Day 15 - ending at Bourbonnais, IL - Northern Indiana on the Open Road

September 13, 2011

Day 15 - ending at Bourbonnais, IL

rode on Kankakee River Trail

Posted via email Wed Sep 14 05:44:01 2011 PDT

Up at 6:45am. At about 8:30am a tree removal service crew showed up and made quick work of removing a nearby dead tree next to a rusty Model T Ford. For a while sawdust was raining on my campsite.

Left at 10:18am. Same beautiful paved roads while in Indiana. I entered Illinois at 12:30pm on Baseline Road (0000N). At 12:40pm my right pedal broke. I tie-wrapped it and was back on my way. Not much later it really broke. This called for a new pedaling technique. Basically, I had to lift my right foot up and off each cycle. This slowed me down quite a bit.

I used the BlackBerry's Poynt program to see if there were any bicycle shops in Kankakee. There was one - Tern Of The Wheel. That became my focused goal - it was twelve straight-line miles away.

I was heading to Route 17. I got to railroad tracks just before Route 17, looked down and saw a wheel lug nut. This was about the fourth one of this style I've seen on this trip, but this one I picked up. It wasn't the correct thread, but screwed into the crank snug. This was much better.

At 4:00pm I was at the bike shop. I bought the set and also got a free city/county map. Made quick work of getting the pedals on, then headed to the Family House Restaurant. Had the same as yesterday: steak and eggs.

I was back on my way at 5:33pm. I didn't mean to, but went through the Olivet Nazarene University campus. I believe it's their chapel I got a picture of.

Found my way to the start of the Kankakee River Trail, thanks to directions I received from a passerby.

It got dark while I was on the trail, but eventually I made it to the Chippewa Campground (at 7:42pm), where I found out there's no shower house! Got the tent set up at site #86 using the bike's headlight, but first enjoyed an Orange Crush from the camp's soda machine.

I'm ready for a good night's sleep.

Spent: $18.05 (pedals), $15.56 + $3 (supper), $1.50 (soda), and $8 (campsite fee).

Went: 51 miles.

Jeff

Day 15 - Fair Oaks, IN to Bourbonnais, IL

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