Distance - 8.0 miles!!
Today James arose with the roosters in the early morn, so that he could be on his way flying solo. The schedule of the real world bore too hard on poor Yamez, and demanded he get back one day earlier than us.
Murphysborough took hot and humid to the next level. When you are laying sleeping-bag-less, motionless on a slab of concrete in the middle of the night, in only shorts, and STILL sweating, you know it's hot. I think we also hit a new mosquito bites per hour max during the night.
Sam and I took the day off and lounged around the Murphysborough / Carbondale area. Needless to say, after a couple weeks of sweating through Kansas, Missouri, and into Illinois, our clothes were begging to be washed, so the first thing we did was visit the Murphy Pride Laundromat. On the way to the Laundromat we checked our second of two mail drops at the post office to find a beautiful care-package from Sam's parents! We washed almost everything we owned and dug into all the Townsend's treats (thanks Townsends!!). I tried to wash my cell phone again but Sam wouldn't let me.
Sam's girlfriend Cat sent him a gift card to the 17th street BBQ in Murphysborough, the World BBQ World Champions of the World in 1990, 1992, and 1994, so we ate there for lunch and met the family of another one of Sam's rafting friends from his West Virginia job. The BBQ and ribs were DELICIOUS (thanks Cat!!), and it turns out the Schmidt's other daughter Nicole has a place in Carbondale. They graciously offered us her couches and air conditioning for the evening, so we got a jumpstart on the next days biking by riding a hefty 8 miles to Carbondale. It was the easiest 8 miles of our lives.
We took care of some crucial bike maintenance at a shop in Carbondale, and used the library for a bit. Turns out the librarian is a psychic, and before I had hardly spoken to her she ordered me to go sign the cross-country-biker-log-book before I could use the computer. I was pleasantly surprised by her psychic powers, so I signed the log book and tried not to let her read my mind any more, lest she steal my identity.
Nicole made us an awesome dinner of chicken / sausage / pasta, and we enjoyed some brews while catching up on some beautiful TV laziness with her, her brother, and her roomate Cameron.
It was a fantastic day of relaxing, and sometimes it makes us wonder what its going to be like waking up for multiple days in a row, without 100 miles of bike riding to do. Our routine is very fine tuned at this point, and sometimes you don't even notice 30 miles go by (especially if you are riding the dragon, or if you have something like an airconditioned destination to look forward to!)
Tomorrow we say our quick and heartless goodbye to this fling that was Illinois. Look Illinois, it was fun while it lasted, but we could just tell from the beginning that it wasn't going to work out.
Toodles!
Aaroune
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