Day 26 June 17th The Incident

 St John, IN to Channahon, IL 64 miles (1,238)

Today I had an Incident. 

Pictured above are the unmarked and marked police cars of the two policemen who stopped to talk to me about The Incident. More on that later in this post.

Today's ride was about 64 miles. At least 55 of those miles were on trails:

These Trails would be pretty awesome to go cross-country skiing on in the winter.

Cool bridge on the Old Plank Road Trail

I may have hit the jackpot for breakfast. Stopping at Kup a Joe in Frankfort, Illinois - this place is packed and I got the last table. But we'll see... "The proof is in the French toast," as they say.

... And a home run! The dish on the left is French Toast Bananas Foster. Delish!

Sights along the Illinois and Michigan (I&M) Canal Trail. The surface was not paved, but my bicycle handled the well packed gravel well. In places it reminded me of the C & O Canal Trail that Laura and I rode from Washington DC to Cumberland, Maryland what seems like eons ago. In reality, it was only three and a half weeks ago.

Tonight's forecast calls for the possibility of damaging winds from the south so instead of setting up my tent I moved a picnic table against the north side of this huge fireplace in the campground covered area. It's going to be very warm so I'm not even going to set up my tent - I'm simply going to sleep on top of my sleeping pad on top of the picnic table:

This Campground is considered primitive because there are no showers. As I was riding and sweating today in humid 90° heat, I realized I would greatly miss a shower. For some reason this variation on the lyrics of The Guess Who's 1970 hit No sugar Tonight popped into my head:

🎶

No shower tonight in my campground.

No shower tonight for me.

Sticky, stinky sleeping conditions.

Will I be tired enough to sleep?🎶

The Incident: 

This true event is so intense and so convoluted I'm afraid I won't be able to do it justice with the written word - it's the kind of story that needs to be told verbally. But I will do my best. 

While riding on the I&M Canal Trail, I came upon a fence across the trail with barriers and a "trail closed" sign. So I got off my bicycle and leaned it against the fence and stepped around the far right end of the fence to get a better look at what was going on further down the trail. Immediately a young man wearing a reflective vest - obviously a construction worker - stepped out of his truck that was parked in the middle of the trail and barked, "You are not allowed here, this area is closed, go back behind the fence." I replied that I was simply trying to access my options and get my bearings as I did not want to needlessly backtrack four or five miles where the last road was. There were no detour ahead signs or notices of any kind saying that there was a trail closure. The worker came up to my face and commanded, "go to the other side of the barrier, sir!"  At this point we were nose to nose and chest to chest. I said that I just wanted some help navigating to Channahon State Park and asked if he could advise me. He responded by aggressively stating once again, "Sir you are not allowed here - return to the other side of the barrier."  I said, "okay, but then can we talk about my options?" He responded in his commandant voice, "Sir, move to the other side of the barrier." He also stated that I was being videotaped. I went to the other side of the barrier and instead of coming over to discuss things he went back into his truck. I  could see that there was a Y in the trail ahead - with the construction occurring on the right side of the Y underneath a bridge, which was apparently where the trail went. It appeared that on the left side of the Y there was a dirt path leading to a road. But it was difficult to tell from my angle. So I decided to get my bicycle and skirt the fence once again and go further up the trail to better access my options and use google maps to try and find an alternate route to the trail on the other side of the bridge.  The worker jumped out of his truck and stood immediately in front of my bicycle so that I could not continue and at one point grabbed my handlebars. I told him to let me by so I could go up the path to the road. At no time did I make any motion toward the actual construction that was going on underneath the bridge. For them to close the trail where they did instead of further down on the Y where the construction was occurring was unnecessary and inconsiderate. It prohibited trail users from accessing the path leading to the road - as I found out later - was a workable detour to get back onto the trail. He said he was not moving and that I had to return to the other side of the barrier or he would call the police. I set my bike down across the path so that it was between the construction side of the barrier and the front of his truck.  I noticed that his truck didn't have the name of any company and he was not wearing an employee badge or ID of any kind. I asked him for the name of his company and what his name was and he said, "you show me your ID." This whole thing was so ridiculous as to be farcical now that I am relating it, but at the time it was crazy and tense. This was all happening in 90 degree weather with high humidity.  With my bicycle still laying across the path,  I somehow worked my way past the worker and his truck, up the path and onto the road.  I was able to  plot out a potential route to my overnight destination. I returned to get my bicycle and when I picked it up and started moving around his truck he made no motions to stop me but simply said, "I called the police. They are on their way." I made my way to the road, which it turns out is the frontage road for Interstate 55. I began riding south toward an overpass over I-55. After about a mile an unmarked police car  driving in the opposite direction slowed down, and the officer asked if he could talk to me.  I said, "yes sir," pulled over and waited while the officer made a u-turn. The officer got out of his car and explained that dispatch had told him that a construction worker was complaining that I had been crossing the construction barrier numerous times and causing problems. I explained to the officer the situation and that I was simply trying to find an alternative to doubling back five miles unnecessarily and that I asked the worker for advice. The officer said the worker told dispatch that I had been crossing the barrier at least once per day for several days. I told the officer this was my first and only time on the trail and that I was riding across the country and that I lived in California and offered my ID. He took my ID and called it in. After a few seconds he handed it back to me, I said, "am I all clear?" and he said, "oh yeah....no problem." By now a back up officer had arrived in a marked car.  The first policeman - whose name is Officer 

Bogart - said "at this point, the main thing is to get you back on the trail safely to your destination." I agreed and said, "that would be great." He told me the best way to get across I-55 and back onto the I&M canal trail and said he would go talk to the construction worker and then find me to make sure I was making it back to the trail safely. After about 20 minutes Officer Bogart came driving by and he pulled over to talk safely away from traffic. When he found out I was going to Channahon State Park he asked if I had dinner plans. I told him no but was always open to suggestions, especially from locals. He gave me the name of his favorite restaurant in Channahon. I asked him if I could give him something relating to my trip across the US. I began opening my seat bag - but before reaching in, I assured him I was only going to pull out a coaster!  I figured that last thing I needed at this point was for the officer to think that I was pulling out a weapon. :) I handed him a coaster and explained to him that it showed my route and my blog address and that he should feel free to make a comment. So if you see a comment from Officer Bogart - you will know the story behind it. I thanked him, hopped on my bicycle and was soon on the I&M trail and made it to camp in plenty of time to go to the restaurant - which, by the way, turned out to be an excellent recommendation.  I met someone at the restaurant who was interested in my trip, so I decided to give them a coaster.  When I went to get a coaster, I realized I had not closed my seat bag after giving one to Officer Bogart. Now all my remaining coasters are scattered along the I&M trail between I-55 and Channahon State Park. Miraculously it appears nothing else fell out of my seat bag.