Day 27 Metropolis to Ava IL

Say total 88
Trip total 1,611

I had my first spill today. We were right outside of Metropolis the land of superman. Ironically on some of the flatest easiest terrain we have come through. I got distracted looking at Mermet First Spring, a scuba diving center in the middle of southern Illinois, hit some curb the wrong way and came crashing down. Nik was right behind me and fell on top of me. We were quite a sight. Luckily, we were fine, all I got was some road rash on my hands and knees. Nik was completely fine and so were our bikes. I am feeling grateful that we have come this far with only these recent scrapes for war wounds.

In better news we saw the Mississippi River for the first time today. I am sure that Nik will follow this post up with detailed observations about the current flow of water in and around the Mississippi. He will give you all the details about the water levels and geographical significance of this place. I will just tell you that the river was a welcome change of vista after so many miles of mass produced corn. We know the corn grown in most of southern Illinois is grown to make corn syrup or for animal feed based on our very own field research. We surreptitiously tried some and it was too starchy to be for human consumption.

Today was the day I started seeing evidence of the demise of the small American farm. All through Maryland,  Virginia, North Carolina  and Tennessee we passed so many small farms (vegetable, cattle etc.) It was hard to imagine what I know to be fact that small farmers in this country are pretty much extinct. Today in southern Illinois that became obvious. We passed acres and acres of corn (mainly corn but some tabacco and soy too).

In the middle of all this corner is the biggest food desert I have ever experienced. I think today was the first day of my life that I consumed zero vegetables all day! You can guess how I feel about that. I am already dreaming about the huge salad I will have when I get to St. Louis tomorrow (while Nik fantasized about a beer selection more expansive than PBR and Natty Ice). But what about the people who live here? What do they eat?  I know we are on bikes so it is possible that we just did not pass any grocery stores in the 80 plus miles we biked today.  But when I entered "groceries" into goggle maps it also brought up nothing for this whole area, just one really sad convent store attached to a gas station. I used to say that the South Bronx (where I used to teach) was a food desert because for many streets there would be no grocery store and only bodegas selling day only fruit, eggs and chips. Well Southern Illinois  would benefit greatly from some bodegas.