Night 6 8:00pm to 4:00am
Salisbury MO to Pittsfield, Illinois
We drove to Salisbury MO on US24 which was quite an adventure with the Tom-Tom telling us to make a left turn to the entrance to a non-existent bridge then about a mile later when we had found the bridge by reading the traffic signs (gee what a concept) and in the middle of the bridge the Tom-Tom told us to turn right. Well at this point I lost any confidence I had in the electronic marvel and went straight away to my lap-top to study the route and the changes that would have to be made as the bridge across the Mississippi at Louisiana was closed due to high water (over the deck of the bridge).
An hour and a half later I had the route confirmed in my head and passed along to the rest of the crew as much information as their brains could absorb. We made it to the trade off point in the middle of Salisbury, ate from a convenience store – which sucked! Then we went out to the parking lot to prepare Jon for his early departure while it was still light due to the long summer day. Jon took off a little early and we all piled into the miniva.n and drove back to meet up with the Team Two minivan to get some more Team Will bracelets to hand out. With that accomplished we headed east again in search of Jon, we found him riding strongly just West of Moberly MO and paced him as he rode right into a driving rain storm. He stayed on pace riding strongly long after the rain. We stayed on US 24 longer than we had planned which took us to the town of Monroe City, which is West of Hannibal where we joined US 36 and headed East towards the Mississippi River.
After crossing the Mississippi the riders on the road took the first exit from what had become Interstate 72 at the Illinois border (in the middle of the river). I was going to ride the last leg of the evening as I had studied the maps and felt comfortable with knowing where to go with all the detours in place due to the mid-west flooding. I hadn’t ridden more than 200 yards when I noticed a Temporary sign along side the road that no one else bothered to read and I put on my brakes to circle around and confirm what I thought was written.
“ROAD CLOSED IN 5 MILES DUE TO FLOODING”
Well this put my automap internal brain program into action and I told everyone to “follow me”. Everyone did but the trust factor wasn’t there in my team mates as I was questioned at every turn. We returned to the freeway and forged on eastward for another 10 miles before taking exit #11 to Kinderhoof and then on towards Barry. Again I was questioned and again I explained where I was going and why. When I turned right in Barry to return us to the route apparently none of them followed me, because after about 4 miles the minivan pulled up along side and I was informed that they were all back in Barry still. I informed Amber that I would slow down and wait for them as I wasn’t that far ahead. She turned around and I just coasted or pedaled very little for another 10 minutes before the minivan returned and one of the other riders made it known that he know more than me (?) and that we were taking another road. I stood there not believeing that there was so little faith in my route finding before putting my bike on top of the minivan, climbing into the back of it, pulling on my fleece and going to sleep. I awoke in Indianapolis some hours later in front of a Starbucks that we had stopped at, before continuing on for a Hospital visit at St. Vincent’s, Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital.
Visits like this and others that the Team was making were what Team Will is all about. We spent two hours visiting the patients and staff in the hospital on a Sunday morning. The parents were stunned that a bunch of people who don’t even know their child would do such a crazy (they called it amazing) thing. We assured them that all we did was to ride a bicycle but we were there to support the little ones that were fighting for the very lives. We were especially lucky to spend about half an hour with Doctor Joanne Helden, who is head of the Hospital and spoke about the joys and foibles of children’s oncology and the need for more funding and research to keep the success rate up and even improving it. She is a true warrior on the front lines of this battle along with the other Doctors & Nurses not to mention the researchers in the labs that were making such a valuable contribution. Thanks to them all.
After leaving the hospital we made our way to what could only be called a “by the hour” Motel. If this is what Super 8 is using for a standard, I think I will stay at Motel 6 from now on. I managed to wash out a few things in the sink before getting 5 hours of sleep.
