June 9, 2010
Day 23 - ending at Sheffield, Illinois
rode on Joe Stengel Trail, Lowell Parkway Bicycle Path, Hennepin Canal Parkway State Trail
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It hadn't rained overnight, and I'd done a better job at setting the tent up where the morning sun would hit it. I took a shower, then packed up. I found that I had three extra sets of screws and nuts packed with my tools, so fixing the basket mounting didn't require a tent peg. I was ready to leave at 9:50am.
I think these trees I passed as I left the park are white pines, but I can't say that for sure.
If it hadn't involved so much backtracking, I would have eaten breakfast at the White Pines Inn. So instead I was headed for Polo.
I was riding against a west wind, but the road wasn't bad.
Here's a picture of power lines on different poles from what I'm used to seeing.
I arrived in Polo at 10:40am, but had a hard time finding a place to eat downtown. Eventually, I used the Poynt program on George's BlackBerry to find the Red Apple Restaurant along the highway on the south side of town. I arrived at 10:55am, in time for the Early Bird Special: two eggs, three bacon, and two pancakes. I also had coffee.
My reason for going to Polo, besides breakfast, was to connect up with the Joe Stengel Trail that would take me to Dixon. Backtracking a little from the Red Apple, I arrived at the trail at 11:50am.
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The farther I went, the more overgrown the trail became.
At this old building in Woosung, I lost the trail altogether.
I got on Route 52 for a while, then headed east when I thought I could connect back up. I found the trail, but it only lasted half a mile before I arrived at the start of the Lowell Parkway Trail. It was in much better shape.
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It was 1:35pm when I arrived at Dement Avenue in Dixon, the end of the trail. Two blocks farther west I saw a Dollar General Store, so stopped for drinks and food: lemonade, Vitaminwater, Starbucks Doubleshot Energy+Vanilla Drink, Van Camp's Beanee Weenees, and ginger snaps. I'd bought too much to fit in the front basket well, but decided it wasn't worth unpacking the rear to get to my lunchbox food storage bag. I went looking for a park to drink at least one of the drinks. I found a nice place to sit along the Rock River on East Boyd Street. Some teen-aged boys came along. One asked where I worked. When I answered, "Peoria", he said that was a long ways away. I explained that I was on a bike tour, and not heading to work. It didn't occur to me until later (just now, actually), that I looked more like a janitor (perhaps heading to work) than a bicyclist on a tour.
I moved on to the two bridges that crossed the Rock River. I'd decided to use the Peoria Avenue Bridge, though both bridges looked bicycle-friendly.
Before I crossed I took this picture. A moment later, the bike blew over.
After the bridge I took Second Street to get to Rock Island Road. This wasn't the best road for bicycling, and I had to move to the shoulder often for traffic to pass. Also, I was still fighting the wind from the west.
There was no dispute to where the county boundary crossed this road. Or maybe there had been.
Finally, at 4:10pm, I arrived in Rock Falls, and my turn-off for the Hennepin Feeder Canal Trail. First, though, I went a block farther west to buy a 20-ounce Cherry Crush from a Casey's General Store. The clerk said she'd passed me earlier on her way to work.
It was a short trip north to the river and a park. I drank my soda sitting on a bench, watching a family trying different fishing spots along the feeder canal inlet. At 4:49pm, I made my way to the trail entrance, crossing a bridge over the feeder canal.
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I noticed that there was a pedestrian bridge across the Rock River to the north, and wondered if I could have stayed north of the river to Sterling and crossed there.
As I was getting a picture of the trail entrance, a married couple came up (having just walked across the pedestrian bridge) and offered to take my picture. It took the wife three tries, but with the help of her husband, they took a good picture using the BlackBerry.
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The photographer said their son, a Boy Scout, would like to try a bicycle touring trip, but he was only sixteen years old, and she wasn't ready for him to venture off like that quite yet.
I started out happy to be out of traffic, out of the wind, and on a flat trail. I had lots of miles to cover, so kept up a good pace (for me).
Here's how the trail makes its way under Route 40.
Whenever there were trees to my right I was in the shade, since the sun was getting low.
I'd been on part of the main Hennepin Canal Trail before, so knew about these concrete telegraph poles.
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The flowers were pretty.
Mayflies were all around at one section of the trail. One hopped on for a ride.
While riding, I decided to give my friend Jim a call to update him on the trip. I told him the rear tire with his recommended Slime-filled tube was working out OK. In fact, except for running up against the sunset, things were great.
Of course, I spoke too soon. It wasn't much later, at 7:28pm, when the front tire went flat.
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I was getting faster at fixing flats - 37 minutes. And that included moving some of my purchased food items from the front basket to the rear lunch bag.
A little later, at 8:22pm, I decided I'd better catch what I expected to be my last photo opportunity for the day.
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Actually, I got in a few more pictures. This one is of an aqueduct, where the canal is carried over a river on a bridge.
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When the feeder canal gradually became wider and wider, I knew I was at the Feeder Basin, and close to the main canal.
The trail curved to the right, which put me on the main trail heading west. I exchanged greetings with a fisherman who was setting up for some night fishing. It wasn't much later and I was at the camping area at Lock 22 (at 9:04pm). My mayfly friend was still with me!
I grabbed one more picture by the bridge over the canal, and then set up the tent before I lost all the light.
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I was hungry, so enjoyed the two cans of Beanee Weenees I'd bought at the Dollar General Store in Dixon. Then I wrote and sent out the day's email report, relying on the bike's battery to keep the BlackBerry going.
Subject: Day 23 report
Sent: Wednesday, 6-9-2010, 10:58 PM
Up at 6:00am. Took shower. Found that I had more screws/nuts with me than I thought, so fixing the basket mount was easy.
Left at 9:50am. Headed west (into the wind) to polo for breakfast and the joe stengel trail. Ate at the red apple at 10:55am.
Followed trail into dixon, arriving at about 2:00pm. Bought drinks and items for supper at dollar general. Took break at bench by river.
Headed southwest to rock falls and the north end of the hennepin feeder canal trail. Started trail at 4:25pm. Mayflies were thick at one area along the trail.
At 7:28pm had flat (front tire). Ready to go again at 8:05pm.
Arrived at lock 22 (where I'm "primitive" camping) at 9:04pm.
Ate supper. Charging blackberry from bike battery.
Breakfast: $6.27+2; supper items: $7.97; soda in rock falls: $1.59; camp fee: $8.00.
61miles; 8.3mph moving average.
Jeff
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
Day Twenty-three: 62 miles in 11 hours, 14 minutes = 5.5 mph average progress.
Spent: $6.27 plus $2 (breakfast) + $7.97 (groceries) + $1.70 (soda) + $8 (campsite fee) = $25.94.
Today's ride: 62 miles (100 km)
Total: 1,077 miles (1,733 km)
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