Day 14 - ending near Merrimac, IL - Downstate Illinois

July 20, 2025

Day 14 - ending near Merrimac, IL

Woke up at 5:31am. Had motel lobby coffee while I packed up. I had the bike outside loaded by 7:38am. Then I went back inside for breakfast. The breakfast area was busier at this time, but I got everything I wanted.

Left at 8:38am, heading through town, then downhill on roads to get me to East Kaskaskia Street down by the river. This took me under the Chester Bridge. I see they're building a replacement bridge. This road goes past Menard Correctional Center. I wasn't sure if I should be taking pictures, but no one came out to say anything.

Today I'm trying to get to R&T Farms near Merrimac. I have a Hipcamp reservation there for camping at their tent site "Old Foundation." I had it figured as 51 miles away, so I needed to keep moving as best I could in this heat.

At 10:01am I passed by the Pierre Menard Home. It was open for touring, so I went in. This is a State of Illinois run site. Shane, the ranger on duty did a great job keeping my tour short. It was interesting to hear how flooding changed this area so, and put Kaskaskia on the west side of the Mississippi.

I took lots of breaks today. One break was in Ellis Grove at their park when I arrived there at 11:01am. As I was leaving town I came across the car show. Some attendees there said I could look at the cars for free, so I made a quick round.

Back to bicycling, I crossed the Kaskaskia River at 11:45am. The noon mileage report is 17.0 miles. The roads were a little bit busier than I expected, but it's Sunday. A caravan of Jeeps passed by me. When I got to Modoc at 12:25pm, they were all parked at Boondocks, I noticed from where I was taking a break on the stoop at a out-of-business Red & White grocery store. Later the Jeeps passed me again, and I found them parked at Lisa's Market Street Grill when I arrived in Prairie du Rocher at 1:15pm.

But I need to backup. Between Modoc and Prairie du Rocher is Modoc Rock Shelter National Historic Site. After picture-taking I was about to leave when a car pulled up with two nurses inside. They were so much fun to talk with. They knew some history of the rock shelter. They get around seeing places since one of them likes to take back roads to get anywhere.

Lisa's Market Street Grill would be the last place for the rest of the day that I could have had a sit-down meal. But they were busy so I decided to just get a few items from L&M Groceries next door. I ate my lunch (chocolate milk, Pringles, and m&m's) sitting on a stone wall across the street. It was fun watching the comings and goings of the Sunday afternoon crowd.

I'm following the Mississippi River Trail (MRT) today, at least until I'm near this evening's campground. Another site the MRT passes is Fort de Chartres State Historic Site. I stopped there at 2:29pm for a self-guided tour. The fort is a ways from the road, and seems pretty big, which involved more walking. They do have a museum there. When I got back to the bike, which I'd left near the road, the phone needed charging, so I rigged that up.

At 3:08pm I got on a levee road. There's a better breeze up there, but no shade. I had 9 miles of riding on this, but needed to take breaks, and needed to do that in shade. At one point, I found a tall enough tree that if walked down the levee some, I'd have shade. So I did that. Later as it was getting toward evening, other tall trees were casting shade on the levee road.

At one break, I called my Hipcamp host to give him an estimate of my arrival time. I told him between 6:30pm and 7:00pm. It was actually closer to 7:00pm when I arrived. Ryan told me how to get to the site, which had a 5 gallon cooler full of ice water waiting for me. That was so appreciated. There are chickens here, guinea fowl, and cows. Hopefully I'll get pictures of some of that. [No pictures of chickens or guinea fowl, but a couple of guinea ran through the campsite. They're cute.] What I did get lots of pictures of and have to decide which one to use, is the sunset. There's a wide open view to the west from this tent site. After enjoying some cold water, I eventually got the tent up and loaded. It's 10:00pm now, and the temperature is starting to get tolerable.

There's a 30% chance of thunderstorms this evening, but I'm ready for them, and not set up underneath a tree that could drop limbs on the tent.

Jeff