Go Big And Go Home - Day 22 - The “I”s have it!

It was a three state day again…..Iowa, Illinois and Indiana……

As I mentioned yesterday, Iowa was supposed to be a short venture through so getting to and over the  Illinois state line was easy….and we got to cross the Mississippi River one more time (did this in 2016 as well).

We left at 8 am this morning so that we could get a good start, especially since we were losing an hour as we crossed the time zone into Eastern Time.  We rode for a bit through some nice winding roads…I happened to mention to Larry that maybe the roads were not as straight as pictured on the map…. WRONG!  Didn’t last long.  As we got to Macomb, where we were headed to before the mechanical issue, we noticed a sign that said this was the birthplace of Elizabeth J. Magie who was the inventor of the original Monopoly game (originally called the Landlords’ Game).  Elizabeth, besides being a game inventor, was a writer and feminist.  She was also involved in political and economic activism which is how she came to develop the game around 1908 I believe….anyway, interesting that you find these little tidbits as you are passing through these really small rural towns.

We made our way through each little town, that seemed to be separated by corn fields.  As we approached Osmon, we noticed another sign announcing Champaign County as the “Birthplace of the Tuskegee Airmen”.  Another interesting story and one I encourage you to look up.  This is a story around the time of  WWII.

Most of the roads for the rest of the day were straight….a few turns here and there especially when we entered some of the more larger communities along this rural route.

We crossed over the Illinois River and entered into Indiana…and yes, we sang the song.

As it was pretty straight riding and a great day, we decided we would push through past our original stop for the night to get to Albany, IN.  Unfortunately no hotels there so just a little side stop to Muncie….the name amuses me.  We also lost an hour so by the time we arrived it was 5:30 p.m. local time.  We unloaded the bikes, locked them up, changed and headed to Five Guys Restaurant for an amazing hamburger…..and it was….no extra charge for any of the toppings or any toppings in the fabulous milkshake that we shared.

Larry and I remarked on how long it seemed since we left Utah…..Just a week ago yesterday.  It is hard to believe all that we have seen, done and the ground we have covered.  The beauty is that we have had literally blue skies the whole time.  We had fog and smoke in Oregon, we had a round cloud on Kansas/Missouri border and a few clouds this morning that were gone by 9:30 am. (You can see them in the Illinois sign picture).  We have had 22 days of blue sky….I mention this because it appears that we are going to be going from blue sky to rain at some point by the weekend.  We have no reason to complain, not that we would anyway.  We are used to riding in all weather.  

The tires are holding up good…we might need another oil change before we get home…and they definitely need another good wash.  The place we had them serviced in Utah did a great job washing them….but they might be a little embarrassed by their state right now…in fact we probably look just as bad in our buggy pants…in fact our outer wear probably doesn’t smell all that great either lol.

Tomorrow we cross into Ohio….once we are through here we are in familiar territory…we just need to decide which familiar territory will keep us the driest, if possible.

TTFN