Before crossing the Missouri/Illinois border, and on a few occasions in western IL, I rode past some houses that were built into the ground. At first I assumed it was to conserve energy or possibly to avoid the damage from elements, but then I started to think where I had seen houses like this before. All of them were built at the base of a small hill, or maybe the hill was the house, but only one face of the houses were showing and earth covered the top of them. The strangest part was that even the portion of the house that was exposed, only had windows on occasion. It was like something straight out of the Shire. There were no sightings of the Hermits that lived in the earth covered houses, but farms with Shetland ponies were always nearby one of these houses. Wait...Hobbits can't ride full size horses...normal people don't live in the ground and Hobbits aren't normal people...it’s really green around here...I must be in the Shire! The realization that I was in Middle Earth triggered something that made me attempt to imitate Smeagol or Gollum every time I said anything.
Imitating the voices of fictional characters isn't the only thing that I am excelling at as of late, I am also becoming something of a bike touring chef. Riding into a state park a few days ago, I came across a farmers market. I didn't hesitate to stop and ended up leaving with a half dozen eggs and half of a watermelon. You may think those are two of the stupidest items that I could have picked up, especially considering that I don't carry any type of oil to cook with and I don't have a knife to cut the watermelon, and you would be absolutely correct. When I made it to my campsite for the night, I started to wonder what and better yet, how the hell I was going to cook these eggs. After a failed attempt at egg drop soup, I scrambled to find something that I could use to save the 6 eggs that I just threw in the pot. I found some ramen noodles that have been sitting in my bag for a long time and decided that would be my best bet. Without any plan of action or idea of what I was doing, I filled my pot up with a little more water and boiled up my MSG and egg covered noodles. This was one of the best meals that I have made on my own, on this trip! It was extremely filling and had a tolerable flavor from the ramen packets, what more could I ask for. The spaghetti and tuna that I make almost nightly has improved as well. Actually, I just bit the bullet and bought a bottle of sauce that had seasoning mixed in as opposed to the cans of straight up tomato sauce. I suppose I can’t really take credit for that one.
After trying to come up with other delicious meals that I could write about, I realize that my cooking has not really improved at all…I just made a lucky save by throwing ramen noodles in a thick egg broth.
Though I can’t cook it, Chinese food is one of my favorite things to eat. Aledo, IL is home to the annual Rhubarb Fest and also my new favorite Chinese food restaurant. Hong Kong Restaurant in Aledo had the best Chinese food that I have eaten since a place in Denver, The Jade Café, closed 2 years ago. When I arrived in Aledo I asked around for restaurant recommendations and everyone said “that Chinese place.” Nobody knew the name, but they all knew where to find it, “that Chinese place is good!”
No more about my eating habits for awhile. I am currently at my home in Naperville, IL. My Dad came and picked me up when I was nearby. I have spent my day off relaxing, tuning and cleaning my bike, and I even picked up a new set of tires. If anyone ever considers doing a bike tour, I would recommend using Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires. I rode 3400 miles and only had 1 flat tire as a result of a puncture. From hear I have about 1500 miles left to ride to Bar Harbor, ME and even less to Portland, ME (my final destination).
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