While the pacific northwest endures the unusually high temperatures of the “heat dome”, here in the northern Midwest we seem to have inherited their typical weather, with high temperatures in the mid-70’s and day after day of rain.
It’s hard to complain about those temperatures - July is often a series of days with temps in the high 80 to low 90-degree (F) range paired with high humidity here in northern Illinois. But the rain… well, that makes it a little harder to find time to get out and pedal. In these circumstances, getting time on the road involves careful scrutiny of the weather radar to find openings to avoid - or at least minimize - encountering the wet stuff.
This meant that, once I headed out today, it was under a steel gray sky.
Under a steel gray sky
I decided to strike out along a new route for a bit of variety. It included portions of roads that I ride on fairly regularly, but also incorporated sections that I rarely encounter and, in one section, a portion of road I don’t believe I’ve ever been down. The more I ride, the harder that is to find, so it’s something I particularly enjoy when it does happen.
With respect to avoiding the rain, I was initially less successful than I’d hoped. A couple of minutes after I started out I found myself in a fine, misting drizzle. This isn’t the end of the world - the gear that I usually wear handles a bit of moisture just fine - but I was a little worried that it meant that I’d miscalculated in my read of the radar projections. Fortunately, it cleared up a few miles into the ride, and stayed clear for the remainder.
One of the more challenging parts of laying out new routes in the area is piecing together sections to make a reasonable distance without having to spend too much time - or ideally no time - on gravel. In this case, however, I did include a section that included about three-quarters of a mile worth of the rocky surface. However, importantly, the surface of that section looked like this:
Minimal graveliness
I don’t always ride on gravel, but when I do, I prefer roads with a minimal amount of graveliness.
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Yes - that’s a word. Or at least I’m pretty sure it is. Or maybe it is now because I just typed it out. But you know what I mean - the fewer rocks the better.
When it all came together, the entirely new part of the route turned out to be only about a mile or so. But it did offer a bit of a surprise:
Abandoned
Abandoned
Little cemeteries are not an uncommon thing to encounter out here on the prairie. In the early days of settlement it was not uncommon for families to establish small plots to intern their dearly departed. I’ve spent a bit of time over the years putting together our family history, and part of that has involved making visits to many such sites in the region. For a while, this was a primary focus of my riding - identifying sites that might have ancestors laid to rest and riding to them.
This is why this site was a surprise - this site is less than seven miles from my home, as the crow flies, and I was completely unaware of it. It occurred to me after I came across the site that I’d seen a small green patch indicated on Google maps for this portion of the road. Usually that designates something set aside - a designated natural area or a cemetery - but it was very small and unnamed. So that mystery was solved as well.
Usually these little sites are a study in compromise. They are generally cared for in terms of manicuring - someone typically mows them, but it’s no one’s job to prevent the earth from claiming the stones after they fall. But here there’s no hint of any tending to it at all. And the amount of space between the remaining visible stones suggest that there are likely more occupied spaces here, swallowed by the inexorable progress of time.
…All of which gets a little heavier than I intended for a Sunday morning ride. But all in all, the new route turned out to be right about 21.5 miles, give or take. And I got back inside before the rain came back in earnest, so it’s a win in my book.