Day 5 ending near Sesser, IL

August 28, 2015

I had my alarm set for 5:00am, but woke up at 4:30am. Worked on the report until 6:00am. Packed up and was ready to go by 8:30am, then called my wife. It was very nice hearing all the home news. We talked for about 15 minutes. Then the camper next-door stopped by. His wife had quit riding her single-speed bike due to getting-older health issues. He bought her a multi-speed bike, and now she's riding again.

Started on my way at 8:49am towards another US Army Corps of Engineers place: South Sandusky Campground at Rend Lake. My waypoints had me following a bike path over the dam. It is a nice path, providing great views of the lake and tailwater.

Past the dam, the bike path continued on next to a road. The first challenge for me was getting up the hill ahead. The second was to get back on-course, as my GPS waypoints were indicating I'd missed a turn. Since I needed to go mostly south and a little east, I got on US-50 going east. Not much shoulder on this road, but I made it OK to Huey Road (much nicer) and Huey (town) at 9:52am.

More route refiguring brought me to Hoffman at 10:44am. South of Hoffman is a natural gas compressor station. I could smell gas as I bicycled by.

I was hoping to find a place to eat, and did (Kretzer's Grill and Bar) when I arrived in Hoyleton at 11:50am. I sat down at the bar, got a root beer, and ordered the Country Fried Steak dinner. That came with the soup and salad bar, so I ate a salad while I watched the weather report on their TV. Maybe rain tomorrow and/or Sunday. Had another root beer before I left.

Noon report: 19.2 miles. (This is also the 12:50pm report.)

Headed east out of town at 12:50pm, then south on Meridian Road. I was riding against a southeast wind most of the time, but it wasn't too bad.

My routing past Ashley put me on IL-15 going east for a little ways. Got onto old IL-15, which brought me to Jefferson County at 3:55pm. Changed bicycling maps and continued.

Arrived in Waltonville at 5:35pm, turning south toward the campground. Got on N. Spruce Lane, which took me past an old coal mine. The sun was getting ready to go behind some clouds, but it didn't look like rain yet. Lots of stopping to take pictures. Saw the lake later when the road had a bridge over a finger.

Finally made it to the park property. Went from the road to a bicycle path they have. A nice wide downhill concrete path. I learned quickly to keep my mouth shut, since I was zooming through clouds of small bugs. It was getting dark enough that I turned on my flashers. The bike path curved around and brought me to the campground check-in building at 7:54pm.

The attendant picked non-electric walk-in Tent Site #1 for me, and provided a map. I arrived at T-1 at 8:17pm. Even in the dark, I could see this is a nice spot. Setting up the tent was a little harder, since I couldn't get the stakes in.

A shower took precedence over report writing tonight. After that I sorted pictures for the report, and got into my sleeping bag just after 11:00pm.

Jeff

Spent: $14.58 plus $3 (lunch) + $12 (campsite) = $29.58.

Day 5 - Carlyle, IL to Sesser, IL

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