Monday, June 11, 2007

Children of the Corn:

There was lots of corn today and I mean lots. There was 108 miles of corn and it went out to the horizon. We left Quincy IL and cycled to Springfield IL. The temperature was 86 F and the wind was 8-10 mph in our face all day. So it was a long hard day. I took me 7:31 to cover the miles.

However having said that the first 35 miles were really pretty as we sailed though rolling hills with lots of trees and fields of corn. A deer ran across the road right in front of me. It was pretty neat. As I was closing on Don a squirrel ran out right in front of Don. Then the squirrel saw Don and hesitated, I thought Don was going to hit the squirrel for sure. I have never seen a cyclist run down a squirrel. Then not two minutes later a raccoon ran out in front of Don. I guess that proves that not all the raccoons have been hit by cars.

I got passed by a tractor today. I could hear it coming and see it closing in my mirror for quite a while but I couldn't get away. I was tired at this point and the wind was in my face, so the best I could do was about 15 mph. The tractor was doing about 18. Finally the tractor pulled into the on coming lane and went around me. I tried my best to get in his draft but I just couldn't manage it. I sure could have used the pull.

Today's picture is of one of the children of corn. I walked in to the field and Tom H took my picture. It was pretty tall for this early in the season.

Well there isn't much to tell for such a long day so I am going to say thanks for visiting my blog and thanks for your comments. Scroll down and check out the supplemental pictures.

Woof! Woof! That's my dog imitation.

Terry

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Terry, what a corny picture!! Just kidding. What is the corn used for; ethanol, livestock feed or Green Giant niblets? My impression of Illinois (other than Chicago) is "corn everywhere". Drafting other cyclists is OK, drafting a tractor is just not on. I see that tomorrow you get to the next rest day, and celebrate one month on the road. Keep up the good work.

Anonymous said...

Disclaimer:
No animals were killed or injured during the making of Terry's Spoke report.