Day 58: Red Hills, IL to Bloomington, IN

Today's Mileage: 69
Total Mileage: 3087

We awoke unrested after a night of dealing with raccoons. The night before, Karin had tied a bag of fruit in a tree, but forgot the bag of nuts in her handlebar bag. And thinking that raccoons wouldn't be able to open zippers, Debbie left three sandwiches in her panniers. My tent was closest to the bikes, so I woke up every time the raccoons visited us and shined my light to scare them away. Karin was terrified, and there was a lot of screaming when she got out of her tent to put the food in the bathroom where it would be safe. All in all, the raccoons were pretty neat: the one sandwich and nuts they stole were taken cleanly, without any ripped packages or food bits left on the ground. The moral of the story is not to run over dead raccoons with your bike, or their families will wreak havoc on your camp in revenge.

We rode into Lawrenceville and found our detour on the old US Highway 50. This took us over the Wabash River and into Vincennes, Indiana. A couple of days before, I had been disappointed not to see an official "Welcome to Illinois" sign, but decided that crossing the Mississippi was good enough. Not to have a sign upon entering Indiana was just downright unwelcoming!

We did some laundry and had lunch in Vincennes. Then Debbie and I headed Northeast to Bloomington to see Andy and Victoria, friends of hers from New York, while Karin headed Southeast to Louisville, Kentucky to see another friend.

The ride to Bloomington was pleasant. The road conditions were pretty good, as was the weather. A stop in Bicknell to use the library took some extra time, so we ended up finishing our ride at night, enjoying a gorgeous sunset over cornfields and some cool fog that settled in the low spots.

We arrived in Bloomington at Andy and Victoria's place, an adorable country cottage with excellent decor.