A Little Bit of Mid-America, Small Town Style

I slept well last night but am still taking today off for a rest day.

My arthritis is acting up, but not too bad.  My muscles are are still totally trashed, with mild cramping and lots of soreness and stiffness.  But by tomorrow, I should be refreshed and ready to go.  I will start out heading west, but honestly do not know how far west I will go before heading north.  I am kind of hoping that the mountains will be my guide– or in other words, they will disappear and provide a relatively flat route north into Illinois.

When I was a kid, we used to try to catch fireflies or lightning bugs when I visited relatives in Iowa.  They do not have them in Colorado, or most of the places I have been for the last forty years. I missed them.  I started seeing some of them in Georgia, and more in Alabama, but in Tennessee I have seen many of them just flitting about, all around me.

That may have had something to do with my good night’s sleep; I was taken back to a time of youth without the cares and worries that go along with being an adult.  There was a sense of peace and calm that I have missed for a very long time.  Almost a kind of Ozzie and Harriet innocence.

Although there were reminders that this is 2011, and some negative energies have entered into the mix.

Tonight at the park where I am staying, a men’s league will be playing slow pitch softball.  I have never cared for baseball, but softball has always been fun to play.  And people watching at a game of baseball or softball is always fun.  So I guess my itinerary for the night is pretty much set: meet people, watch a game, and relax before a peaceful night’s sleep.  Sounds like a pretty good way to spend a restful evening.

Tomorrow, I hope to get an early start and head west, I think.  I hope to get on my way by 7:00 AM, or shortly thereafter.

I am trying to shave a couple of hundred miles off my route by crossing the Mississippi lower down, possibly north of St. Louis, or maybe in southern Iowa.  I hope to be able to visit some relatives in  about two weeks, so if I cross down lower and am able to diagonal over and up, rather than keeping east and going way north, I can save some miles… but this is not a definite plan.  I also think that once I get into Missouri and Iowa, I should be able to ride further each day due to it being flatter country.