Day 6 - still at Newton, IL - Downstate Illinois

July 12, 2025

Day 6 - still at Newton, IL

Today was for chores, mainly laundry and journaling. I was awake at 6:20am. Went down to the motel front lobby for breakfast at 7:10am. They have the full motel breakfast selection there, including the make-your-own waffles apparatus. I started laundry at 8:15am. Somehow I've lost a sock! I've looked everywhere, several times. It was my spare pair, so I'll get by.

I talked with my wife this morning about her busy week and Morton's overnight power outage. Finally got to work on the report for Day 4, posting it just after noon. The Day 5 report is taking longer, for some reason. I resisted taking a nap to keep at it. Though mid-afternoon I did walk down to the "Convenience Store" they have here at this motel for Fritos and a Pibb Xtra.

It looked like it was going to rain here this afternoon for sure, but it all dissipated before arriving.

I planned to eat supper back toward town at the closest place to the motel. That turned out to be The Nest at 0.9 mile away. Walking was 18 minutes, but bicycling was only 5 (per Google Maps), so I rode my bike. The Nest was closed when I got there. So on further to the next closest place - Homewood Grill. They're highly rated and busy. They only have outdoor seating, and it's on heavy duty plastic picnic tables. At the order window I asked for a bacon cheeseburger, fries, and a root beer shake. All very good. It was fun watching the teenagers and older folks come and go as I ate.

Before leaving I checked Google Maps to see the best way back to the motel. As I was doing that I noticed and then remembered that I wanted to see the trail and the old bridge over the Embarras River that I should have come into town on last night. That was just up past the courthouse, so I headed in that direction (north).

There was a fellow on the bridge near his parked bike when I got there. He was enjoying the view of the river. We talked for a bit. This does look like the ideal place to watch the evening unfold. I told him I was going to ride the rest of the trail and might be coming back the same way.

The end of the trail, or the beginning if you're coming the other way, is by the IL-130 bridge (The Burl Ives Bridge) - the one I rode on to get into town last night. I turned around there and headed back to the trail bridge. The fellow was still there, and we talked some more. He's out of the military now, having served in Afghanistan. We talked about bicycle touring, adjusting after military service, and about the river. Fishing is pretty good, with blue catfish being one type that gets caught a lot. The river floods from time to time, at levels that are impressive. Tonight however, it was calm and peaceful. I was inclined to stay longer - I was enjoying our conversations, but I needed to get back at it, so I left Cody to enjoy the sunset on his own. It was a blessing to get to meet him.

8:05pm was my arrival time back at the motel. Time to write and send my evening report.

I should mention that I've changed my destinations for the next two nights. CycleBlaze member Jeff Lee and I are hoping to rendezvous in Harrisburg to meet each other, and also ride on the Tunnel Hill Trail. Though my original plan has me going through Harrisburg, it wasn't a planned evening stop location. Adjusting my schedule some, I figured out that if I stayed at Fairfield tomorrow night, I'd be close enough to get to Harrisburg the next night. There are no campgrounds near Fairfield nor Harrisburg that I'm aware of, so I'll be giving up a couple nights camping to stay at motels. I'm OK with that. The opportunity to meet up with Jeff Lee is worth it. His journals are written in such a way it's like I know him already. Jeff is going out of his way for me, and I greatly appreciate that. He has an early morning over-hour drive to get to Harrisburg from his home. If everything works out, we will be meeting up on Tuesday morning.

So, my new plans are: tomorrow evening I'll be at a motel in Fairfield (53 miles to get there) and on Monday evening, a motel in Harrisburg (59 miles).

Jeff

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