July 29 - Carbondale, IL to Vienna, IL

Written by Gloria

We had a bit of a later start today, which was very nice.  Getting up at 4 am gets old after a while.  We base our wake up time on temperatures, how hilly the ride will be, and whether or not we have people visiting and/or joining the ride.

Yinka, Alex and Adrianna met us in time for breakfast.  The waffle machine got a healthy workout.  After breakfast, we rode off.  Yinka & the kids hung out at the hotel, then went swimming.  

We had a mixed ride today.  The morning was relatively calm.

Then we had about 10 miles of traffic.  We arrived in Goreville around 11:00.  Yinka and the kids were waiting for us.  We had lunch at Subway.  It was really enjoyable!

After Goreville we had about 7 miles on a busy road, then we found the perfect bike trail.  Tunnel Hill State Trail is a 44.5 mile bicycle trail that runs from Harrisburg to Karnak, Illinois.  It is an old railroad trail that has become a rail trail.  Although it is not paved, it reminds me of the Silver Comet Trail.   We finished the last 9 miles of our 48 mile ride on this trail.  Riding on it with no motorized vehicles was heavenly! 

On Tunnel Hill State Trail, we had to stop at Sandburn Junction because it had a big sign welcoming bicycle riders.  A 40-something year old man, an elderly man and a girl were there enjoying Italian Ices.  Turns out that the "store" runs on the honor system.  They have a price list, you choose what you want, then you pay for it by putting the money in a coffee can.  Michael had ice cream, and Eric and I had an Italian Ice while we chatted with the two men.  They seemed very knowledgeable about the Trail, as well as other areas that we will be riding through.  After finishing my Italian Ice, I decided to push on (Yinka and the kids were waiting on the trail in Vienna).  Michael and Eric studied maps with the younger man for quite a while. They caught up with me right before we entered Vienna.

We met Yinka, Alex and Adrianna at Vienna Park.  The park is really nice, and the kids were having a great time.  We hung around for a little while, then made our way to our hotel.

Our hotel did not have a guest laundry, so after a really short swim in frigid water, we decided to have happy hour in the town square park while waiting for our laundry to wash and dry.  I was worried about how this would work, but it actually worked out quite well.  

When Yinka and the kids were in Vienna park, Alex found a painted rock that said USA.  As we walked into the laundromat, Alex found another painted rock that said Be A Light.  The last rock was found by Adrianna.  It didn't have words but was painted like a US flag.  Apparently other towns (like Decatur, GA) are doing this rock painting thing.  They leave the rocks all over town for people to find.

We went to Wildfires for dinner.  Three people ordered the all you can eat seafood dinner.  It had fish, shrimp, frog legs, corn on the cob, beans.  It was a lot of food.  No one really liked the frog legs, and none of us had room  for pie, but it's all good!