Salish Sea to the Potomac : Day 40: Bradley, Ill. To Indiana Beach, Ind.

Today saw our continued progress through the cornfields of the “I states,” and we continued off the Adventure Cycling route as we headed east. It was already in the upper 60s when we left this morning, and the heat continued to rise throughout the day. The riding has been so similar for the past few days, that the blend of cornfields and straight, flat, paved farm roads are bleeding together in my memory.

Two notable milestones were passed today, however. First, we crossed over into our ninth U.S. state of the trip as we entered Indiana. Second, we entered our third and final time zone and lost another hour. Our clocks moved forward a few counties into Indiana. Many of the towns in Indiana seem to be named after foreign countries. In Montana, we had European cities (Glasgow, Inverness), and in Indiana we have Peru, Norway, and Morocco, where we stopped today for lunch. We did not, as I’d hoped, have any Moroccan food, but we did enjoy a hearty plate of hash that helped us push on in the heat.

We’re staying tonight in Indiana Beach, a very interesting resort town whose main attraction seems to be a large amusement park right on the lake. Although we opted not to ride any of the roller coasters, we did get a chance to walk around the park and get a feel for the town.

Tomorrow we will continue east toward Huntington. We’ll be passing through some of the same towns at the Adventure Cycling route, but still following our own path. After Huntington, we’ll be back on the route toward Defiance in our 10th state.

By the numbers:
Miles traveled: 83
Total climbing: 863 ft.
Average pace: 13.4 mph
Pickup trucks with motorcycles in the bed: 1
Miles until we saw our first cornfield: 1.6