Statistics:

July 25, 1981 - Bloomington-Normal to Rankin - 61 miles;

July 26, 1981 - Rankin, Illinois - Day Off - 0 miles.

Description of Events:

July 25, 1981: Kevin got us up early and took his morning ride with us as we rolled out of town. He was also guiding us back to Highway 9. We stopped at a pancake house to have breakfast and Kevin joined us. He was a very interesting fellow, with whom we talked for another hour. Kevin is planning to graduate from ISU as a education and music major. He told us that he will be running the high school band program at Eureka, Illinois. He is personable and seems quite capable of doing a very good job there. We wished him well, thanked him for his hospitality, and headed on down the road.

For kicks, I looked Kevin up on the internet to see if he had ever realized his goal of taking over the band program. Indeed he did, from 1981-1987.

Heading East on Route 9, it began to drizzle. Huge fields of soybeans were on both sides of us, as they often had been for the past few days. We waved to a farmer who was standing in one of these fields near the road. He beckoned for us to approach, so we did. We ended up talking to Mr. Cal-Z for about 2 hours. He took us inside of his house, gave us something to drink, and showed us a very large collection of arrowheads he had found while working the fields. His farm encompassed 280 acres. He too liked to travel and showed us many photos of his trips and adventures. I almost fell asleep in his living room at one point because the overstuffed chair was beyond comfortable!

By the Noon hour, we were moving again to Gibson City, where we stopped for lunch. The afternoon was a long ride through a succession of small towns, eventually arriving in Rankin at around 6:00 PM. We had fully intended to ride to Hoopeston, but after stopping for dinner at a place called the Welcome Inn, we decided to stay in Rankin for the night. While asking about directions to a park where we might camp, a fellow named Bob-M invited us to camp in his backyard. We accepted.

After having set up our tent, Bob invited us onto his front porch where we talked until well after dark with he, his wife, and their children. They were a really nice family. The kids were very excited and wanted to see our tent. Bob talked us into taking a day off because there was to be a tractor pull in town tomorrow. We decided to stay around for that experience. Once again, our lucky streak of meeting good people continued.

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July 26, 1981: I woke up feeling sick, early this morning. Last night, a violent thunderstorm hit, with rain so hard it began pouring into the tent from the ground. We were completely soaked and had to run for cover, into Bob's tool shed. Inside, I slept in a plastic child's pool on the cold ground and with no covers.  A bit later, when the heavy rain had subsided, Bob came out to check on us. He brought us in the house where I slept for several hours in the family room. After waking up, I felt a lot better.

Since the tractor pull was canceled, due to the muddy conditions created by the storm, Bob decided to show us around town. Bob is 30 years old and he is an elected town councilman. He took us all over, to cafes where the locals hang out and to some large farms in the area. Everywhere we went, except for one small tavern, the people were wonderful to us. 

At that one place were a few guys who apparently didn't approve of my current hair length. They didn't look like great threats but we decided to move on before any trouble might happen. Despite that negative event, the rest of the day was great, thanks to Bob's wonderful ways and the majority of people who were very friendly and welcoming to us.

We got back to his place at around 10:00 PM and proceeded to have a dinner with the whole family. Once again, the kids were great. We felt like a part of the family and were privileged to have met these good folks.