DAY TWENTY-FOUR: Thompsonville, IN

June 25, 2007
New Harmony, IN to Thompsonville, IL
~70 miles
by Beth Ogata

Those of us who thought we had signed up for a road biking trip across the
country were a bit surprised after a day of conquering treacherous gravel
roads. Indeed, after leaving the utopia of New Harmony we should have
expected the adventures that were to come. The sky opened up and dumped
oceans of rain upon us, washing away our chalk arrow marks and turning our
printed directions into a small ball of mush. Yet, we were in high spirits
and several of us had water fights with our water bottles (yes, quite
pointless). We then found a sign for the road we were supposed to go down,
and, naturally, we turned onto it. After over an hour of yelping in pain
and screaming in fear as we bumped and fishtailed our way forward, our
wise Emma decided to call the van. We had gone the wrong way. Apparently
the street sign we had seen was rotated 90 degrees. Fortunately, that
gravel road made the next gravel road we encountered after lunch feel like
a freshly paved road. Everyone lived to tell the tale of this epic day.

(added by Steven Felix)

We were also treated to dinner at Triple "E"'s BBQ house where people ordered ribs, steaks, baked potatoes, taco salads, and many other delicous HBC rarities.

And HBC also experienced its first naked mile, courtesy of Mr. Pants and Charley (yes, the unicorn).