Day 22 - Peoria, IL to Kewanee, IL - Two Far 2020 - NTF (Not Two Far)

June 21, 2020

Day 22 - Peoria, IL to Kewanee, IL

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Today started out great. We slept until 8AM and took our time getting ready. We pulled out of the hotel parking lot about 9:45AM. After four miles of urban grime getting through Peoria, we got on the Rock Island Greenway. It was paved and pleasant to ride.

Rock Island Greenway - an urban trail that is well used

There were lots of cyclists and walkers, many of them families. We're always wary of wandering children when parents are walking and talking and not paying enough attention to their kids on the trail. We were on the Greenway for about 6 miles at which point it became the Rock Island Trail. For us, the Trail was not nearly as nice as the Greenway as the Trail is crushed stone. In some places, the surface was very soft and slippery from the recent rain. We were glad to get back on the road after four miles of that.

The Rock Island Greenway morphs into the Rock Island Trail. The Greenway is wide and paved, the trail is narrower and hardpack.

It was also nice nice to get back out in the open. Heavily wooded trails have very limited scenery and get too closed in.

We enjoy wide open vistas. Some Rail-Trails can be claustrophobic due to the tree canopy. I call them tree tunnels - K

As we approached Princeville we saw these soybean signs.

They were test plots for this seed company. We could see this structure from a couple of miles away. I would like to know the capacity of this beast. - K

If the previous building wasn't big enough, they had this one as well

After we passed the buildings, we came upon their corn samples.

Our first stop was in the village of Princeville. The Stevens Square Park was a very nice municipal park.

Stevens Square Park and family enjoying Father's Day

About 10 miles past Princeville, we came to the town of Wyoming where we took another break. Something about Wyoming appealed to both of us. It didn't look particularly prosperous and it certainly wasn't quaint, but it had a homey charm.

This facility was just north of Toulon. We didn't see the hayfield, but it has to be on the same scale as the cornfields in the area. On the far side of the elevators were 3 semi's loaded with bales ready for shipment. - K

About an hour (10 miles) before we reached Kewanee, the clouds began to gather. By the time we were 30 minutes away, the sky ahead looked like this. We rode as hard as we could and just got a smattering of big raindrops in the last two miles. Just after we got in, the bottom felt out!

After we checked in we decided we needed our daily Diet Coke fix, regardless of the rain. There is an Aldi's next to the motel so off we went. We got MUCH wetter walking to the grocery than we did on the bike :-) The motel clerk must have seen us returning, because she met us at the door with a couple of towels. Such service! - Kerry

Today's ride: 52 miles (84 km)
Total: 396 miles (637 km)

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Lou HarminGood riding and very interesting tales to be told. I read daily and feel left out. lou
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4 years ago

Jeanna & Kerry SmithTo Lou HarminLou,
Maybe when we get back, I'll put you in the back seat and take you for a spin. Can't have you being left out :-)
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4 years ago