There are four towns in the United States named Metamora - in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan. I know this because my friend Kris, who lives in Metamora, Illinois, looked it up in her atlas shortly after I returned from my 2015 bike trip to Southern Indiana, where I'd passed through Metamora, Indiana. At the time, she suggested that I go on a trip to see all four, since they are all in the Midwest. "But I've already seen half of them," I was thinking to myself. Forward to 2020. CycleBlaze member Kelly Iniguez commented on a map I'd posted that had Eureka, Illinois as my destination. She'd laid out a town-themed trip that went through places named Eureka.

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All that got me rethinking Kris' Metamora tour suggestion. I'd enjoyed my previous visit to Metamora, Indiana. And I haven't bicycled in Ohio or Michigan yet. So that's the plan - visit all four in one trip, which puts me on sections of several bike trails, including these:

• Cardinal Greenways Trail (Indiana)
• Great Miami River Trail (Ohio)
• Fred Meijer Clinton-Ionia-Shiawassee (CIS) Trail (Michigan)
• Kal-Haven Trail (Michigan)
• Old Plank Road Trail (Illinois)
• Illinois and Michigan (I&M) Canal State Trail (Illinois)

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I'll start from home (Morton, Illinois) and go through Metamora, Illinois the first day. Then on to Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan.

Here are excerpts of what each town says online about themselves:

• Metamora, Illinois: Since the days of Lincoln, Metamora has continued to prosper. It is rich in small, local businesses and has some of the best schools in the state. Farming is still the heart of Metamora's economy. The village continues to cherish its celebrated past by holding traditional dances, re-enactments, and keeping the doors of their historic sites open.
  

• Metamora, Indiana: Visit Metamora to enjoy a wonderfully quaint town full of history and scenic beauty. You won't find another place anywhere, that has what can be found in Metamora.

• Metamora, Ohio: Metamora (also known as Amboy) is a village in Fulton County, Ohio, United States. The population was 566 at the 2020 census.

• Metamora, Michigan: The Village of Metamora, home to 565 residents, is known far and wide for its quaint downtown and a place where you can escape from the fast pace of city life to the old-town atmosphere.

Metamora was the name of a character in the play Metamora, or The Last of the Wampanoags, first performed in 1829. The websites for Metamora, Illinois and Metamora, Indiana make note of this as their name's origin, as does a Metamora, Ohio library article.

I certainly won't note everything there is to see in each town, but I do hope to get a feel for each place.