Staying close to home

Circle = 20-mile radius from Morton (for planning). Lines = start and destination points.

This summer I went on several one-day rides, mostly starting/ending at my home in Morton, Illinois. After each trip, I selected as many pictures as I thought an email would hold and sent them to family and friends. I'm thinking now that it would be OK to share these with the CycleBlaze community, even though they're just day rides.

Looking back, I'm surprised at how inconsistent I was with my presentation format, one email to the next. Having received positive feedback when I'd used captions for the pictures, I did make one change as I copied these emails into this journal: captions were added to the pictures in the first few reports. One other item to note: there are no Google Earth maps attached - Ride with GPS maps replaced those for this online posting.

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Bill StoneHi Jeff,

Great stuff! I lived in Bloomington-Normal for five years, and my wife was born and raised in McLean County, which she still thinks of as home. She says many years ago she used to drive all the way to Toluca to eat at Capponi's and Mona's. I've biked across the mighty Mackinaw many times and I've pedaled to some of your destinations (like Carlock and Minier), but from the east instead of west. Honestly, judging from your photos I think the route looks about the same from either direction. ;-)

Anyway, I enjoyed your rides, and they brought back many memories about living and biking on the prairie in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

By the way, not to steal you away from CycleBlaze, but check out http://cycle365.life/ if you're interested in day rides. Some of the folks here also post over there, and we have at least one other rider in central Illinois who is intimately familiar with corn and beans.
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4 years ago

Scott AndersonThanks for posting these here, Jeff. It’s nice to get another look at this country - I lived for half a year in West Lafayette 40+ years ago, and was out on county roads every bikeable day that spring in preparation for a ride back to the Pacific Northwest.

I’m glad Bill mentioned Cycle365, which I was going to mention to you also. It’s another small but welcoming community.
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4 years ago

Jeff TeelTo Bill StoneBill,
Thanks for your comments! I'd been to Mona's or Capponi's (I don't remember which) just a few times before years ago, remembering the visits as special occasions worth the drive.
Glad I brought back good memories for you. All my rides would have been flat, except for the Mackinaw getting in the way.
Thanks for the Cycle365 link. Definitely the place for day ride reporting. Those Challenges are creative!
Jeff
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4 years ago

Jeff TeelTo Scott AndersonScott,
I don't think any amount of day riding would get me prepared for a trip all the way to the Pacific Northwest!
Getting out on these rides was to make up for not being able to tour this year. I did notice that having no concerns about where to stop for the night was a plus.
I've been checking out Cycle365. Looks like the perfect site for day rides!
Also, I've been enjoying your and Rachael's daily reports. Your pictures/videos are in a totally different league.
Jeff
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4 years ago