About

Presently live in Morton, Illinois (Tazewell County) - a village of 17,117 located nine miles southeast of Peoria, Illinois.

Born in 1955. Grew up in Marquette Heights, Illinois. In 1973, my folks and sisters moved to Eureka, Illinois, and I went off to Valparaiso, Indiana, to study electronics at Valparaiso Technical Institute. I did my first (unintentional) overnight bike trip from there, sleeping underneath the IN-49 bridge over the Kankakee River (using a map for a blanket) on my way back from Rensselaer, Indiana. "You can't just pedal off without some thought about returning." was the lesson I learned that weekend. After graduating, I worked for several companies as a technician (Instrument, Maintenance, Electronics, Electrical), before ending up with my present job - in chemistry. December 31, 2021 update: I'm retired.

During lunch on July 7, 2008, I said to my wife, "I think I'll ride my bike to pick up the vegetables this afternoon." She didn't say anything to discourage me, so off I went on my first town-to-town adventure since my college days. We were members of a CSA at the time, and vegetables were picked up between 5:00pm and 6:00pm in Eureka - 17 miles away. I was beat that evening, but also had that satisfying feeling that I was able to do it. That trip led to other CSA pick-up trips, and eventually planned overnight trips - much to the initial consternation of my folks and sisters.

I took this picture on my first planned overnight bicycle trip. It's my favorite:

BIKES: 1977 Montgomery Ward Open Road, 2010 Trek Belleville, 1965 Schwinn Typhoon, 2007 Surly Long Haul Trucker.

TENT: Coleman Sundome 3-Person 7-ft x 7-ft 2000000134.

GPSs: Magellan MAP 330, DeLorme PN-20 (retired), DeLorme PN-60, DeLorme PN-40 (retired).

CAMERAS: Oregon Scientific Dshot III DS6888A (retired), Kodak C123 (retired).

PHONE/SMARTPHONES: Nokia 5180iP on TracFone plan (retired), BlackBerry Storm 9530 (retired), Samsung Galaxy Core Prime (retired), Samsung Galaxy S22.

WEATHER RADIO: Oregon Scientific WR602.

RADIOS: Grundig FR-200 (retired), Sentry PR799 (retired), Tesslor M8 (retired), Retekess V115.

This table shows calculations on data from my trips: