24 May 2000
I woke up a couple of times that night but fell back to sleep quickly. It was a restful first night and I hoped that it would be a good reflection of the entire trip.
As the sun rose and the world became light again, I began getting up. I took several pictures before striking camp. BOB got into most of them. When you are traveling by yourself with a trailer named BOB as your only companion, he tends to dominate the photographs. (BOB by the bridge, BOB at the crossroads, BOB waving to the tourists...etc.) After my shooting was done and everything was captured on film, I repacked everything that had been used for the camp.
It was about 8am and a beautiful day. I headed northwest on a road that traveled thru the Sand Ridge State Forest. Down a bit, a group of women were walking and apparently enjoying the lovely morning. I could hear them talking and laughing even a distance away. We acknowledged each other in passing. The Forest was quite full of trees and nature and stuff which likely contributed to its name and I thoroughly enjoyed riding through it. Unfortunately, the road that I had chosen did not go north entirely all the way so I was forced to head either west or east. I chose west even though I was ultimately heading northeast to Sheboygan. It was a poor choice. I had thought I would want to be on the northwest side of the Illinois River and it seemed to be as good a spot to cross as any other. So on I rode. And rode. Until I began to feel that I was going in the wrong direction. Stopping, I looked at the map only to discover that the road had gradually curved and now was heading southwest! I had missed my exit. To make matters worse, the next road heading in the the right direction was quite a ways away and it would still involve many miles of extra riding. Generally I would always rather go the wrong direction and least see new places than have to retrace my path, but this time I had no choice if I was to stay on time.
After turning around and heading back, I found my missed turnoff. It was not surprising that I had passed it by. It was gravel and wasn't especially inviting for a road bike pulling a heavily laden trailer. However, it was heading in the right direction, so I took it. At first it wasn't too bad - a bit bumpy but ridable. Then it changed to sand. (This area of Illinois has a sandy topsoil with many old overgrown dunes - hence the name Sand Ridge State Forest.) I was promptly forced to stop as my wheels bogged down. My bike, as a recumbent, was somewhat heavier than a typical high end road bike, and this was before it was loaded down with touring bags. Plus it was towing a 60# trailer whose weight was partially on its back wheel. So when I sat on the seat, the total weight on that rear wheel was over 200 pounds. It simply would sink in to the sand and refuse to budge. Altogether too much like an ornery camel.
For the next several miles, I walked the bike. Of course the dunelike terrain meant a lot of rolling hills which forced me to mostly pull the bike. Certainly this caused a bit of a struggle but the worst part wasn't the uphill: it was the fact that I couldn't ride down the other side! As soon as my weight was on the bike, forward progress was impossible. It was amazing to me that several houses were going up along the road. I can just imagine the condition of it in wet weather... So on I traveled until I came to an intersection where the cross road was gravel again! I didn't care it it was going in the right direction or not. I took it! Anything to get me out of the sand.
The road led me down to Spring Lake which is a state fish and wildlife area fed by a canal from the Illinois River. Fishing appeared to be big here. I stopped at a general purpose store/restaurant catering to the fishermen. "Larry's" was its name. I was able to refill my water bottles and spent some time afterwards chatting with the guy at the bar. He came out and admired my rig. Finally leaving, I followed the road around the edge of the lake. Nice boating lake. Lots of of cranes or herons although I wasn't sure which.
By this time it was getting later than I wanted considering the distance that I had traveled. I had hoped to be further north by now. I was also getting hungry and my rear derailleur was acting up. So I decided to head to Pekin where I could get food and re-evaluate my situation. After I left the lake area, there was a long stretch of road that was essentially treeless which exposed me to quite a headwind. It was good to be back on pavement but the wind almost negated the benefits.
