Matter of time

Today was a very special day on my bike trip, that I should experience only three times along my way: I lost one hour. As the country is rather big (this, I really start to understand it), it is divided in four time zones. And I just switched from the Eastern time zone to the Central time zone.



The interesting aspect is that it did not happen as I crossed the border between Indiana and Illinois; it happened within Indiana, leaving Jasper county and entering Newton county.

Hum, let's look on the map a little closer. Counties are more or less square-like shapes. The county right south from Newton country, Benton county, is in the Eastern time zone whereas Newton county is in the next time zone, the Central time zone.

When you have only this to think of as you are pedaling thru the fields, you imagine that there could be some kind of a political statement there. First, a county can decide on its time zone, which reminded me that each county has its own Court and is an important component in the making of the US democracy. Then, Newton county decided to stick with Illinois time and not Indiana time.

As I rode thru, and that was not just the effect of the heavy sun today, I noticed that the fields were getting even larger and I saw large dairy farms like never before. Of course, I am getting to the wide open fields of Illinois and its mass production of cereals!



I crossed the border from Indiana to Illinois and got into a small village by the name of Hopkin Park. It looked like a rather poor neighborhood. As I rode by, I waved hello to these peasants working in their fields:



More info:
* After a quick check on 'What time is it in Indiana?', it looks like the proximity of Chicago attracted some of the northern counties on the border with Illinois to use the Central time zone.
* Counties in the US