Friday 17th August
2012 Salina - Kansas City - St. Louis MO - Corydon Indiana 676 miles.
A great
day for riding weather-wise. Cool, clear, and crisp when leaving, cool enough
for a fleece under my jacket. The sun rose as a huge red ball, the remaining
haze causing the color. After a few hours it became a nice day, in the 80s,
with a clear blue sky all the way. Not the high heat of late, one could still
wear a jacket with the vents open.
Heading east towards Kansas City, traffic was
light until Topeka, where my freewheeling using cruise control on the roads of
the west started to come to an end. Traffic picked up approaching Kansas City,
and was thick until east of St. Louis. Once well into Illinois and then Indiana
I could freewheel for long spells. One good thing to-day was the absence of
major road works. The scenery was pretty much the same all day. Agriculture
with a lot of corn, but other crops and vegetables as well. Even the occasional
vineyard could be seen. The landscape was pretty flat, apart from the two major
cities pretty uninspiring. I don’t understand the corn thing in the media.
Obviously Indiana has no problem as the corn looked good, but in the other states
it was odd. Although the growth alongside the road was quite green, some fields
of corn were obviously burnt, but next to them you would see a field of good
corn, and no sign of irrigation machinery. This was happening in Kansas,
Missouri, and Illinois. Very odd.
Kansas
City looked very modern with a seemingly new great road system. Traffic
although heavy at times, flowed really smoothly, and this was in rush hour. One
passed right by the Kansas ball park. Impressive. Stopping for gas on the east
side, I had a few conversations with friendly people. It seemed a great place
to live. On the way to Kansas City I did get to cross the Missouri river a
couple of times, and it looked low. One also gets to view all the signs for the
University of Kansas, complete with basketball trivia. And so into Missouri
(check).
Heading
to St. Louis traffic was quite heavy, and more so through the city. The roads
there looked and felt old. Passing through one of the suburbs of the city, one
sees large and fairly new corporate estates, complete with manicured bright green
grass all around. I did get to pass right alongside Busch Stadium. If one gets
bored with the scenery in some of the more southern states, there is always the
huge bill boards to keep ones interest. Anything and everything is advertised. Cries
for Jesus stacked amongst the sex shops. There must be something about
fireworks in the state as well. Loads of firework supermarkets were along the
highway. Crossing the Mississippi is always a thrill, and so into Illinois.
It is
always interesting to see the different way States handle the driving public,
regarding rest areas, services and the price of gas. Wyoming has mainly truck
pull-ins, complete with honey buckets. Other states have good rest areas, and
plenty of services. Illinois has expensive gas, few services, and little
information regarding them. It does have a few rest areas. I was getting a bit concerned
about gas, and saw a junction advertising it. As soon as I turned off I knew I
had been had. No gas signs. So I hit a tiny town after a couple of miles, and
an open USPS office. It was a classic tiny town post office (most likely soon
to disappear). In it was an old lady, and when I asked about gas, she answered “we
haven’t had gas here for 16 years”.
However there was gas back on the highway about 10 miles away. I did have
loads of gas as it turns out (I was running at over 45 to the gallon at that
point and had enough for 80 miles or so, amazing). The machine definitely likes
100% gas (no ethanol) or higher octane. I had filled with 93 BP gas earlier and
it seems to produce better mileage.
So into Indiana,
overnight at Corydon (about 40 miles west of Louisville), and then Kentucky (check) tomorrow. I will then head towards
Virginia and Delaware. As it is the weekend, it could become crowded
around there, although city traffic may be lighter.
No comments:
Post a Comment