the west for a down-home breakfast. Who knew you could get a down-home diner type breakfast in Paris!? I immersed myself at the Amos table for some good company.
Again with the blue skies and empty county roads and state highways. Even the wind was kinder to us today!
About 4 miles of the route were on westbound US36. Apparently another “human” powered traveler headed east was being quizzed by this Trooper about the baby stroller he was using for transporting his gear. Maybe the Trooper thought there was a real baby somewhere in there with the luggage? Needless to say there was a lot of hand waving going on.
After I took this photo I spent the next 20 minutes of my ride contemplating how we as a nation have gotten to where we are now and what our future holds. I thought about some of history’s civilized democracy’s that have slipped into fascism, xenophobia and ultra-nationalism. I thought about the Midwest values I grew to know firsthand during the twenty years I lived in Indiana and Missouri- values of integrity, good moral character, hardwork, courage and compassion for others. A culture that wouldn’t suffer fools, liars or cheats. And then I gave up.
After some nice hill climbs just outside of Macon we entered the bustling city of over 5,000 people.
Maybe we finished too early? Otherwise I’m sure the high school band and hundreds of locals from Macon would have been there to cheer me across the finish line. It was still a nice moment and I was happy!
We discussed the days ride over a cooler filled with Lagunitas IPA’s and Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy’s at one of the pavilions at the fairgrounds. It was unanimous that it had been a good day and it wasn’t over yet!
We checked in at a nice Comfort Inn, got cleaned up at and walked to the Pear Tree Restaurant for a wonderful meal and some of the best streaks we’ve ever had with great service throughout. They even had a special heated “meat cart” they served our perfectly cooked steaks from. Mmmmm.
Back to the fairgrounds to enjoy a beautiful evening and a great local band playing everything from Willie Nelson to Elton John.
Bill Wiltsch was too tired after dinner and didn’t join us at the fairgrounds. When I returned to the room that we were sharing I found him sacked out on his bed and on my bed I found this piece of Hershey chocolate on my turned down sheets. I don’t know how he managed to smear so much chocolate and crumbs on in the process and at first I thought it might be a trick. Then I thought better of my sleeping friend and quickly gulped down the morsel. Such a sweet thought. Tomorrow I might learn he just dropped it there in the dark and accidentally sat on it! 😬
Sounds like another good day. Nice weather too.
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