82.5 miles cycling, 1637′ of climbing (3204.9 total) – to read from the beginning, click here.
Joe made us a hearty breakfast — eggs, bacon & sausage for me and a veggie omelet for Dana, and we packed up, said our good-byes and thanks, and headed out. We started on the Illinois and Michigan Canal Trail, but like yesterday’s trail, it quickly lost its charm with bumps and ruts and single tracks. We had to stick it out until we could get off the trail at mile 12 and get back on some better roads.
The roads were much better, including a long stretch on Rt 6 again. Much less up and down today which we were grateful for. However, we reached the limits of our mapping tools when we were dumped into a firestorm of truck and car traffic at an inter-modal exchange point (trucks carrying shipping containers to and from a train yard). It was the most awful 15 miles of the trip — Dana was thinking it was her last day on earth — I wasn’t quite so worried as there was a middle lane where the traffic could easily pass us. Still, it was a constant stream of trucks and cars as we hit there just about shift-change time so many cars and pickups were in-between the semis. We didn’t think it could get worse than this.
But it did. The roadway narrowed to a two lane for about a mile before our first available turn off. That was scary, but ahead lay a road reconstruction detour that sent us onto what would have normally been a quiet side road. A lot of the detour traffic was also on that route and while there were no semis, it was again a constant stream of vehicles going in both directions on a very narrow road.
Since you’re reading this, you know we survived. Unscathed, too, and with the experience now to know to double-check the “shortest” route for any possible situations like this. Sometimes, though, you just have to go with the situation at hand.
We finally got to Frankfort, IL and the last few miles were on the very smooth and quiet Old Plank Road Trail. It led us into downtown and a square of restaurants and bars. We picked The Loft and climbed the stairs. Immediately on entering the bar, Dana went up to order water & drinks, and a man sitting at the bar asked how far we had ridden. “82.1” miles. So far. Hank introduced himself and his wife Laurie and we started chatting — he was a cyclist and was intrigued by our trip. Dana was by then talking with Laurie and asking about campgrounds or parks. Within a few minutes, they offered us a bed at their house about 5 miles outside of town. Another bar, another pair of Road Angels found.
Hank & Laurie headed home and Hank was going to return and pick us up in his truck when we were ready. In lieu of a restaurant meal, we just sat at the Loft’s empty outside patio and ate up some of the food we’d been carrying. A text to Laurie and Hank showed up within minutes. We loaded the bikes into the pickup and headed Southwest to their house.
Ahhhhh. Showers, wine, conversation, and a warm, dry bed to fall into. What another surprise ending to a rough day.
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