Day 27 - ending at Freeport, IL - Downstate Illinois

August 2, 2025

Day 27 - ending at Freeport, IL

I got up at 5:35am. It was slightly cooler than perfect sleeping weather, but I'm not going to complain. It was a beautiful calm morning, and the tent didn't have much moisture condensation.

I was leaving at 7:40am, pretty sure I would be staying at a motel in Freeport. I didn't know which one yet, since I didn't have enough of a cell phone signal to check. But I figured out the first part of the day: get to the trailhead for the Jane Addams Trail at the Wisconsin border. But before that I was hoping to find a place to eat breakfast in Warren, the first town I'd pass through.

I left Apple River Canyon State Park on Canyon Road going east, until I connected with Fiedler Road going northeast. The wind today was from the northeast, but it didn't slow me down much. At 8:38am I connected backup with Stagecoach Trail Road in Warren.

Now I had a cell signal and saw that Warren has a Casey's and a cafe. After buying Gatorade at Casey's, I arrived at Sunrise Restaurant right at 9:00am. I went with their "For Dad" breakfast, which is two eggs, two pancakes, and bacon. They don't have wifi for customers here, but I did notice that the H&R Block tax business next door has a free wifi signal that I was picking up, so I hopped on that. That allowed me to figure out that the Super 8 motel in Freeport would work as my evening destination.

As I was getting on the road to get out of town, I passed the Warren Museum, with their "Open" sign. I stopped there and was greeted by Joel, who asked if I was part of the class reunion. The Jo Daviess County Fair is going on this weekend in Warren. Joel said that the Class of 1975 is also having their reunion, and they were expected to visit the museum. Joel explained the relating history to me as I went through the museum. I found the train set up interesting. A former resident had set it up just like it was in the '50s in Warren. Trucks parked at the depot were the same style, color, and even had the appropriate business lettering for the businesses in town back then. The museum building itself used to be the city's water plant. The old water tower is just outside, though it has different paint now.

I was back to bicycling at 10:16am, heading to Winslow on Winslow Road. I crossed from Jo Daviess County to Stevenson County at 10:50am. The hills weren't as bad today as yesterday, but Winslow Road has them. When the noon alarm went off I'd just made it to Winslow's water tower. Only 16.3 miles for all my morning's work. I noticed from Winslow's sign that they have an artesian well also. As I got close to where that's located, which is Paradise Cove, I was seeing road closed barricades. I parked in front of one of the barricades, walked around a church and was on the road to Paradise Cove. This is a nice little park. The artesian well is piped, and serves as the city's water supply after it's treated.

I found a way around the barricades and across the under-construction road. Once I got to the other side I passed an ice cream place - The Here and There Farm Store, and decided to go in. No one was there but the young girl worker. She had the ice cream freezer's lid propped open a little, since the ice cream was frozen solid to the point that she couldn't hardly scoop any out. She was able to get enough vanilla ice cream to make me a root beer float. I added a snickerdoodle cookie to that, then, with help from the worker, chose a table next to an outlet to charge my phone. I didn't stay long enough for a full charge, just to get from 38% to 54%. The last two days I haven't had evening electricity at the campgrounds, so have been charging the phone on the reserves in the bicycle's auxiliary battery. I think 2 days is about the auxiliary battery's limit without recharge, either with the wall charger, or the bicycle's bottle generators. I did have the generators on from time to time today, mostly going down long hills.

At 1:00pm I left Winslow for the last stretch on the road to the north trailhead for Jane Addams Trail. This road was much much flatter, but had jarring seam bumps. I finally made it to IL-26, where I turned north. For maybe 2 minutes, starting at 2:13pm, I was in Wisconsin, since the final road east to the trail connects there. It was here that I noticed something was wrong with the front basket. It was way too loose. When I got to the trailhead at 2:29pm, I removed the front basket bag to see what was going on.

Well, I had a problem with one of the basket handlebar mounts. It is cracked in two at the bolt hole. What surprised me was, the basket wasn't any lower, it was just wobbly side to side. I decided a couple of fender washers might stabilize it. My spare nuts and bolts are kept at the bottom of one of the rear baskets, so I partially unloaded to get to them, I discovered I hadn't packed any spare fender washers. But I did have two on the bike, under the front basket for the two lower supports. I'd installed them two years ago in Texas when I was on that trip. So I removed those washers, and ended up just installing one to fix the broken upper bracket. The second fender washer wouldn't fit on the inside, but I had a smaller washer for that. This repair seemed to tighten everything right up. Anyway I was good-to-go for now. All this took an hour, and I was actually riding on the trail then at 3:29pm.

While I had been working I was amazed at how many people were using the trail, and they were mostly all joggers and walkers. I was using the bench next to the "Jane Adams Trail Welcome to Illinois" sign. Most everyone who passed stopped to take a selfie with the sign. I wasn't exactly in the way, but felt I could have chosen a better location to do my repair.

I had 19 miles to go to get to the Super 8 in Freeport. This trail is pretty flat and the surface is in good condition. I was making good time, except I'd slow down to greet and pass people. When I got to Orangeville at 3:47pm, I figured out why there are so many people on the trail. Some big event was happening there. [I just now looked it up. The event is Badger Trail Races by Ten Junk Miles Racing.]

At 4:53pm I was in Scioto Mills. I passed a sign on a box that said Free Air. That intrigued me enough to stop. The setup has a solar panel keeping a 12 volt battery charged, which is hooked to a 12 volt air compressor with hose. Clever! There is also a nearby tool cabinet with spare parts for bicycle repair. Two gentlemen were nearby and came up to talk - Rex and Lucas. Rex knows the history of this place very well, and told me several interesting stories. The old nearby building is known as "The Blue Room." He mentioned an internet search on that would tell me more. [This youtube video features an interview with Rex.] Lucas and his family have just moved to Scioto Mills. He has interesting stories about how he knows Rex. These were fun conversations. I added that the only thing I remember about Scioto Mills from a previous visit here is that the mosquitoes are really hungry. That hasn't changed, I found out.

The gravel-through-the-woods section of the Jane Addams Trail ends at Wes Block Trailhead. After that it's a concrete trail and later along-road paths to get to the trail's end. I didn't quite make it to the end because I needed to turn off to get to the Super 8 motel. 6:00pm church chimes were sounding just when I did that. The motel is on the south side of town, and I arrived at 6:15pm. I was all checked in and in room #111 at 6:30pm. I'm staying two nights, as I almost always do. The number one goal tomorrow is to get pictures sorted and text written for the journal. I'm missing out on a couple pleasant evenings to be camping, but keeping up with the journal is a priority for me at the moment.

Well I need to get cleaned up, and rested up, so I can get all that done tomorrow. I guess I'm going to also have to figure out where I'm going to be next since I've messed up my schedule again. So much for pre-planning everything .

Jeff

"Order What You Want, Eat What You Get, LOL"

Soybeans and tree in Wisconsin, corn in Illinois

Today's ride: 43 miles (69 km)
Total: 1,093 miles (1,759 km)

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