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:)

Flatter, faster further....and the wind

After I'm now two weeks on my trip I think I can confirm almost everything what European people expect to see when they come to the US. Every second car is a Pickup, streets are twice the size than overseas, fast-food is all around you, everybody has these typical mailboxes on a pale, flags on every house and somehow everybody takes so much care about the lawns in front of their houses, perfectly cut and doused but nobody seems to actually use it.
What I didn't expect is that everybody takes stop-signs totally serious even if it's obvious that no car is coming! So strange and totally different from home. If it's not necessary there you just don't stop!.
All this just by the way:)

Half-typical American mailbox with an insanely high number!

Cause the distance between the relatives in Cleveland and Tiffin, OH is just about 140km I decided to do that in one day, cause for two it would have been to short. Extra for that I set my clock to 7 am to get on the road as soon as possible! Long story short...it didn't work, like everytime before on this trip, but the attempt is what counts:)
I started then at 10 what is kinda pathetic considering that I wanted to start around 8:/ but I can blame the wonderful breakfast I had for at least half an hour of my delay:) (picture is on the last post:) Thank you Marion that was so delicious, especially when I think about what I usually have in the morning!

Main issue with my navigation system: just look in the way it wants to send me

Look carefully it's the one on the right!!

I probably won't tell anything about the landscape in the next two weeks anymore, cause I expect it won't change at all for about the next 2000km (1250mi). It is like super flat now, fields and farms between some trees and a couple of houses, and always like that. The advantage I hoped would be that you can make a lot of distance and this expectation should become true. With an average speed of ca. 19km/h (12mph) I did the 140km in less than 7 1/2h which means it was the longest and the fastest stage same time so far on this trip. Although I don't mind sleeping in a tent (my sleeping mat is very comfortable) I appreciated it a lot to sleep in a real bed again:) In Susan and Randy's house (our distant relatives in Tiffin) I got a whole bedroom for myself, what a luxury again! I got a welcome with the flag of Heidelberg (they've got a Heidelberg-University in town) and some birthday presents including a cute little cupcake with a candle as well:) Thanks for all that so much!

Arriving in Tiffin

Susan with her husband Randy:)

Volunteering at the Ritz-Theatre were I met them

Their house is located almost outside of town with a nice backyard including a porch and a pool! Unfortunately I had no chance to use it but it must be so cool to jump in during the hot summers in this area.
After some route-planning with Randy and a long, recreative sleep I decided to take the next day of and continue my trip on Monday.
We had a nice relaxing day with a scenic history-drive in and around Tiffin and visited a parade of the American Memorial Day in Bascom, a neighbor-village of Tiffin. Everybody seems to know each other around here, what reminds me totally of my home where it is in smaller villages pretty much the same.
Before leaving next morning I got another contact of some people they know in Colorado, so I probably can pass by there and add another stop after Kansas City and LA on my way:)

Backyard with pool:D

Downtown Tiffin

old car on the parade in Bascom

another king-sized breakfast again!

The distance between Tiffin and Indianapolis, where the next distant relative lives, is 350km (220mi) and it was really hard to decide, either to do it in three or in two days, cause three would have meant just 117km (73mi) per day (and in flat areas you can do definitely more) but two would have meant an average of 175km (110mi) per day what is really hard with a heavy and non-aerodynamic bike like this. The longest stage I ever did was 210km (130mi) and that was with a racing bike and I felt really bad afterwards!
However (but mostly due to my kinda tight schedule) I decided on the two days option and planned to get up really early this time to leave before 8!
I think I don't have to mention that that didn't work:D but it was nine o'clock when I started and anyway the earliest departure I had so far on this trip.
I just forgot about on thing:...
The Wind!

Susan and Randy's house:) just about to leave...

When people told me I would be going the wrong direction because of westwinds in the middle west I thought they would mean something like light winds or like light breezes but this day was just awful! I got headwinds up to 50km/h (30mph) which didn't allowed cycling faster than 13km/h (less than 10mph) most time. Pretty demoralizing when you imagine that you could go easily up to 30km/h (ca. 20mph) steady with the same wind in your back:/ But long story short: I made it 183km further that day due to almost no breaks and riding till sunset. I camped anywhere near the Ohio border to Indiana then and didn't even feed exhausted at the end of the day what really surprised me! But it was a taff ride though and I was glad that I made it that far. And... new record!:)

Place next to the road where I stayed the night

The next day the wind slowed down and changed direction to the northwest so I almost got backwinds when I was riding south-streets:) Although it was 165km, it was a pretty relaxed ride and I made it in time for dinner near Victors with his brother an mother as well:)

It still impresses me how much space people here have to build!

Passed Berlin on the way:)

My aunt and I visited Victor last year in Washington DC. before he moved to Indianapolis to live closer to the rest of his family. His new home totally reminds me of the one in Washington. It's part of a terrace house and doesn't seem that big from the outside but has soo much space in it, I even got my own bedroom again, so much luxury compared to my tent:) The house is located right next to the Monon-bike trail I took, a very well maintained trail, which runs from the very north of the city to downtown and allows cycling through the city without any traffic!

Monon Trail through Indianapolis

I got such a great welcome with a welcome-card at the door (missed taking a picture of that:/) and a German-color-decorated balcony! Victors mom bought me a huuuge peace of cake for my birthday, was so delicious! It was not to late for dinner with his brother and mom in a restaurant close to his house. I had some special Indiana-food pretty similar to Wiener Schnitzel but looked different and was served with sweet potatoes, very delicious as well!

German-decorated balcony:)

Delicious birthday cake:)

His house just on the right

Dinner with his brother Jeff and mom Pat 

The next day we visited Downtown Indianapolis and the house of Victors brother too. Indianapolis has a great Monument-Mall (see the pictures) and a nice canal-district which they apparently built or improved because of the Super Bowl a couple of years ago. We saw the. Lucas-Oil Stadium as well, where the Colts (Football Team of Indianapolis) play. Cause I'm a Colts Fan since I started watching football a couple of years ago I definitely want to get in there for a match some day!

Downtown Indianapolis

War memorial

State Capitol

Another war memorial

Canal district

Victors nephew Connor and niece Megan

After the tour in Downtown we went to the "Ratskeller" a German restaurant for lunch. The Jägerschnitzel mit Sauerkraut was really good, almost like home!

Lunch at the Ratskeller with his sister in law Kristen and her son Briggs :)

Victors plan was definitely to fill me up to get some extra pounds I can loose on the trip, cause just a few hours later we went to a restaurant near the canal all together, this time with his other brother as well, and a nice dinner and dessert at another place afterwards:)

All his brothers (including Doug this time) and me before dinner:)

Victors plan was definitely a success cause apparently I gained four more pounds in just 24 hours (according to his scale). Now I can definitely do some extra kilomiters the next couple of days:D

Before...

...and after! 4 pounds!!!

I just can say thank you very much for this stay and for all the food, definitely served its purpose and maybe see you again some day in Germany!:)

My route during these couple of days:)