Day 3: Stephen A. Forbes State Park Campground (near Omega, IL) to Olney, IL

June 18, 2012

(By Jeff)

Last night's camping went much better than the first - everyone was quiet by dusk, presumably because this was a group of campers more interested in getting up early to go fishing than in projecting bad 80's flicks on the side of their motor homes. We both slept well, and it was a nice camping experience (I, not a camping fan, admit this grudgingly.)

After getting everything packed up, we rode a few miles against a slight headwind to the Omega General Store.

The owner, Chuck, was the only one there at this early hour. We asked about breakfast, and were informed that, while there was no menu, we could in fact get breakfast.

Me: 'What have you got?'

Chuck: 'What do you want?'

Very accommodating: I already liked this place a lot!

We were briefly tempted to order something really exotic (to see if Chuck could cook it), but ended up getting pancakes, sausage, bacon, biscuits and coffee.

While we were waiting, Chuck's wife Julie came in, and gave us a tour of the place. The Omega General Store is clearly the hub of the little town, and while it's obviously a hangout for the locals, everyone was very friendly. Highly recommended.

After breakfast we headed east through some OK but unexceptional scenery. How unexceptional? The two most remarkable things we saw the first several miles were a gigantic pile of gravel right by the road, and a large, well preserved California Raisin figure in front of a house.

Meacham had nothing more than a country church, whose jammed-shut outhouse door was briefly a cause of sadness for Joy.

Down the road, Louisville (pronounced 'Lewis-ville') had a lot more going on. We had lunch at a nice cafe called Tori's.

Joy seemed inordinately excited by her meal ('Best French Dip ever!'), while I wasn't sure what to make of my approximately 18 inch 'Big Bob' fish sandwich.

A crew of workers came in for lunch, and one of them was a cyclist, who told us about doing the super-long, one day 'RAIN' (Ride Across Indiana). Interesting, but made me realize that I am in no kind of shape to ride 160 miles in one day.

After lunch, it was terribly hot. Every five miles we would stop in shade and I would douse Joy with cold water (at her request.) That seemed to help.

Later it was even hotter when we encountered 1.5 miles of loose gravel road. Despite Joy's experience growing up in Iowa riding on their gravel roads, this was crappy Illinois gravel - not the same thing at all (I was told.)

By the time we got back on pavement, and neared Olney ('Home of the White Squirrels'!), we decided we couldn't make it to the next state park campground. It was just too hot, and the bad road surfaces had drained us of our energy. Joy was a good sport while I insisted on checking out BOTH motels, even though we ended up at the first one (a Super 8) that we looked at anyway.

Later in the evening I talked to the woman at the front desk of the motel about the albino squirrels that are Olney's claim to fame. She told me where we could probably see them tomorrow, but offered her opinion that they weren't that big of a deal, and that instead the town should exploit favorite son Burl Ives. I think they should stick with the squirrels.

Giant pile of gravel. Perhaps this is where all the gravel roads we've been riding on (which were supposed to be paved) come from.

The door to the outhouse behind the church was sadly jammed shut.

Unfortunately closed at 10:45, but we found a nice restaurant down the block.

Jeff contemplates the "Big Bob" fish sandwich he ordered at Tori's in Louisville.

Not hungry enough at this point in the trip to resort to eating this.

Jeff tries to soften the blow of the news he's about to deliver: The next 1.5 miles of road are loose gravel.

Today's ride: 55 miles (89 km)
Total: 139 miles (224 km)

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