Day 80 - El Paso, IL to Gibson City, IL - Two Far 2020 - NTF (Not Two Far)

August 18, 2020

Day 80 - El Paso, IL to Gibson City, IL

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We spent the last two nights at the Days Inn in El Paso, IL. Days Inn is not a brand we would usually chose, but there are limited choices in the little towns we stay in. This Days Inn was much better than we expected and actually very clean and comfortable. The manager was very nice about letting us park the bike in the unused breakfast area. As we were leaving, he asked if he could bring his kids out to see the bike. We said of course and the kids seemed pleased to get to see the bike and talk to us.

After we got the bike outside and were ready to load the panniers, Kerry thought he'd go back in and see if the kids wanted a ride. The daughter was delighted and when I said she could wear my helmet, she said "Of course, safety first!"

Sarika and Mayus Patel with their daughter, Komal.

Komal on the bike with Kerry. She wore my helmet for her ride.

Her younger brother was less excited about riding, but after he saw Komal have a great time, he jumped on and had his turn. My helmet was a bit too big for him, but he wore it.

A few miles into our ride, we passed this large plant.

When we got closer, we saw the name.

Great name, but place looks shut down - sort of like my Kerry was yesterday :-)

We remembered seeing a KERRY facility somewhere else in Illinois when we rode north several weeks ago. There was a convenience store in Gridley just down the road. A man working there said KERRY had closed this plant recently. It produced cereal, according to another employee.

The next town we came to was Chenoa. While Kerry was in a store getting a drink, I walked over to the railroad crossing to see if I could get a picture of the train I heard. The train never appeared, but I saw this on the ground.

I tried to straighten it out with my foot and I got this.

Does anyone have any ideas about what this could be? We have no clue.

After we messed with the little string of numbers, we were still hearing a train, but not on the track in front of us. We finally saw it on another track. We rode around town and found a railroad intersection.

A closer view, but fuzzy. Sorry about that.

Also in Chenoa, we found this flag display. Semaphorically it says "68T0C5SP". No idea what that means.

We continued on heading sometimes east, and sometimes south. There was a brisk wind from the east, so we looked forward to those turns to the south!

On this turn south, we not only got out of the headwind, we also got smooth new pavement. It takes so little to make us happy!

The next place we stopped was Colfax.

And I really liked this reserved parking place - even a bicycle to mark the spot.

Once we left Colfax, we had twenty miles to ride with no stops. I found a few rural images to share.

I almost missed the goats at this farm. The picture is very cropped and not too clear.

Another picture of another big grain elevator.

And, another big thing -

When we got close to Gibson City, we could see huge plants of some kind ahead. We found they were Dupont plants and learned this from their website "DuPont Gibson City remains a large soybean processing facility, employing approximately 150 workers. The DuPont Gibson City site purchases over $100 million of beans annually from area farmers for use in products like soybean meal, soybean oil, soy protein concentrate, soy lecithin, soy protein flour, soy protein nuggets and other extruded soy products." The soybean processing plant first opened here in 1939.

This is a Dupont Nutrition and Health facility.

Bloomer Line locomotive #7504 - The Bloomer Line RR is a short-line railroad owned by the Alliance Grain Company. The railroad serves the 8 grain elevators Alliance Grain owns, as well as other local businesses.

A fun fact for Stan H. - The Bloomer Shippers Connecting Railroad Co. (aka The Bloomer Line) is one of 23 privately owned railroads in Illinois. Its reporting mark is BLOL.

We're not very careful about our diets, but looking at corn and beans growing all around us, then seeing these food factories, makes me think about how far what I eat is from the natural food source.

Today's ride: 57 miles (92 km)
Total: 2,514 miles (4,046 km)

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Lou Harminyour comments on this entry are most interesting. Really a great trip!
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4 years ago

Jeanna & Kerry SmithTo Lou HarminThanks, Lou. I'm glad you are enjoying our journal.
Jeanna
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4 years ago

Michael and Diane RuddockType your comment here
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