Day 3 ending at Litchfield, IL

August 26, 2015

rode on Green Diamond Rail-Trail

I was sleeping pretty good this morning, but got myself up at 6:25am. It hadn't been as cool as the first night, and I didn't need the warm socks.

Back to checking/revising the journal's entry email for Day 2. Sent it in at 8:33am, and received its rejection notice at 8:37am. My "correction" this morning apparently wasn't the problem. Forwarded email to Kris, who got it posted for me later in the morning.

Packed up. I was almost ready to go when a park truck drove by. I flagged the driver down to ask if there was any water in this campground. He thought I'd found no water was coming out of the faucet, since someone had left the water on and emptied the well the day before. But the problem I was having is I couldn't find the faucet. Turns out that it was just about in front of me! The park worker said I could go to the other campground for city water, and told me about a shortcut to get there. I found that the well-fed faucet had water, so didn't bother going the other way for water.

Left at 10:31am, heading west and south toward Pawnee. I planned to eat breakfast there. Another beautiful day. Wind from the north, and small puffy clouds to provide shade every so often. There are a lot of grasshoppers about, and butterflies now and then follow along for a while. Dragonflies too.

The noon report today is 9.4miles - a little better.

Arrived in Pawnee at 12:07pm. Pawnee has a Casey's, but I was hoping for a sit-down place. I rode around town, then asked a local. He said, "Just right up here at the square is Locals." Sure enough - Locals Restaurant. I had "lunch" for my breakfast: Tenderloin Sandwich with Chips (one of the specials), and a root beer. After I was done with that, I ordered a large chocolate shake to-go, for drinking in the square's park.

I'd been thinking of making a change to my destination today, and decided to go with it. My original plan was to camp tonight at Lake Lou Yaeger (a city-owned park/campground) near Litchfield. Instead now I'd find a motel in Litchfield. This was better for two reasons. First I'd be closer to my next day's destination, and second, I wanted to eat at the Ariston Cafe, and they aren't open until 11:00am.

So I left Pawnee at 1:02pm with my new route figured out. It was still my plan to ride the Farmersville-Waggoner Trail, so on to Farmersville. Nice straight, mostly-flat roads to there.

When I got to the trail-head at 3:30pm, I saw it's now called the Green Diamond Rail-Trail. The trail is all asphalt - though some of it is not in good shape. I arrived in Waggoner at 4:23pm. Looking back I see that this trail is part of the 'Bike Route 66' path.

I headed south from Waggoner on the frontage road along the west side of I-55. It's signed as "Historic Route 66", and also as "Rough Pavement". One section, however, had been repaved and was beautiful.

I crossed over I-55 north of Litchfield, and arrived in town by-way-of Washington Road at 6:15pm. Headed south and west looking for the Belevidere Motel. I came up to the Ariston Cafe by surprise (since I wasn't looking for it). I parked the bike in front and thought I had a good photo, but now I see a tree was blocking the "A"-part of their "Ariston" sign. I'll have to try again tomorrow.

The reason I'm so interested in the Ariston Cafe is that my friend George used to work there in the sixties. George grew up in Litchfield. I'm taking lots of pictures while I'm here.

Back to looking for the Belevidere Motel. I continued south and found the place - in sad shape and for sale. On to my second choice: Americas Best Value Inn. It's right across the street from the Ariston, so that worked well (I planned to walk over to eat). I checked in at 6:55pm and got room 114. The check-in worker said, "Parking is available in front of the room, or, in your case, in the room."

I quickly unpacked clean clothes and got a shower. Ready to go at 7:45pm. The Ariston was busy. All the waiters/waitresses move fast here. Another thing is that the lighting is really low, which made it hard to get good pictures. But I tried.

Waiter Logan took my order: U.S.D.A. Choice New York Strip Steak (12 oz) with mashed potatoes, salad bar, and decaf coffee. This was being extravagant on my part - as was getting a motel room - but I'd been encouraged by some friends before I started this trip to spend a little extra enjoying myself. Logan offered to get me some bread, which I also had with my meal. As I was leaving, he gave me two post cards and a refrigerator magnet, and had me sign their guestbook. I left as they were closing (at 9:00pm).

As soon as I was back in my motel room, I started writing the report. Took a break to walk next-door to Walgreens for a chocolate milk. It's 12:15am now, and I think I'm done for the day. Good night.

Jeff

Spent: $11.67 plus $2.50 (breakfast and chocolate shake) + $54.99 plus $5 (motel) + $31.08 plus $8 (supper) + $1.40 (chocolate milk) = $114.64.

Day 3 - Rochester, IL to Litchfield, IL

Heart

Comment

Link

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