Day Thirty Six - Missouri to Wisconsin via Illinois

So here we are at day 36 - and back east the roads get crowded and the cities more congested so we need to plan carefully to time when we will arrive where so as to avoid the most congested places/times. Chicago is looming so we had to plan some long days in the run up to ensure we would hit downtown Chicago near noontime.

We got off early again today at 6:49 AM. It was a nice start to the day with partly cloudy skies and temps in the mid 60's.

Day 36 Track

We left Kingdom City MO and headed north on US-54 towards Mexico where 54 jogs east, then north, and then east again until it crosses the Mississippi and the border to Illinois. Our first waypoint of the day would be Louisiana, MO - for the I've Been Everywhere Man Tour - and it's right at the border to Illinois. That was a 75 mile leg and it took us 1 hr 25 minutes to get there. It was a nice ride, but no twisties - just lots of farmland with never ending corn and soybean fields.

I've Been Everywhere Man - Louisiana

From Louisiana we crossed over the Mississippi River on one of the narrowest two lane bridges I've ever been on and just 30 minutes later we were pulled up in front of the Pittsfield, IL post office for the I've Been Everywhere Man tour.

I've Been Everywhere Man - Pittsfield

After Pittsfield, we continued north on US-54 up where it crosses I-72 and turns into Hwy 107. We would continue on that until just south of Mt Sterling where Larry had a little detour on some back country roads through the corn fields on 550, 400 and 300. These were some slightly twisty country roads but we saw lots of action on them. Almost immediately, I got dive bombed by a bird - a Cardinal I think, that just barely missed my head. Shortly after that, I saw a small fox run across the road quite a way ahead of me. Not too far after that, I had a deer run across from right to left. I slowed quickly and let it pass, all the while on the lookout for more to follow. We finally got back onto to "normal roads" like US-24 near Mound Station. That would take us up to Clayton where we split north on 2903rd lane which would take us up to Augusta where it turned into Hwy 61 which we took up to Plymouth where we finally stopped for coffee and to shed a layer of gear. It was now 10:00 AM and it had warmed up to the low 70's.

After coffee at Plymouth, we stayed on 61 until we caught 136 and just after that turn eastward we would snag our next I've Been Everywhere Man waypoint - Tennessee.

I've Been Everywhere Man - Tennessee

We then continued on 136 and would take that on up into Macomb, IL. which was the biggest town we'd been in all day. From there we zig-zagged on some back roads up to Avon where we picked up Hwy 41 which we took north on up through St. Augustine and Abingdon and just short of Galesburg we turned east on CR-10 which would take us into our next waypoint - Knoxville - Where we would also fuel up the bikes.

I've Been Everywhere Man - Knoxville

After Knoxville we would get on I-74E which would take us down and over to Peoria, across Peoria Lake and onto US-24 which we'd take up into our next waypoint - Washington - again for the I've Been Everywhere Man tour.

I've Been Everywhere Man - Washington

Since it was now 1:12 PM local tome we would stop at a McDonalds for lunch on the way out on Hwy 89 in Metamora IL. After lunch we continue on 89 up to Magnolia where we turn east on Hwy 18 to get over to I-39 for a short hop up to Tonica where we head northeast on some back roads to get up to our next waypoint - Ottawa - for the I've Been Everywhere Man Tour.

I've Been Everywhere Man - Ottawa

From Ottawa we jump onto I-80 westbound to get back over to I35 which we then take north all the way up to Rockford, IL and then turn west again on US-20 to get over to Freeport where we get on Hwy 26 north which we take up to our last wapoint of the day - Monroe, WI for the Presidential tour. Monroe is another of those "problem post offices" where the city name is not on the face of the building - instead it is in tiny lettering on the door. We took two photos to try to document this one.

Monroe Post Office - Presidential Tour

See just under the red sticker

We thought we were home free now, but that wouldn't be the case. We had expected to stay at the Super8 in Monroe, but when we got there they had no rooms. They did call around and find us a room at another hotel in town so it wasn't a total loss, but we picked the Super8 because they have guest laundries and we NEEDED to do laundry. The alternate hotel didn't have a guest laundry so we were forced to go to a laundromat to do the laundry. On top of that when we left to go to the laundry Larry;s headlight blew out AGAIN (3rd one this trip!). After the laundry and some dinner we got back tothe hotel, changed Larry's headlight and I finally go to work on this blog!

Today's Stats: 482.6 miles in 112:34 elapsed time (includes running around after arrival for dinner & laundry) and 9:03 saddle time