Day 22 - ending near Illinois City, IL - Downstate Illinois

July 28, 2025

Day 22 - ending near Illinois City, IL

At 3:50am this morning I heard thunder; at 4:45am there was rain and wind. I hadn't really thought it would rain overnight, but I was sure glad the tent was under this shelter. Obviously everything stayed dry. I got up at 5:58am and started packing. When I had the tent empty I wiped all the dried sand off. A lot of it landed inside the tent through the screens, so I turned the tent inside out to shake that out. There, things are better now.

Just before I was ready to go, I decided to call my wife. I've been basically using my evening reports as the text in my journal postings. But those reports are so filled with errors. Correcting all those mistakes before making journal pages visible is getting to be quite a time-consuming chore. My wife agreed to take over that job. Thanks!

My destination today is Riverview Campground, part of Rock Island County's Loud Thunder Forest Preserve. I'd be off the MRT at the end of the day to get to the campground. I was a little off trail this morning also, because I decided to go back into Oquawka to the Arrow Cafe for breakfast. They'd set me up for wifi use as I left yesterday, and I knew they had tables with outlets. I planned to get some pictures uploaded. My wife was still on the phone giving me news on how her week went, so I clipped the phone on its handlebar holder at 9:08am so I could continue listening as I rode the 3 miles into town. That worked out well.

At the cafe they let me order a custom breakfast. They also kept my coffee cup full, and left me to it. I was ready to leave at 11:16am, but had to go back inside since I'd forgotten to get my thermos filled with ice. I headed east for a few blocks until I got to Conoco gas station for 3 Powerades. All set now. There was no point in following the MRT back past Delabar State Park, so I continued east to a road north that would eventually get me back on the MRT.

At noon I'd done 8.8 miles for a day that I figured would be 47 miles. I continued on a little ways looking for a shady spot for my noon break. That was at Big Pines Hiking Trail trailhead.

I stopped by the Casey's in Keithsburg at 12:57pm for chocolate milk. It was a brand I'm not familiar with.

The MRT leaves Keithsburg going north on 75th Street, until it gets to IL-17. West on that highway until 45th Street going north near New Boston. There's a rest area just before that turn north, which provided shade for another break.

It was fairly long riding from here to IL-92. And there wasn't a lot of scenery since it's inland from the river. I listened to mp3s as I went. The wind was from the northwest, slowing me down a little but keeping me cool.

I was at the intersection with highway IL-92 at 4:48pm. If you go west here you cross the bridge and arrive in Muscatine, Iowa. But my routing was turn right and go up a very torn up shoulder. There was a good amount of traffic. I wasn't sure riding up was going to work. Then I noticed that the shoulder on the north side of the road was in great shape. I decided to walk the bike up on that shoulder. Since you're supposed face oncoming traffic when walking, it made sense to me. So I got up that hill to find more hills ahead. More walking now and then. Finally things flattened out, and traffic thinned out.

At 5:55pm I arrived at Illinois City, where I went off-route north on IL-92 to get to the campground. I rode on a short section of gravel road that looked like a shortcut down the bluff. Backing up, I noticed this morning at breakfast that my RA was affecting my right hand some. It got a little worse as the day went on, to the point that I couldn't use my rear hand brake very well. That made it a little challenging on the descent down this gravel road. I don't know if it's related, but last evening I discovered I hadn't taken my morning pills. I wouldn't think missing one day would cause problems.

I was about 2 miles from the campground entrance when the road got really hilly. I had to do some more walking. I hadn't expected this. The last little section was up a hill, down the hill to the spillway for Lake George, then back up a hill to the campground entrance. But the biggest surprise was the incredible downhill to get to the campground, which is near river level. There is no way I will be able to ride up that tomorrow morning. I'm thinking it's going to take me half an hour walking the bike up that hill. We'll see.

This campground has 30 sites, all only for tents, but no one's here. There is a sign though that says you can't set up without a reservation, which needs to be done at the park office. I'd pass the park office a ways back, knowing that they close at 4:00pm. I thought about just making a reservation online, but wasn't getting enough cell signal to pull up their web page. I had their phone number on my plan sheet, so called in and left a message that I was here, and I'd like to know how to pay.

I decided by 7:20pm to set up at site R30, right next to the river. As I was doing that a park official drove by in a park car. I told him about my phone call and asked how to pay. He said I have two options, go back to the park office in the morning, or make an online reservation. But he cautioned that reservations require payment for two nights. I told him about not having a cell signal, but then thought maybe I would have one if I was back up on the highway in the morning. I've been thinking about this, I guess I could try riding the empty bike to the camp office. I rechecked my phone signal, it had been 5G when it wouldn't work, but now it is 4G and I was able to pull up their web page. Anyway, I think I'll wait until I get a call from the office in the morning, to see if they offer any other pay options.

This is a beautiful place. I'm all set up for the overnight storms they're predicting. I'm getting a little hopeful about the weather. They're predicting more reasonable temperatures for highs in the next few days.

Jeff

From the road I thought this said "Need Farm", which I thought was clever

Looking at the hill for my start on IL-92

Today's ride: 52 miles (84 km)
Total: 916 miles (1,474 km)

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