missisiisiippisipi queen

crossing the big river, wide river, slow moving river...they were doing construction on the bridge (i wonder if this is common at this time for all bridges in the states....hmmm) and i got one of the guys to take my picture with the bike. illinios...it looks like Iowa! ugh.
i was sitting on the dock of the river, just letting time slip away...talking on the phone i noticed these big white birds landing and taking off ever so gracefully. and then the catfish started jumping, and the doby brothers song "oh black water" keep on rolling, misissippi queen gonna... came into my head and stayed for 1/2 hour.
corn, over my head (when the road started to be fenced in by the corn, "i'm over my head" by fleetwood mac came into my head and stayed for about 5 miles.)

so as i was riding in the drizzle i got to thinking about what it feels like to be a bike on the road traveling. i realized, as long as i have a 24" shoulder on the road, i think i could ride forever. anything less brings a noticable level of stress. i can tell where cars are by the sound of their tires on the road(the doppler effect...same as what they use to track thunderstorms/rain....been watching too much weather channnel) if they have a bad tire, how big and how fast they are going compared to other vehicles. so when a truck is approaching, it is not a hold on for dear life moment, more of a relax and ride the wave that is about to come, do not want to fight the draft of the truck...just ride it. today i just happened to look at my computer when a truck was approaching from behind on a flat stretch..16 mph at the time, then he went by and i looked down and saw 20 mph and coasted for a moment. a 22%+ increase in my speed just by the passing truck. that is why you have to relax into it....