Louisiana to Wright City

As I was leaving LoMo in the morning I took this photo of the once-quaint downtown. There was a WalMart on the other end of town, 3 or 4 miles away, which had been there around 15 years. The Motel owner said before WalMart came to town the downtown area was in much better shape. Ain't that the way? He also said that WalMart was the smallest WalMart in the US. What a distinction. I wonder what the Walton family thinks when they see photos like this? A small riverfront town of just less than 4000 people with cute old buildings, a small town where people can walk to everything. Then they put in a store 4 miles away which is larger than any other business in town by probably 4X, and sell probably everything that was previously available in town for lower prices. Now everyone drives their cars to the edge of town to buy cheap Chinese plastic copies of stuff they used to buy in town. Sure, people save a little money in the short run, but it's not long before their town has completely lost its soul.

On the road South of LoMo there is a wonderful stretch of about 10 miles which has a marked bike lane, just out across the countryside. I was impressed enough to take a photo. :)

Also along that road was a factory visible in the distance with several smokestacks. One in particular was spewing yellow smoke. There were others spewing the typical white mostly-water-vapor type for comparison. For a mile or 2 along that stretch my sinuses were hurting in a way I had not felt before, and I had a bit of a headache. I wonder what sort of poisonous gasses I was breathing. The locals told me that was the Holcim(?) plant and that they make cement. They said the yellow smoke was from them burning "cheap coal". Huh. Also along that stretch was a chemical plant, and I was sure I was smelling a strong odor of garlic there. Soon after I felt the strange sinus pain. Kind of freaked me out because a friend in Boise used to work at a semiconductor factory (Micron) and had been warned (I think) that if he smelled garlic to leave immediately because it indicated arsine gas had escaped. Yikes!

Of course who knows, maybe it was a garlic-processing plant. :)

After Clarksville my route turned away from the river and up into the hills. I took a picture of a typical view of my speedometer. Keep in mind that it is mis-adjusted and is reading 10% higher than reality - so I was going 3.9 miles per hour. Good thing I have low gears.

During the day I stopped at the Cuivre River State Park and took a little hike. Talked with some interesting Canadian grad students studying trees, and also took some pics of yellow flowers.

That night I stayed at a hotel owned by another Indian guy. This guy was a very religious Hindu, and when he heard I was looking for a place to eat where I could get vegetarian food, he got all excited. He told me that was good for my soul (pronounced sowl, like "owl" preceeded by an "s"). Showed me pictures of a very impressive temple he had visited, etc. Then when I was about to leave to go get dinner, he asked if I would like to eat food his family made. I accepted his very generous offer, and was treated to two rounds of delicious homemade Indian food. Even having been to India, none of the flavors were familiar. There was a spicy soup similar to sambar, but sweet as well. There was also a squash and chickpea curry which was delicious. He later showed me the plant in his garden where the squash came from. It was just by the driveway to his motel. I took a photo of him with more of the squash. What a great guy!