Sunday, June 16, 1996
Day 36
Morrison, Illinois to Starved Rock State Park, Illinois
Today's Miles: 87
Cumulative Miles for the Tour: 2374
Degree of Difficulty: Easy
Terrain: Slightly Rolling Farmland
Find of the Day: Midwest Thunderstorms
I haven't played in the rain since I was a kid. I had forgotten how fun it is to be drenched by a thunderstorm in 80 degree weather.
We had a late, 9:30am start this morning. Even with 85 miles to ride for the day, it was hard to say goodbye to the Bealer's, as we sat around the den talking and exchanging stories. Beverly was intrigued by the writing of the journals. She brought out a book she had written in conjunction with her 96 year old father-in-law.He was raised in a sod house on the Nebraska plains in the early 1900's. The family moved every few years, as his father traded his current land for different farms around the southern United States. At that time, there were no maps of the roads. When they drove from Nebraska to Florida, they drove in the general direction of Florida and each night would stop to ask locals for suggestions for a route for the next day. He said it was surprising they ever reached Florida. That's the way I feel sometimes, too, as we are taking the "Blue Highway" backroads on this bike trip. It's a pleasant surprise when we all end up in the same place each evening.
Leaving the Bealer's House on the Final Leg of our Journey
We rode out of Morrison at 9:30, headed 30 miles up the road to Tampico for our first lunch of the day. Tampico is a town of a couple hundred people and is the birth place of Ronald Reagan. We heard several times along the way that the best place to eat would be Dutch's Diner since they were known for their huge selection of pies. They were right about the pies but the management at Dutch's leaves a lot to be desired.
We've been on the road for over a month and I would be hard pressed to remember a place where we have been treated more rudely. The waitress and the kitchen staff were great, it was the diner manager, herself, who put us at odds. If she had been taught social manners as a youth, it certainly didn't show. I won't go into all the details, but after being treated to sarcastic remarks, food splashing on our backs from the dishes being thrown into the bussing cart and being kicked off the table before we were done because she wanted to seat someone else, I'd say that I'd pass on Dutch's if I were going through Tampico again.
I didn't know he was born in a bank...
Ken, Mark and Adam
The weather looked ominous as we were riding out of town. There were lightning strikes and rolling thunder to the south and east of us...the exact directions we were taking for the next 30 miles. As we pedaled due south, we saw the rain coming. It was as if a line of demarcation had been drawn and we were being dared to cross the line. That's how definitive the beginning of the rain was. As we rode closer to the storm, we could actually see where the sheets of rain were coming towards us, the drops bouncing of the road, the winds blowing it toward us at 20 miles an hour. When the rain actually hit us, it was like stepping into a warm shower. We were soaked within seconds and there was nothing else to do except sing along with Gene Kelly at the top of our voices..."Singin' in the rain, just siiiingin' in the rain...".
The rain kept up for about 30 minutes at we turned east, headed for Peru, Illinois. The weather is consistently in the 80's here, so when the rain stopped, we were dried within minutes except for the sweat we were generating.The state park at Starved Rock is about 10 minutes from Utica, so we had a quick dinner and showers at the campsite before going into town and watching the Bulls finish off the Sonics. Our campsite is a little south of Chicago. I guess we're the only Sonics fans within a 500 mile radius.I just heard a big role of thunder off to my left, so I'm going to end it here. We're headed for the Indiana border, planning on getting well into Indiana tomorrow. Thirteen days to go and counting...
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