Day 3 – June 12, 2009
We began packing the bikes around 5:30 AM. It was cool and damp but the rain had stopped and the weatherman was predicting a dry day. No more than 30 minutes after leaving Bedford, route 50 turns into a narrow country road and we entered Martin’s County Indiana and Martin’s Forest State Park and we could not have asked for better riding; up and over mountains and the twisties again. Then 30 more minutes and we found ourselves on a highway straight and flat. The highway reached into the distance as far as you could see and if there was a curve in 10 or 20 miles you were lucky. The fields are large in Indiana and reminded me of a lumpy bed because the little humps could not even be called hills. Suddenly we were back in the mountains climbing and then just as quickly they disappeared and again we found ourselves riding almost in auto-pilot because the road requires so little maneuvering. At some point we crossed into Illinois; everyone else saw the sign but not me, but I did notice the road became rougher and straighter. The cash crop in this part of the country is corn, soybeans, barley and oats and while the grains are golden in Indiana and the corn at least 10 inches high; in Illinois the grain crops are still green and if the fields have been planted at all the corn is only about 1 or 2 inches tall. There has been so much rain; the creeks are swollen and flooding the surrounding fields. I noticed the pastures with beef cattle in Indiana, Illinois and Missouri and a few dairy farms but just past Loogootee, IN I saw the first of very few Perdue Chicken farms. In Flora, Illinois we saw oil rigs scattered about the fields. We stopped at a Hardees for a cup of coffee so I asked some ladies about the rigs. Yes they were still pumping oil from the region. Apparently in the 40’s there was a big oil boom in the region and a couple of the ladies had moved with their families to the area at that time and they are still drilling new wells. Getting around the larger cities has been a breeze – 50 is so well marked. A couple of times I have seen signs for ‘old route 50’ and ‘business 50’ but I opted not to take those since we have so many things we want to see and do further west. We have called it a night and stopped at Tipton, MO after riding 385 miles. We have had a nice dinner and the guys are outside playing cards. We are staying at the Twin Pines Motel in Tipton and it is modest but clean and priced right at $58.
We began packing the bikes around 5:30 AM. It was cool and damp but the rain had stopped and the weatherman was predicting a dry day. No more than 30 minutes after leaving Bedford, route 50 turns into a narrow country road and we entered Martin’s County Indiana and Martin’s Forest State Park and we could not have asked for better riding; up and over mountains and the twisties again. Then 30 more minutes and we found ourselves on a highway straight and flat. The highway reached into the distance as far as you could see and if there was a curve in 10 or 20 miles you were lucky. The fields are large in Indiana and reminded me of a lumpy bed because the little humps could not even be called hills. Suddenly we were back in the mountains climbing and then just as quickly they disappeared and again we found ourselves riding almost in auto-pilot because the road requires so little maneuvering. At some point we crossed into Illinois; everyone else saw the sign but not me, but I did notice the road became rougher and straighter. The cash crop in this part of the country is corn, soybeans, barley and oats and while the grains are golden in Indiana and the corn at least 10 inches high; in Illinois the grain crops are still green and if the fields have been planted at all the corn is only about 1 or 2 inches tall. There has been so much rain; the creeks are swollen and flooding the surrounding fields. I noticed the pastures with beef cattle in Indiana, Illinois and Missouri and a few dairy farms but just past Loogootee, IN I saw the first of very few Perdue Chicken farms. In Flora, Illinois we saw oil rigs scattered about the fields. We stopped at a Hardees for a cup of coffee so I asked some ladies about the rigs. Yes they were still pumping oil from the region. Apparently in the 40’s there was a big oil boom in the region and a couple of the ladies had moved with their families to the area at that time and they are still drilling new wells. Getting around the larger cities has been a breeze – 50 is so well marked. A couple of times I have seen signs for ‘old route 50’ and ‘business 50’ but I opted not to take those since we have so many things we want to see and do further west. We have called it a night and stopped at Tipton, MO after riding 385 miles. We have had a nice dinner and the guys are outside playing cards. We are staying at the Twin Pines Motel in Tipton and it is modest but clean and priced right at $58.
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