112 miles in 9 hours – Max Speed 18.5mph
I woke up, and took it easy for a little while I worked on my website. I walked outside at one point just to see what was happening, and lo and behold… wind from the west! Hallelujah. I went back in, finished my website work, and headed out.
I know that people may not necessarily understand how much of a difference having a headwind or tailwind makes when touring. But when I have a headwind, I average between 8 and 10 mph, and then when I have a tailwind it goes up to between 12 and 15mph, and it can be higher in bursts. So it can literally take me half the time to get somewhere with a tailwind compared to if I have a headwind. Believe me, 7 or 8 hour days are far preferable to 10 to 12 hour ones.
I started out and went through a few of the usual small towns, and the usual larger town (Pontiac) when the road intersects with the interstate.
Back on historic roads.
A REALLY old road.
Another look at a courthouse which is in all the towns.
None of this was anything new, so I was just cruising along until I reached the intersection of the 116 and the 115. There was a sign that said that the bridge was out around six miles ahead, so you had to take a detour down to the 24 to go around it. I thought about going on and hoping that the bridge only went over a small river that I could hop over or ford, but decided against it, and just went down to the 24.
Excitement.
There were these in every town too. They varied from having some ok deals to being exorbitantly expensive though.
The 24 started out fantastic, with the six foot shoulder I have come to know and love, but when the road stopped being a four lane divided highway and just went down to two lanes, the shoulder disappeared as well. I mean, there was still a small one (maybe 6 inches right of the white line), but when there is as much truck traffic as there was on this road, it isn’t enough to feel good. But, when the signs for the detour reappeared telling me I could go back up to the 116, I had to think. I could stay on the 24, where I knew there was an RV park coming up, in 30 more miles, or I could add 12 miles to the journey by going back up to the 116 and then back down to the 24 again. I decided to risk it on the 24.
Luckily, the traffic thinned out as I crossed I-57 somewhat and entered the town of Gilman. I stopped there for a snack, and McDonald’s actually was selling Cheeseburgers for $.59. I bought four, ate them, and then carried on, blessing my good fortune.
By far the sweetest water tower of the trip.
I crossed into the State of Indiana shortly thereafter and stopped at another McDonald’s for three more $.59 cheeseburgers.
I think that Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky should have a cage match to see who is allowed to claim Lincoln once and for all.
I went into the Eastern Time Zone, and rolled up to the RV park at about 8:30, having lost an hour to the time zone change. I picked a spot right on the lake, and went to sleep after showering and doing all the other stuff that goes with that.
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