Stage 13 -- In Corn Country [WAS-14, USA-nil]

28 August 2010. After 39 miles from Taylorville to near Mulberry Grove, big hills, a head wind, the heat/humidity and a head cold reduced me to exhaustion and I stopped after 3 and a half hours riding. Then we started hunting for a suitable road south. We finally ended up in Waterloo and will try Route 3 down to Cairo. It’s a two or three day trip on the same road – given my current level of performance. Here and there I look for signs of political anger and I have to admit I haven’t seen much. I do ask a specific question of those who are willing to answer it. “Did you vote for Obama?” and if they say yes I ask “How’s that working for you?” The best answer was from an Iowa man vacationing in Chetek Wisconsin who said “The first time.” Otherwise here on the byways of America, I mostly see farmers, truckers, waiters and waitresses, and a lot of closed business. If people are angry, they aren’t sharing it with me. Of course I see a lot of them as I speed by at 12-15 mph. Conversations then are quite short. This laptop is a great convenience. I keep up with company finances, political news (I even wrote a comment to an article by Mort Zuckerman on RealClearPolitics, signing it WStock on the Tour of Water Balloons). Speaking of the Tour, the score is now quite lopsided – I am beating the stuffing out of the country. Na Na Na Na NaNa…

Thought for the day: It could be worse, say if there weren’t elections coming in just weeks now.

Response to Pam: Thanks for the encouragement. Dad says hello, that we are making good time, and that Sam has been really well-behaved. I second that thought. As for what I write, I would use the word musing rather than diatribe – diatribe is more harsh than what I do.