Today was my last day of much needed recuperation. Diane and I did visit another town in mid-Illinois, Tuscola. It certainly was once a thriving town with a lot of character. Unfortunately, it is now left with many empty store fronts but, also a sweet shop with a very well-deserved reputation of fantastic homemade sweets of just about any imagination. Again, the many thoughts of how a town thrives and dives and then perhaps repeats the cycle, come to mind.
From day one of this adventure, I cannot help but notice the artificial roadside items — is it rubbish or one man’s treasures? I even past a man walking the shoulder making selective choices of what to add to his bag. Most prevalent in Colorado and throughout all states so far, has been the wide selection of beer, liquor and drink contains. No matter if aluminum, plastic or glass. In western Kansas, spent rifle casings and shotgun shells were quite present. In a lot of Missouri and Illinois, not so much of anything. Then there is the wide assortment of auto parts; bumpers, headlights, driving lights and grills that very likely came from car vs. animal. Many, many pieces of tire treads from what seem to mostly be from semis. Unfortunately, some had skit marks that certainly indicated loss of control and a hope that the only damage was to the tire.
Some of the more bizarre were a glove here, a glove there. Clothing and bags of trash that were blown out of the bed of a pick-up or deliberately thrown out a window. Shoes that had probably been left on the top of the vehicle and not taken inside prior to moving on. I’m not too sure why a person would have taken off their shoes or boots in the middle of pretty much nowhere, but they must have. The strangest? A right foot cowboy, or cowgirl, boot. For quite a few miles I pondered that one while looking for the other. How would a person lose just one boot? If they only had one foot on which to wear the boot, why was it removed and why left? Yes, I could have just missed the other one. I’m not a boot expert but have seen enough to know that it was a high-end boot.
And now for one of the more prevalent items throughout all states:
Tomorrow, I head east to Rockville, Indiana and Diane heads back to Colorado. I do have a heightened sense of wonder and unfamiliarity of cycling through these states as this adventure moves farther east.