One not so good thing about bicycle touring is that you get a very up close and personal look at a lot of dead animals. I understand that there actually is a large group of riders every year on the RAGBRAI that dresses up road kill with mardi gras beads, cigarettes, etc.
I certainly do not decorate, or condone the decoration of, dead animals. But it is impossible not to take notice of them when you have to ride a bicycle around a dead animal every mile or so. What I have noticed is that the road kill has evolved as I have worked my way south. Through central Missouri I was estimating that 90-95% of the road kill that I had encountered was raccoons. In southern Missouri, southern Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee, possums replaced raccoons as the most frequent victims. Deer and turtles were also frequent victims of motorists throughout the ride so far.
One of the more interesting road kill observations I have made is in regard to snakes. Snakes often seek heat retaining blacktop at night, which naturally puts them in harm's way. In Minnesota and Wisconsin I saw many garter snakes that had been hit. By the time I was in Tennessee I started to notice a lot of copperheads and rattle snakes, which is a little disconcerting to a camper! I also noticed some armadillo, which is another reminder that I am not in Minnesota anymore!
Road kill is just one more reason why bike trails are a far superior bicycling alternative (for cyclists and motorists alike) to the shoulders of roads!
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