Day 27 - ending at Macomb, IL - Getting Aligned

September 1, 2017

Day 27 - ending at Macomb, IL

Posted via email Sat Sep 2 07:47:02 2017 PDT

Up at 5:30am, a half an hour before the alarm. Started work on the report. Grabbed a cup of coffee from the motel office at 6:20am. That helped! Finished report-writing and packing. Ready to leave at 9:52am. Looks like another beautiful day.

The first part of today's plan was to get back through Keokuk to Rand Park, to get back on-route. I arrived there at 10:07am. Took a few more pictures, then continued on into town following the signed MRT route. Passed by many unique old homes along Grand Avenue. Eventually I was back at the river - at the toll booth for the old bridge. There's a walk-way here on part of the old bridge up to the swing span. Our family had been here before, years ago on a vacation. We also received a tour of the nearby water works then. There's good viewing of that building and the lock and dam from the walk-way. After many pictures, I left at 10:53am.

On to the new bridge. There's a completely-separated path for pedestrians/bicycles. I did pass a few walkers as I made my way to Illinois. I crossed the line into my home state at 11:05am. At the end of the bridge, the separated path continued all the way to Hamilton! I turned off the highway onto Broadway Street - actually, onto the sidewalk on the south side of Broadway Street. I intended to tackle my first Illinois hill by walking up. That went OK. At the time, I wasn't aware that that would be my last hill for the day!

At 11:26am, I turned north for a few blocks to get to Hamilton City Park (renamed Gordon's Grove in 2004). I took pictures of the wooden tractor, truck, and airplane in the play area. I want to see if my kids remember playing on these.

Back on the main highway (US-136) at 11:42am. Next stop, Hamilton Family Cafe. At 11:50am, they were still serving breakfast, so I ordered the "Two For You", which has two of everything. I checked out places to camp for the evening during lunch. Argyle Lake State Park had been my original planned destination, but they looked full during a quick reservation check last night. I decided Spring Lake Park northwest of Macomb would work instead.

After getting my Klean Kanteen filled with ice, I was ready to leave at 12:42pm. As I was writing down the noon mileage (4.4 miles), an older lady walked over to talk. She was concerned about rising gas prices. I haven't been paying attention to that. She was sure the price would soon be five dollars a gallon.

My at-home route plan had me going east on US-136 to Elvaston, then north and east on country roads to get to Argyle Lake. I hadn't expected US-136 to have a paved shoulder, but it does, and I was enjoying that. And it was flat! I hadn't expected that yet, either. I was pedaling against a moderate northeast breeze, but that was keeping me cool. At 1:20pm, when I got the Elvaston's city park, I stopped to study maps. How far could I stay on this highway before I'll have to turn off to get to Spring Lake? After Carthage, anyway.

At 2:18pm, I left US-136 to get to downtown Carthage, to get a picture of the Old Carthage Jail. Also took one of the courthouse before leaving town back on US-136 at 2:57pm. Ahead were road changes not on my GPS maps - an interchange with IL-110/IL-336. And US-136 joined that newer road. I merged onto this highway east at 3:02pm. It's like an expressway, but bicycles are allowed. A very wide paved shoulder here. Don't need to keep an eye on traffic now. And still flat. I turned on my mp3 radio, and had a riding vacation, so to speak.

At 3:35pm, I stopped to check the maps again. If I go for a motel tonight instead, I could enjoy this ride all the way to Macomb. Using Google Maps, I selected a motel on the east side of Macomb, and took off with this new plan.

I crossed into McDonough County at 4:52pm. At 5:17pm, I had to decide if I was staying with US-136, or going with IL-110/IL-336. I went with the latter, which I knew would continue this shoulder. At 6:35pm I came to the present end of IL-336, and rejoined US-136. Arrived at Macomb city limit at 6:40pm, and lost the shoulder.

I was happy when I got to Ward Street. Two blocks south put me on a quiet one-way residential street (Jefferson Street) that would get me through town. Arrived at the Star Motel at 7:21pm. This place is highly rated and cheap! Very nice.

After checking in and conversations with the motel owner, I walked over to Pizza Hut for supper. Worked on pictures after that until I couldn't stay awake any longer, which was at 10:25pm.

It's nice to be getting closer to home, and having yet another comfortable bed after a fun day of riding.

Jeff

Spent: $9.82 plus $2 (breakfast) + $50 plus $5 (motel) + $12.37 plus $3 (supper) = $82.19.

+ plus signs indicate pictures added after returning home from the trip +

Day 27 - Keokuk, IA to Macomb, IL

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