Day 4 - ending at Breese, IL - The Great Plains Trail - Sort Of

May 18, 2023

Day 4 - ending at Breese, IL

Day 4 - Litchfield, IL to Breese, IL

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Getting up at 5:40am this morning was better. I worked on report writing for just an hour so I could get an earlier start to today's destination - Carlyle Lake Dam West Campground, 59 miles away.

Left at 8:43am, making a turn toward Litchfield without consulting my routing. That was another wrong turn, since I'd routed to go through Hillsboro. Turned around, with anticipation of breakfast in Hillsboro.

It took until 10:10am to get to town. An Ace Hardware store was ahead. I stopped there to get a bolt for my seat post seat clamp. I don't know for sure, but at times it felt like I was sitting on the end of one of the bolts, which came up past its cylinder-shaped nut a quarter of an inch. Ace has M6 and M8 metric bolts, but no M7, which is apparently what I need. On to plan B: find a spacer to put at the head of my bolt. Found one for $1.19, and it worked! The included picture is after the fix. Not full thread engagement, but good enough. Now I'll see if I was just imagining the bolt was poking me.

The Garden Family Restaurant is where I ate breakfast at 10:57am. A tasty breakfast served by a busy but attentive waitress.

Back at the Ace Hardware store, a gentleman had told me IL-185 was closed. My routing out of town was on that highway. Time to let the Garmin GPS have another go at routing me. I finally figured out how to zoom out to get the big picture of what it calculated. Looks good to me, keeping me off IL-127 south of Greenville.

I was still in Hillsboro heading south on IL-127 when I passed a Dairy Queen. Stopped there for a small vanilla shake and to record noon mileage: 10.3. Next stop, Casey's a little farther south for Gatorade. Finally on my way.

Made it to Donnellson at 1:32pm. This section of the highway has a good shoulder. The Garmin routing had me leaving IL-127 at Sorento Avenue. A little hilly at times, but a good choice.

Getting though Greenville was a challenge. I'd decided this morning that walking the bike would be OK. I did that for part of the hill into town. Then there were railroad crossing closures. By the time I got to the second closed one, I'd decided to lift the bike across. That worked. Up and over an I-70 overpass had me back in the country.

This Garmin route was longer, but I liked the scenery.

Arrived at the campground at 7:10pm. The check-in building had a sign on their window: "All non-reservable sites are full." I hadn't expected that on a Thursday evening pre-Memorial Day. I ended up spending too much time checking other camping and motel options. No other non-full camping available nearby, and the few motels are expensive - at least to my thinking. One motel in Carlyle might work - Sunset Motel, but I couldn't get an answer on the phone. So I headed off to there, arriving at 8:13pm. No one answering the door here, either. One other option, ride eight miles west to Breese. The Knotty Pine Inn and Motel did answer their phone and had a room.

Google Maps showed that the highway to there, US-50, has no shoulder, but with my flashing lights on, I am seen well.

I left Carlyle at 8:27pm, ready to see how quickly I could make it to Breese. My battery was showing 11.7 volts with everything powered, so I engaged both bottle generators. I'm happy to report the battery was at 12.2 volts when I arrived in Breese.

However, how quickly I could ride eight flat miles wasn't determined, since there was some drama along the way. All the vehicles were passing me fine except one that just would not go around even though the coast was clear. So I pulled onto the loose gravel shoulder, but only feet away from a ditch that I'd end up in if I didn't stop quickly. The stop had me tipping onto my left side part-way onto the highway as the van finally passed in the other lane. The driver came to a stop asking if I was OK. I was. Then a van behind the first came up asking the same. Of course I was trying to get the bike back upright as soon as possible. Pulling my leg out of the frame helped!

Everything stayed on the bike well, so I took off, stopping under a street light up ahead. I settled some items back in place, then realized that my DeLorme PN-60 GPS was missing! I walked back to the crash site, but never found it. Oh well, at least I have a spare PN-60 with me. I'm mostly sad about losing the tracking data I use for making my online maps (which I do when I get home from trips). My Magellan MAP330 is also recording, but at one point-per-mile. That will have to do.

Good riding the rest of the way, with only a few cars passing by as it got later.

Arrived at the motel at 9:46pm, settling into room #3. Sent out a late "I've arrived" report, then took a shower.

All's well that ends well, and today ended well. Still a little sad about the lost GPS, though. Definitely "Good Bike" today.

Jeff

Spent: $1.29 (spacer) + $20.35 plus $5 (breakfast) + $4.75 (shake) + $5.39 (Gatorade) + $83 plus $5 (motel room) = $124.78

Last picture of this particular DeLorme PN-60. I imagine a highway mowing tractor will lay it to rest.

Today's ride: 65 miles (105 km)
Total: 214 miles (344 km)

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Jeff LeeYou're getting into my old territory, from when we lived in Lebanon, Illinois for six years. I rode all over the area, mostly on the network of chip seal roads.

I liked riding in "downstate" Illinois, despite the rather boring terrain (very few real hills.)
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1 year ago

Jeff TeelTo Jeff LeeJeff,
I like flat myself. These hills in Missouri, where I am now, are work.
Jeff
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1 year ago