Day 78 - Peru, IL to El Paso, IL - Two Far 2020 - NTF (Not Two Far)

August 16, 2020

Day 78 - Peru, IL to El Paso, IL

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It was another day of perfect weather and comfortable riding. We spent the whole day riding on an Illinois highway just adjacent to I-39. All the traffic was on the interstate, so we had the road to ourselves most of the time.

Sometimes we were close to the interstate - but not often this close.

Our first stop was at a convenience store in Tonica. We had a wonderful time here and stayed for nearly an hour. Just after we pulled in, we saw a tandem going by. We waved and they came over to visit. It was a father and his two daughters out for their daily ride. They were a delightful trio.

Joe, Rosalie and Roman. Rosalie wanted to be sure we knew that she could also ride her own bike. Happy pedaling to all of you!

After spending a few minutes talking with this family, we went in and had our drink and snacks. As we were getting ready to leave, we met Bev and Brian, then Jess and Hollis. They are from Fort Wayne and were out on their motorcycles. We ended up talking with them for a long time. It was so much fun meeting them.

After we left the store, we rode into the town of Tonica. There wasn't much to see.

Kerry decided it was time to stop and check out the corn and beans close up. Here is how tall the corn is now.

Kerry likes to tell people that traveling by car, one see corn fields. Traveling by bicycle, we see ears of corn.

Here is the bean - cooked and served in the pod it's edamame.

We took a little detour through each town on the route today. This is Lostant. We passed a little time talking about how the town's name was properly pronounced.

Town was very quiet on a Sunday afternoon.

The next town we came to was Wenona. It was busier and smelled very good. We found it was the home of Hearthside Foods. They bake cookies, cereal, granola bars and "kindred products". Whatever they were baking today smelled delicious.

As we neared town, we saw this. What do you see sticking up behind the trees?

No, not a ferris wheel. It's an elevator owned by Ruff Brothers Grain Co.

Here we had a view of our road, the interstate and a service road on the other side.

Most days we've seen a lot of corn and some soybeans. Today has been more beans than corn.

Just before we got to El Paso, we passed some large wind farms.

Tomorrow is a rest day. We're going to work on more routes and get a few errands done.

Today's ride: 49 miles (79 km)
Total: 2,457 miles (3,954 km)

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Lou Harminyou deserve the day off!
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3 years ago

Keith A. SpanglerSounds like a good plan. I hope you find a nice coffee shop and enjoy a mug for me. Cheers
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3 years ago