Day 2 ending near Rochester, IL

August 25, 2015

Got up at 5:55am after a fairly cool night. I'd put on thick socks last night. They helped.

The sun came up, but only briefly shined on the tent before it moved behind the trees.

Continued work on the report for yesterday (Day 1). At 8:08am I hit the send key for my 'Day 1' email to get it posted on the website. It took a while to send, since there were so many pictures. At 8:18am I received an automated error notification email from the website. I couldn't figure out what I'd done wrong, so resent it. Same error message again. Time to move to plan B. I emailed Kris, wife of my friend George, for help. She agreed to try my request to post the page from her computer using the email I'd sent her.

Back to packing. Checked the bike tires - they were a little low, especially the front one. Pumped them back up. I moved the bottle holder that was giving me problems yesterday. Other than that, everything looked good.

Got the tent down. It was dry in spite of being in the shade. I remembered to sunscreen this morning. Just before I left at 10:06am, a woman from the campsite next-door came over with two Clif Bars for me.

It was a short ride for me into Lincoln, where I planned to eat breakfast. At 10:30am I found a place - Mama's Arcade Cafe - on the south side of the courthouse square. Had 'Papa's Special', and also orange juice and coffee.

I was done with breakfast at 11:10am, and went outside to call Kris. Messages I'd been receiving from her indicated she was having problems with the posting. She worked on the posting while I directed on the phone, and we got the job done. What a relief for me! Thank you Kris!

Back to the bike ride. Got a picture of the courthouse. A passerby pointed out tomato plants that were planted/growing on the balcony above the courthouse's entrance. Even from where I was, it looked like they needed water.

Headed south out of town, toward my evening's destination - Sangchris Lake State Park. At noon I'd gone 5.2 miles - about like yesterday.

Came upon a Route 66 'Bike Route' sign. It was pointing the way I had come. Later I rode on IL-54 southwest a ways, until I came to Cornland Road. I stopped there at 2:13pm to eat a Clif Bar.

At 3:15pm I arrived in Buffalo. There's an old depot here like the one I saw yesterday. This one looks in better shape. Proceeded through town to their park, where I called my friend Jim. He'd already heard from another church member how things were going for me.

Continuing on, I passed through Mechanicsburg at 3:57pm, and crossed the Sangamon River at 4:45pm.

As I approached IL-29 I could see that major road work is being done. In fact, there was a short detour for the road I was on. It looks to me that they're going from two lanes to four when it's all done. When I got to the at-present two-lane highway, I couldn't believe the traffic. The worst I've ever seen! I should have taken a picture - I certainly had the time while waiting for an opening. Finally made it across.

More hills and a little more traffic for me south of IL-29 this late afternoon, but I made it OK to the state park entrance at 6:30pm.

Checked in with the Campground Host for Deer Run Campground and chose site A22, since it was the closest non-electric site. The other tent sites were, "way over there". Unpacked, set up the tent, and ate supper. My food bag is now a reasonable size.

Tried calling my wife tonight, but didn't get a hold of her. I did get a message from Kris. She's been studying up on making/editing journal pages, and says she's ready for posting tomorrow's report (this report) from my email. I think she's found out how much fun adding/editing pages is. I hope she's not too disappointed, since I think I figured out what I did wrong this morning. We'll see.

Jeff

Spent: $10.12 plus $2 (breakfast) + $10 (campsite) = $22.12.

Day 2 - Lincoln, IL to Rochester, IL

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