What a Great Feeling!

Final calculations with a few corrections
Today 55.7 miles
This trip (corrected) 553.26
From Denver to Plymouth by bike 1553.26

That's it we are home!

Well, I can't just leave it there. I do have a few closing comments from the day and thoughts. 

We woke up early today and left around 6:30. We really wanted to get our first 15 miles in to make it to Kouts in time for church.  We were a little late, but not much. When we left Lowell it was cool, not raining, but a very strong wind coming from the North/Northwest. That was fine because our day was predominately East.  We started out on IN 2 going East, but I knew that shortly we had to go North a ways to get in IN 8. I had planned to take the first road headed North. When I turned I knew we were in trouble.  It was immediately like riding uphill in a very high gear. The wind was ferocious. I could see an East/West road not far ahead. I wasn't sure what it was but I knew we were taking it when we got to it. As I was riding ahead of Mary Kay she was shouting, "Let's go back to the highway." I couldn't even hear her the wind was blowing so hard. We made it to the next road and thankfully it was the one I was hoping to get to. We gathered ourselves together and headed for church. After that first 3/4 of a mile it turned into a nice Sunday morning ride to church. 

After church we were talking to some of the parishioners about the next part of our trip to Knox on IN 8. It looked busy with very little paved berm. There advice was riding up to US30 and taking it. That wouldn't be my first choice but it probably would have been better than "8." We asked how far it was. The answer was, "Only about 6 miles." We'll let me tell you 6 miles may not seem like much, but when you are riding a bike 40 to 50 miles another 6 is not what you want to hear. Then I also thought that all 6 of the miles would be into that headwind. I think I would have heard Mary Kay this time if I had chosen that route:). So back to plan one and go to Knox on IN 8. Parts of it were exciting, but we were careful. This does bring to mind a text message that our daughter Liz sent to us after we inadvertently had gotten ourselves on Interstate 55 for three miles in Illinois. Anyone knowing Mary Kay will know how true Liz's comment was. She simply said, "mom would be driving down to pick us up or follow right behind if this were reversed."  Oh how true that would be. This is one of those times as parents you might be saying do as we say not as we do.

A quick refreshment break in Knox and back on our final leg. Knox to 17 had its interesting parts, but we held our breath, said a few prayers and made it home earlier than expected. Many family members were surprised when they heard me yelling a celebratory Woo Hoo as we road up the road, grand kids and kids ran out to greet us with smiles, squeals, hugs, and kisses. IT IS GREAT TO BE HOME!

Mark Kay and I were talking about how we felt now that this is done. As we think back to our decision to do this in the beginning and our decision to go back and finish we remember several things. We started this idea without ever having ridden our bike further than to Culver and back for a Cafe Max breakfast. Here we are not extremely old,  but both in our mid sixties.  Our thoughts are this is amazing. Not that we think we are amazing, but just that this is not an easy task mentally or physically. If we can do this many people can face obstacles that may be in your way or dreams that you mat have. We have found that it is great to have someone you love by your side. It makes the good times better and the tough times more bearable. I know we found solace and help in our faith. Praying for others as well as ourselves made some of those tough times easier. 

We also began the ride with trying to spread the thought - Do something for others, today! We wanted to do that through example and encouragement to those around us. Since that beginning we have added a few other thoughts to our list:

Do something for others, today!  (Don't wait until tomorrow, too many days without doing something good can take place.)

Be kind!  (We all need to do more of this today. We especially need to show kids how to be kind)

Have an impact and make a difference! (Make sure it is positive)

We leave you with this story of our experience, our reflections and thoughts, and encourage you to live your life - live your dreams!

Peace, Prayers, and Thanks,

Mary Kay and Jack

Home is Just Over the Horizon

Today. 40.03 miles, This Trip 383.75, bothe trips 1383.75

Our story is about over. Thank you to our family, friends, and those along the way who have supported us. It has really helped us continue and finish our journey.  In a sense we wish this had all been done in consecutive 31consecutive days of riding. I guess it may gave been a more impressive story. But our purpose was never to impress. We just want to encourage people to always work to create your life, don't let your situation define you. We will take 31day and nearly 1,500 miles at the end of tomorrow. We have had a great time. We have struggled. We have missed family and friends. We have run across some characters and many wonderful people. What an experience!!!