Passing Powerton Lake where the big power plant is located, I entered Pekin and rode through town. An Arby's was advertising a sandwich special for $5. I decided to stop and ended up getting several sandwiches and a milkshake and fries. The register girl didn't understand at first that I was only ordering for one person! It was nice to get out of the sun and into the cool indoors. My arms were very burnt from the past day and a half of riding. After finishing my meal, I decided to look for a postcard since I had promised to send one to my mum. I found a Walgreen's where there was some shade so I stopped to overhaul my derailleur. It was in bad shape but I was able to fix it. Afterwards, I looked for a postcard. There were none at that shopping center but they suggested that I try a particular store downtown which might have some. This wild postcard chase was a success. The selection was poor and not really what I was looking for but I bought a couple. The post office was advantageously just a block away which simplified matters.
It wasn't until 4pm that I was able to leave Pekin. I only had two options: cross the river on Route 9 or go up through Peoria. Option 2 was definitely my least favourite so I took Route 9. Embarrassingly, I headed south. Again I began to feel that I was going the wrong way. (I have an excellent sense of direction - it just kicks in late.) Looking at the map, I realised my mistake and had to do the dreaded backtrack. Finally I managed to get to the river only to find that the bridge (which is a pretty large one) was undergoing renovation and was down to one lane in each direction. Not too bad necessarily but there were safey barrels every 20 feet which meant that there was a width of only about 11 feet. (The lanes were contained by concrete walls so there was no room for leeway.) The width was fine for a car, etc but I take up about 2 1/2 - 3 feet with an extra foot for safety which only leaves 7 feet for cars. Again, that is do-able but 18 wheelers are a bit wider than that... I started over the bridge and things were actually going pretty well. Cars passed me when I was between the barrels. All fine and good. Then as I neared the top (the bridge was a bit of an exxagerated ellipse), some guy in a van slowed as he passed and yelled out that what I was doing was illegal. Of course he was wrong, I have just as much right to the road as his big gas guzzling vehicle. But being in the right, however, doesn't make harassment easier to deal with.
Fortunately, I am comfortable riding in even heavy traffic. (Chalk it up to my mostly impurturbable nature.) Then the situation really became interesting. A trucker pulled up next to me as he was passing and, as he lost sight of me, he came to a full stop at the top of the bridge. The situation was becoming surreal as this big rig semi and I on my outlandish rig caused a traffic jam on the peak of the huge bridge! I road up so the driver could see me and then pulled over as close to the wall as I could so he could pass and the trucker started up again. The rest of the ride down the othe side was largely uneventful. At the foot of the bridge was a gas station at the intersection of Illinois 9 and US Highway 24 so I stopped to call my mum and share the experience as I was still pumped on adrenaline. In the excitement, I had missed my turn, as I discovered, but happily could rejoin the route a little further down so it worked out. All in all, I spent 4 hours in Pekin which meant the equivalent of about 40 miles wasted. This leg of the journey was turning out to be less enjoyable than yesterday's.
The next few hours were uneventful. I rode north towards Jubilee College State Park near Kickapoo. As it got later, I began looking for likely campsites. There was a wildlife prairie park that I checked out but they were closing so I figured spending the night there wouldn't work at such a late juncture. Continuing on, I saw a motor trike just south of Kickapoo. It was probably the fifth one that I had seen on the trip and it was surprising to me that they were so popular. The passengers cheered me on and we waved to each other. Just before 8pm, I arrived at Jubilee Park and entered to scope it out. The road wound its way through the park with various campsites off to each side apparently designated for RVs at $11 a night. At the end of the road was a large clearing in the forest. Other than a single tent, it was empty. There were no camping notices or restrictions to be seen anywhere so I decided to spend the night. After going back a bit to a payphone by the toilet facilities and making a call to my parents and to Suzanne K, I returned to the clearing to set up camp.
The trees along the perimeter of the clearing were broadleafs which meant an extensive undergrowth unlike a pine forest which never has much in the way of bushes to get in the way. I couldn't easily bring my bike in with me if I was to string up a hammock which eliminated that possibility (plus there were probably regs against it). So I went with plan B. There were several picnic tables in the clearing and I found the one most isolated from the road and the tent. After locking my bike to it, I wrapped myself in my sleeping bag and a tarp and slept on the table top.
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