Day 2 - Atlanta to LeRoy - Central Illinois Holiday Weekends - CycleBlaze

May 30, 2021

Day 2 - Atlanta to LeRoy

Day 2 - Atlanta to LeRoy
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Covered with the blanket, I slept very well. Was up at 5:35am for some morning pictures.

5:45am - morning sunshine
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6:52am - one of the fishing lakes at Hickory Lane Campground
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After getting the tent down, I ate breakfast sitting on the tent's ground cloth. Breakfast included half a cup of now-cold coffee - the last in my thermos.

7:12am - breakfast!
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I was on my way at 8:30am, heading south first to get across Kickapoo Creek.

8:42am - Kickapoo Creek and my turn left ahead
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Then north on Logan County CR-2050N until it curved east up a gentle hill. I was stopped at the crest when a Logan County Sheriff's SUV pulled up. The officer asked if I was OK, then we talked about holiday weekend trips (which he doesn't get) and fun things to do when there is time off. His fun is fishing out of his small boat, and weekdays work best for that anyway, since there's not a weekend's crowd about.

9:19am - curving northeast along Logan County CR-2300E
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I crossed over into DeWitt County at 9:31am, and was in Waynesville ten minutes later. A rail line used to curve through town behind the scale building and past the grain elevator.

9:46am - leftover from the past
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9:52am - more of the past
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I thought a little about attending church in town, since one church's service started at 10:00am. But I didn't know how much time that would take, so headed on out of town to the northeast.

11:05am - along DeWitt County CR-E1375 North Road
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Quiet mid-day riding going mostly east toward my planned crossing of Route 51 at Carle Springs, which was accomplished at 11:40am.
After that I turned north onto Autumn Road (DeWitt CR-1000E). Just at noon I passed Long Point Cemetery and stopped for a break. At the end of the cemetery road there was a bench, which gave me a place to sit in the shade - somewhat. Back at it at 12:15pm - for eight minutes. That's when I remembered to take my "morning" pills!

12:18pm - today's artsy picture
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At 12:29pm I turned east onto Old Principal Road, which is along the DeWitt County/McLean County line. I'd included this road in my plan since sections of it were gravel. At 1:38pm I was on gravel at a spot where I decided to take a picture. When I got the phone out I noticed that an area of grass ahead to the right was blowing around, while the grass beside me wasn't. I switched the phone to video mode and was able to capture the start of a "dust" devil. I wish I'd thought to pause my mp3 player, since that was playing in the background. Here's the video:

I continued on to the next intersection and happened to look back. In the field there was dust!

1:45pm - still going . . .
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2:38pm - more gravel; this time on McLean County CR-125N
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I was hoping to eat food from Millie's Chill & Grill in LeRoy, but when I checked on the phone a few miles south of LeRoy, Google Maps showed "closing soon." So I decided to eat at Arby's when I got there. I needed to sit down and cool off, since my knees were staring to hurt.

3:38pm - lunch!
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Sitting for lunch hadn't helped my knees any. I think they were actually a little worse. I made my way slowly to downtown and LeRoy's interesting town square, which is actually a circle.

I have enough stuff I could open one of these.
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4:34pm - in downtown LeRoy
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I sat on a bench a while at the circle. Still no better at the knees, which only hurt when I bent them. About eight miles left to get to Moraine View, and I could feel it was going to be a struggle. I was riding through a pretty area, but only took one picture.

5:03pm - looking east from McLean CR-2700E
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There was one climb south of Moraine View that I would normally not call a "hill", but I walked it, since my knees didn't have to bend as much walking. With my right hand getting puffy, I figured I was possibly at the start of an arthritis flare-up.

5:57pm - made it!
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I still had to get around the lake to Gander Bay Campground, and made it there OK at 6:13pm. They had four sites available. Since it was a holiday weekend the sites were $30. I asked about sites without electricity. They were only $6 (hike-in sites), but on the other side of the lake. I was done-in, so paid the $30 and was escorted to site D14, arriving at 6:25pm.

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I got camp set up OK and even went on a walk looking for water to refill my jug. I needed the jug full to secure one side of the rain-fly, since I'd set up on the gravel pad. I found water near the camp office. It definitely had a color to it. I was told, "It's well water, but it's treated."

It was my hope that I just needed a good night's sleep. I got started on that about 8:00pm.

41 miles for today. Map attached.
Spent $10.32 for lunch and $30 for campsite.

Jeff

Today's ride: 41 miles (66 km)
Total: 84 miles (135 km)

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