Today we stopped around 9:30 in Momence, IL. We found a bar open for our rest stop. It was Mary Kay and I drinking a diet coke along with 5 guys drinking beer and watching a pool game. What a life.  Our ride varied between busy roads and some nice country riding. The hills were more frequent, but nothing too bad.  We were happy to reach the hotel early again, as the wind from the expected evening storms started kicking up. Once again it looks like prayers are helping and we will be able to start out on a nice morning.

Our plan is to start early and make it to Kouts in time for Sunday 8:30 mass. Then we will head to LaCrosse, Knox, and finally Lawrence Lake!

We started our trip with a theme of doing something for others, today. We had many "gifts" of support given to us along the way.  It is fitting that we were able to return those gifts in small way to a young couple.  Keep watching for your ways to help others.

Peace, Prayers, and Our Thanks,
Mary Kay and Jack

Great Day of Relaxing

30.67 miles today, 374.39 miles this trip, 1,374.39 miles in 29 riding days.

Well it happened, we had a great morning of riding and got to Kankakee around 11:00 am. Stopped to have lunch with plans to ride on to Momence. While we were eating I called the two places to stay, one was closed and one had no room available. Back to the smart phones for a search to see if there was anywhere else that we could ride to and still get more miles in. We couldn't find anything less than 36 miles away. That just wasn't something we wanted to try. So Kankakee is our home for the day. Our lunch waitress was very helpful, interested in our journey and protective. She guided us to an area of town that she felt would be "safer."  She suggested the Hilton Garden Inn. Looking on Priceline they listed a $159 a day price. Of course I looked for something cheaper. I found an Economy Inn listed so we headed there. Whoa! When we got there it reminded us of the Plymouth Economy Inn. We couldn't see ourselves spending all afternoon and evening there and at the bar next door. 

So we decided our only choice was the Hilton. I must have looked desperate because after giving a brief account of our travels the manager on duty gave us a significantly reduced price. Uncle John, life is good! We cleaned up, went to WalMarts, The Dollar Store and then sat poolside playing a game of Crowns. We opened a bottle of wine and a margarita drink and relaxed. It has been a very relaxing afternoon. 

Our original schedule of getting home Sunday is still on. All those people who went out this morning and blew toward the East, it worked. Do it again tomorrow and scatter the possible rain clouds for 

Sunday. We can't wait to see our family and friends. 

Thanks for all the prayers, concern, and support. We are almost done Spokinhome. 

Prayers and Peace, 

Mary Kay and Jack

These give you a little look at today's digs. Quite a bit better than yesterday.

This is from a morning rest stop

Compare those to yesterday's digs

Saying Goodbye to Historic Route 66

Today 55.53 miles (a good day), This trip 399.07 miles, total from Denver 1, 399.07 miles in 28 days

The closer we get to home the more it seems like home. Nothing to fae out of the ordinary again today. We just keep rolling the pedals over and over. Since the storms came through there has been a shift in the wind. Since we are going Northeast an d tomorrow East, the winds have decided to come directly toward us. So tomorrow morning if everyone would step outside around 9:15 your time and blow real hard towards the East it would be great. Maybe we can change the direction. I will let you know.

As I said in the title we will be leaving 66 tomorrow morning. We will miss the mystic and the people we have met along the way. Today we stopped at an old Standard Oil gas station that had been reconditioned and houses a little gift shop. It still had the repair bay in tack with many old tools and machines. It brought me back to my Dad's old stations and shops. I saw brake tools, old charge card machines, the hoist, just so many things from my past.  A group of four or five couples drove up on motorcycles. The motorcycles were all very new, everyone was decked out in their new leathers. They were from Switzerland and had just left Chicago this morning on a trip two and a half week trip on Route 66 to Los Angeles. That had rented their motorcycles and had a SAG car riding with them. I can't imagine the cost of that trip.

