Day 42: The Road to Chillicothe (Sun 6th July)

I woke up determined to put in the extra miles I'd lost yesterday. So I'd be doing over 80 miles to Chillicothe. Was up for breakfast at 6am & on the road by 6.50.

It was a nice cool morning but heavy storms were forecast for later on so I wasn't hanging about today. Last night I was talking to the owener of the motel and she told me to be very careful with the weather out here. It appears I'm now in part of the area known as Tornado alley. I thought I'd enter that when I'd get to Kansas but it seems I'm already in it. The lady told me how she almost got caught in a tornado 2 weeks ago. She was in Chillicothe and a tornado siren went off which means you find shelter immediately. She saw a Macdonalds and made for it but it had been locked and shuttered by the staff providing a shelter for the people inside. At first the staff wouldn't open the door (she had two kids with her) but she kept knocking and did get in. Its funny, I heard two sirens go off in Illinois but I thought they were for a train or, perhaps for a factory. No wonder it was so windy!!

The road to Chillicothe was gently undulating as far as Macon but shortly afterwards the lanscape began to roll a lot more. It was like surfing up and down over large waves as they gently rolled in to shore. This rolling landscape marked the start of Praris land. The large flat fields began to fade away and in their place pastureland, meadows and scattered herds of black cattle began to appear.

I barely stopped during the course of the 80 miles which was silly. I just drained myself but I just wanted to make up for yesterday & get in ahead of these storms. After 12 the temperature rose into the 90's. The breeze felt really warm even my drinking water started making me feel sick with its taste of plastic. The last 10 miles became a bit of a slog.

Physically I tired a lot towards the end. I felt parched, all I wanted was a cold drink. I began to think of that black and white ad for Carlsberg/Heineken. The one the has 3 -4 people leaning on a bar counter, obviously parched, and looking longingly at a cold glass of beer with a cool dew dribbling down the side of the glass. In my mind, however, there was only myself at that counter, and in front of me there wasn't a glass of beer but a large, plastic carton of ice cold milk! At that moment that is all I wanted.

Soon enough I reached Chillicothe. I saw a petrol station and made a bee-line for it. I went in and straight for the dairy section, pulling out a carton of milk, then marched purposefully to the counter. I slapped down a handful of coins to pay for the milk. I then had to slap down a 2nd handful as I din't have enough the first time. Then, I leaned on the counter and gazed at the gallon of milk, as dew dribbled deliciously down the outside of the plastic carton. I unscrewed the cap and guzzled down the milk. It was ice cold in..... Chillicothe!!