And then it happened again...

Early in the morning (9:30am - early for me) I left at Victors and continued my trip after a nice day off in Indianapolis. My next stop will be the Hanson-Family in Kansas City, who's contact I got from William in Cleveland.

Bike trail along a canal out of Indianapolis

As Victor suggested I'll head towards St Louis and continue on the Katy Trail, an former railroad along the Missouri River, which goes almost the whole way through Missouri to KC. My goal for this day was to reach the Indiana-border to Illinois which would have been about 160km (100mi). Cause it was flat almost the whole way and there was no wind this day I did quite a good average speed, although Google Maps sent me off-road quite a few times.

See the gap between these trees? that's were google mala wanted to guide me!

Really way better than the road next to it!!

Sometimes it's guiding me a much longer way on not well maintained side roads instead of taking bigger roads with more traffic which would allow cycling way faster. Sure these roads are often not as nice and louder but like I said its simply faster, especially when it's flat like here, not much difference in the scenery and because of better ground (less potholes) better for my tire as well, like I had to learn it this day again!

What it looks like all the time:)

Aldis are all around here, didn't know that this chain is that popular in America or that it even exists here!

It happened just 40km before entering Illinois, when I heard this well-known and balefully noise again. Something hit my breaks and although I feared the worst I still hoped that it would be just a stick or something. But unfortunately it has been what I expected. The back-tire expanded at on point and pushed against the brakes what created that noise. Pretty much the same as last time just without the metal being affected.
Quickly googling the next bike shop: 40 km to Terre Haute right before Illinois! Like last time I just had the option to continue and hope that it would last till I would have reached the shop. But this time I wasn't that lucky and after just 6km the tire finally burst and forced me to stop!!

Stuck on the highway!

But actually I was kinda lucky again: Just before it happened I got on Highway 40 so I could try hitchhiking to Terre Haute then. After two pickups stopped but wanted to go the wrong way a guy in a very small car pulled over and offered me a ride to the next Walmart were they've got tires as well he said. Somehow, and I really had no idea how, we managed it to get the bike in his car what actually seemed quite impossible at first sight! We definitely scratched his leather of the back seats but he assured me he wouldn't mind but it was damaged for sure! Although he was on the way to his grandmas birthday-party he decided to drive me the whole way to Terre Haute, which is exactly the opposite direction he was heading to!! What a cool guy!!

Hitchhiking the extreme way:)

When I got a new tire in the bikeshop then I saw what has actually been the cause for bursting my old tire. When I had been in the bikeshop back in Cumberland the guy who fixed my wheel somehow didn't adjust the brakes right so they've been set to high or it was because the new tire was thicker then the old one. But anyway, the result was that everytime I braked the brakes pushed a tiny little bit against the tire and rubbed the rubber of more and more during the days. So at some point, although it is called one of the most stable tires you can get, it destabilized the tire that much that it bended itself outside and then it was just a matter of time until the brakes rubbed a hole into my tube and...BANG!! I already gave the Cumberland bikeshop a five-star rating but actually something like that shouldn't happen at all!

J's bikeshop crew in Terre Haute:)

Tire rubbed completely through from my brakes!

After cheated about 40km of my way in a car I could casually continue on my way in the evening. When I entered Illinois I quickly found a nice place to sleep in the woods:) What a day!

Entering Illinois:)

Route 70 at sunset, it goes the whole way from Maryland to Utah

Late night visit:)

The next morning I realized that the place I chose for staying the night, might have been private property, cause you could see a house very close through the trees. But nobody complained so I just silently left and continued:)

My place for the night

There's not really much two tell about the following two days it took me to cross Illinois cause for most of the way I cycled on Highway 40 which crosses the state in a pretty straight way always close to Route 70.

Highway 40 through Illinois, nothing special but fast progress!

It now became insanely hot (almost 35℃/98℉) and it should stay like this for at least a week. So I appreciated the light headwinds I got these days which helped me cooling down a little bit. When I stopped at a bar along the way the bartender even gave me my drinks for free, when she saw that I was riding a bicycle in that heat:) World needs more people like her:)

More than 34℃ that day!

The night between these two days on the highway i just pulled over somewhere near Vandalia right in the middle of Illinois close to the town so I had at least a tiny bit reception this time!

Tent side next to a field

Fireflies seem to be really everywhere in the middle west and to get even more every night. It feels almost like Christmas or in a disco with these thousands of blinking lights all around you, absolutely stunning!
I even got the chance to take a few photos this time, although they don't look the same as in real life they show it still quite well I think:)
I know realized that the heat bothers you way more in the night than during the day. 28℃ (85℉) in the night made it very very hard to sleep cause you're really missing the wind you get while you're cycling.

Illinois sunset impressions:)

Thousands of fireflies all around!

My goal for the third day now was to reach the start of the Katy Trail just right after the border to Missouri. Till the evening nothing changed really (same scenery, same temperature:/).
Then just before I reached the Mississippi River I rode through an industrial area with a huuuge factory like I never seen before. Must have been something with oil or gas, at least it was pipes and chimneys everywhere, it smelled really bad for kilometers and so much noise all around. Must be a pretty cheap area to live probably:)

Just awful!

I crossed the Mississippi River about 30km north of the confluence with the Missouri near Alton. It was right before sunset, perfect time for some cool pictures:) Crossing that river is quite an important mark on my route cause from now on its going slowly uphill the whole way till Denver which is about a mile high above sea level.

Cycling along Mississippi

Bike-sunset:)

bridge near Alton

Leaving Illinois...

...entering Missouri:)

Cause of all the pictures I took of Mississippi it was already dark when I reached the beginning of the Katy and just pitched my tent next to the start of the trail.

"electrical" sunset

Hard to spot: small entry to the Katy-trail in the middle

And finally: my route during these three days:)