Vincennes, IN

George Rogers Clark Middle School

Run Time: 61:18 + 2-minute kick

I actually did not find George Rogers Clark Middle School until late in the run, and it was unintentional. There was a different school not far away, and I risked a half-mile down a country-ish road with no sidewalks to be blocked by a train just shy of the school. The lack of road shoulders took me across a ditch and along the edge of a cornfield, which resulted in a lot of seeds and field debris stuck to my shoes and socks. I thought about squeezing between the railroad cars, but then the cars might be moving when I came back, and I did not want to risk any additional delays. There were some thunderclouds in the distance.

So I ran back to the main road, which had sidewalks, and headed away from the highway, and lo and behold, there was a middle school only a half-mile or so in that direction. There was time enough to run a few laps around the track and to do my new lunge-squat-pushup workout before running back to the hotel. The thunderstorm missed us, but it was close.

I did not see much of Vincennes. It was a mid-point between sales stops, and it had hotels. There is a fair amount of rurality in Illinois/Indiana. Our family chat currently includes a weekly album pick by one person, and this week’s pick was Isaiah Rashad’s “The House Is Burning,” chosen by my son Alex. It is entirely possible that I was the only person in Indiana spinning that stream. I actually found pockets without cell coverage, which you expect in Wyoming, but no so much in Indiana.

I got some good podcast time in this trip. I added the This Week in MicroBiology, This Week in Parasitism, and Immune podcasts to the This Week in Virology podcast I have been listening to since I added it this past winter when Malcolm Gladwell recommended it. They all come from the same operation, so to speak. Good stuff. I unsubscribed from a few I had grown bored of.