Days 36 to 38: Odell, IL to Muscantine, IA

Note: Dan is paraphrasing excerpts from Liz’s ride journal.

Thursday, July 20 we are riding from Odell, IL to Henry, IL — a relatively flat 63 mile route. More farms and farm equipment. The big open fields did little to shield us as we rode westbound into a stiff headwind (Dan: we call wind the hill that never ends). Wenona is about half way to our destination and a small pond became our lunch spot. There was no drinking water available at the pond so I rode into the town and came upon the water department office. There Russ and Sheila were happy to provide me with 4 bottles of water and were quick to promote Wenona’s city park as a future stopover for this ride!

We crossed the Illinois River on a large old girder bridge and entered the town of Henry with about 9 miles left to ride. I crossed through Henry and my bike computer guided me a bit off course — I got to add a few miles as I turned around and got back to the route. Traffic was bad with narrow roads and trucks but soon I arrived at Condit’s Ranch Campground our home for the night.

I woke up Friday morning to the sound of Chuck yelling at a raccoon that was trying to get into his bike bag for food. I set off for Kewanee, IL – a short 39 miles away. Only about 3.5 miles out I realized that my bike rear view mirror was missing. I knew exactly where it was back at Condit Ranch so I made a U-turn and started back. When I got there I found my mirror next to Mike and Amanda’s golf cart – they were there to service the bathrooms. Amanda reported no “bucket list” items and Mike said he was just happy to have made it to 68.

With my mirror re-attached I was back on the road and the rolling hills west of Henry. I stopped in Bradford at Casey’s store to eat my lunch and noticed what I thought was a very large ornate church for such a small town. I biked over and the church was open so I got a few photos.

The rest of the ride was uneventful and I found myself at Francis Park in Kewanee, IL. There were no showers, but they had bathrooms, water, and electricity. One of the riders had friends nearby who were kind enough to bring dinner for the group.

Saturday I awoke to the sound of a pack of coyotes nearby. It was a 73 mile day with rolling hills and a high of 88 degrees.

I stopped for a break and noticed a sign for free vegetables in Preemption, IL — so I stopped and picked up some for the group.

I got my tent set up along the Mississippi River at the Blanchard Island Recreation Area near Muscantine, IA. Abby the park ranger came out and provided some supplies and a warm welcome to the Park. We thought about swimming but the river was too muddy. Again there were no showers but we had good access to water where we could clean up. It was a very pleasant night with cool temps – excellent sleeping weather to prepare for another day.