August 6, 2022
Day 3 - ending at Watseka, IL
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Up at 4:45am. I slept so well last night in the cabin with the windows open and the ceiling fan running! Sat at the picnic table by the pond until 7:45am working on reports. Such a pleasant morning! Back outside the cabin, I visited with Calvin and Laurie while drinking the cup of coffee Calvin made for me. Laurie recommended Circle K as the place to get my water jug filled and Diner 24 for breakfast, after she heard I would be going through Fairbury this morning. Steve showed up later, so there were more fun conversations with everyone. They have had other cyclists stay here, but they were all averaging many more miles-per-day than I do.
With best wishes from everyone, I was on my way at 9:40am, and at Circle K by 10:00am. I grabbed two Gatorades, filled my Klean Kanteen with ice, then asked about filling my jug. For the coldest water, they recommended I use the white button (for water) at the side of the lemonade dispenser. I didn't realize it at first, but the jug was also pressing against the lemonade dispenser button! I offered to pay for the lemonade/water mix, but the clerks said it was OK.
On next to Diner 24. Their specials board showed "All You Can Eat Breakfast Buffet," so I went with that. For "dessert" I put strawberry sauce on top of little pastries. Well, I thought they were pastries. Turns out they were cut up pieces of country fried steak. Yum!
Headed south out of town on Livingston County CR-2150E. I missed my planned turn east by a mile, so turned left onto CR-600N (at 11:25am). Stopped at noon to check mileage so far - 8.7 miles. Today's plan was to get to the campground at Timbered Meadows Association near Milford, Illinois, with a stop for supper in Cissna Park on the way. At 12:20pm I turned right, and realized there was a good south breeze against me. It was only a short jog south - I would be heading east to Onarga before my main turn south. But that got me thinking. During pretrip planning, I had wished there was a campground in Watseka, since Watseka was more inline how I was going. I'd read that some cyclists have camped in Watseka's city park, after getting approval (I hadn't been able to find anything official online about this). If I ended the day there, this day would be so much shorter, and so would tomorrow. That would also keep me from riding against the wind today. So that was the new plan.
At 2:50pm, I was at the Ford/Iroquois County Line, and passing I-57 at 3:52pm. Some of the roads before Onarga had been slow going, especially the one that turned sandy. I took a few pictures in Onarga, then went inside the Casey's there. I was disappointed they didn't have a place to sit down inside. Bought chocolate milk and a bottle of water, then stopped at a cemetery on the north side of town for my break and to plot out a route to Watseka. On my way at 4:48pm.
I was a mile south of US-24 as I crossed IL-47. Half a mile later I made an impulse turn north to Crescent City. I'd passed through Crescent City many times in the late '70s going back and forth to electronics school, and wanted to see if the town had improved their train wreck informational display. I remember their pictures being faded at the time. They're even more so now. Still there's enough to get a feel of the effect the wreak/fire had on the town, though I couldn't get a good picture of any of the displays.
One last check of Google Maps, and I'd be on my way to Watseka, hopefully on back roads. Except my phone reported no cell signal! Oh great! My credit card had been rejected at Casey's in Onarga. What's next? Well, I'll just ride on US-24 to get to Watseka - it's only six miles. And if I get a motel room instead of figuring out how to camp in the park, I'll at least have wifi. Also, paying for the motel room will be a chance to test my credit card. All the tar on my tires had worn off today, so rolling the bike into a motel room wouldn't be a problem.
I left Crescent City at 6:30pm, and was checking in at the Watseka Super 8 at 7:23pm. The credit card worked, at least. Once I had wifi, I searched for Verizon stores. There's one here in town, but not open tomorrow, since that's a Sunday.
I'll decide tomorrow what to do next. Time for a shower and bed.
Jeff
Spent: $4.79 (Gatorade, ice) + $17.50 plus $5 (breakfast) + $3.58 (chocolate milk, water) + $88.79 plus $5 (motel room) = $124.66.
Today's ride: 51 miles (82 km)
Total: 138 miles (222 km)
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1 year ago
If not for stopping to think, I would have ended up as tarred-up as my tires! The tar all wore off the tires on its own by riding some 60 miles.
The insect pictures are actually just one insect - a cicada - "hatching".
Jeff
1 year ago