Layover in Carbondale, il. I’ll be hanging out doing laundry and looking for likely migdol progeny. Back on Saturday in marion, Kentucky I had a feeling that I might see Connecticut before Illinois based on the way I felt. After a good rest we got an early start headed to the ohio river. It was a quick 12 mile ride, then on to a small ferry(see picture) and into Illinois. Sunday early is proving to be our favorite riding time. No trucks and little other traffic. The church traffic starts around 9:00am so by then we’ve gotten 20-25 miles behind us. We’re so far south in Illinois and we’re riding due west so we’ll be outta here and in Missouri on Thursday. The rest of Sunday morning we cruised along the ohio river on a country lane the width of a driveway with no traffic and no dogs. Found a great place for lunch in golcanda. Another great burger. The place had home made cakes and pies. I couldn’t pass up the chocolate cake with white frosting. That was always my favorite birthday cake choice. Not as good as mom’s but o.k. just outside the restaurant was a levee(see picture) built after a devastating flood in 1937. Note that the road passes through the levee. When the water rises they drop in gates into slots in the concrete walls on either side of the road to keep the flood waters contained. Everything on the river side of the levee gets wiped out, but the other side is protected. Stayed in a very pretty state park with a swimming pool, but no flush toilets at our camp site. Monday was a very quick 54 mile ride into Carbondale. Everyone has bike issues so we rode straight to the bike shop so we could leave our bikes overnight to be worked on. My biggest thing has been my tires and tubes. I went three days in a row having a flat each day then two days with no flats, but not to take a chance I needed an upgrade. They are putting gator skin tires on and a special layer of material that goes between tube and tire for extra protection. My bike also needed a good cleaning lube and complete tune up which means they check and adjust all cables, shifting stuff, wheels, spokes, brake pads, etc. I hate to leave my nice room at the super 8, but I need to get to the post office to ship some extra gear home. My cold weather stuff won’t be needed until Colorado. Laundry, pharmacy, back to the bike shop. Can’t wait to get the chores out of the way so I can go to the nearby barnes and noble to browse and get a cup of good coffee.