clean

Happy to have made it to the house of some old friends. Today is the first day off I have taken since Cedar City Utah. I am in Carbondale Illinois. No break in most of Utah, none in Colorado, nor in Kansas, or Missouri, but today is a day without riding. I must at this point give a huge thanks to two different and seemingly unrelated people. First The Best Damn Bike Shop. REI St. Louis. You three rock something fierce. If the world was full of people who enjoyed their jobs and life and were as helpful as you all were the world would be an awesome place. Thank you again for getting me in and fixing all the problems I had, the bike runs like new and is again a pleasure to be on. And if you read this, I again avoided the storm, call me lucky but I still stand at 6 minutes of rain for the entire journey.
Seems impossible I know but here is how it went down.
I roll into Freeburg Il. and camp behind a bar ( the owner said it was OK) spend a sweltering night dripping sweat into my tent. wake have biscuits and gravy for breakfast and get the route straight, I was going to take 15/13 through Pickneyville and into Carbondale. I get to a small town I think it may have been Coultrerville and stop for some water. I was in a gas station and asked the attendant if 13 does in fact continue into Carbondale. She said yep. Then a toothless crazy lady kind of behind me mutters,"you dont wanna take 13." I asked why not?
She says take old county line road to 4 then over to Ava then the Bike trail/Ava road to 13/127 and then to Carbondale. I ask to see a map from the gas station and of course old county line rd. isn't on it. The lady gets her county map out of the car and shows me then gives me her map. I decide Ill try it, whats the worst that could happen right. So I go down old county line rd. And into Ava. I couldn't find the bike trail/Ava rd so I go into the bank to ask, as I am speaking to the teller a Fed/Ex guy walks in looks at me and says you riding the bike?" I am thinking this guy is sharp, of all the folks in this bank (there were 5, 3 workers, me and a 85 years old) he guessed I was on the bike. I said yes, he told me, I wouldn't go out there if I were you, Pickneyville(my original Route) just got hammered with 70+mile winds, a torrential downpour and the storm was moving. I laughed and told the bankers that if I were them I would make sure my car windows were rolled up because it was going to rain in Ava in 45 minutes but that I would be nearly to carbondale by then. I left, rolled down Ava road onto 127/13 into carbondale, pulled into my friends house, walked inside and it started to rain here. 6 minutes while riding. So thanks to the Oracle of Phillips 66 for seeing the route. Glad I listened to her. More help from strangers than I deserve, all of it much appreciated.