The only other excitement came when one of the Amtrak trains must have had something going on, because we had fire trucks pass us and shortly we came upon 4 or 5 spots where grass fires had started along the tracks.  We had a little smoke issue, but not too bad. It took ou minds off if  our sore bottoms.  We did have in truck today that didn't want to share the road with us. I believe we could have easily reached out and touched him. Much of our ride was similar to 17 in Plymouth, but fortunately not as busy. Almost everyone else was very considerate.

We are only 126 miles from home. We would love to do it in two days, but halfway is about Lowell, IN and there really isn't a hotel close to there without going beyond our mileage max. Of course if we could find a place there is still no guarantee we could make it. That darned wind could cause our mileage to be a little less.  We will see. Right now we have two plans, one isto go to Kankakee,  Il. which is only 30 miles or Momence, Il which is 43 miles. We will see how the wind blows and how the roads are.  So as we finish our 8th/28th day of riding we find ourselves in a subpar Super 8 in Dwight, IL.

See everyone soon.

Peace and Prayers,
Jack  and Mary Kay

Nice Morning Leading to Traffic in The Afternoon

Today 37.79 miles, This Trip 381.5. Total 1,381.51

Not many miles or much to talk about today. After last night's storms we waited for awhile this morning to leave. Once we got in the road the early miles were easy. It was overcast, not much of a breeze, and pretty flat.  We road into Atlanta, Il. One if the spots on the Historic Route 66 tour. We stopped at a local griil for a light snack and drink. The waitress had a 1950's uniform and the soda fountain was open. The wItress was very friendly, especially after we told her a little about our ride. She told us the people who had left just as we came in were from Australia. They were driving a 1957   Chevy all reconditioned. The waitress thought they had bought it in L.A. And were driving tonChicago. She said some other people from Australia had stopped last week. They had bought motorcycles in LA and were going to ship them back to Australia to sell. They figured they would make enough to cover their vacation expenses.  The town was really making the best of  promoting themselves around Route 66. She said a bus company has 21 stops booked with them over the summer. As we were leaving we saw another man from Switzerland. He had a 1965 Mustang and was also driving across country.  Sounds like a fun next trip in either an old custom car or motorcycle.  Anyone want to join us?

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. We got into quite a bit of traffic, which added some stress to the last hour and a half. We got to our evening's stop at 2:30 and are taking advantage of some time to rest. We are looking at our route and fine tuning our last four days.

Thanks for staying tuned.

Prayers and Peace,
Mary Kay and Jack

A Long Ride to Lincoln

Today 43.97,  This trip (I made a mistake yesterday) 343.72, total both trips 1,343.72

Yesterday we were planning to pick up some extra miles today, beyond our trip to Lincoln. We hoped to make it to Atlanta or McLean. We made up extra miles but not forward. We had a very nice first 20 minutes. We got to Route 66 and shortly came to a sign that said bike Route 66. We weren't going to take it because I thought it would cost us an extra 3 miles or so. At the last minute we took it. After about 500 ft. I slowed down and hesitated. Mary Kay said maybe we should go back. I agreed and back we went.  It looked good we were back on track when all of a sudden we were on an on ramp with nowhere to go. We were on Interstate 55. Evidently we passed a sign that said, "Nonmotorized vehicles prohibited." So for three miles we were hugging the very outside edge of the berm while cars and trucks zoomed by us. All kinds of things go through your mind, not the least of which are prayers.  I was waiting for a State Trooper to pull us over. Luckily we made it to the exit. We immediately stopped at a Subway to calm our nerves.

We found the right Route 66 road and took off again. It was really bumpy. Our bottoms were pretty sore after about 8 miles. At that point we found another Route 66 BikeRoute sign. The map showed that it might extend our trip another two or three miles. Balancing that with the bumpy road and our previous experience we decided to take the bike route abpnd the extra miles. We still felt we were in good shape and could get further than Lincoln.  We followed the map to the connecting point with Business 55 just outside of Lincoln. A sone's throw as the old saying goes.  Wait what is that? Detour road closed ahead. Our conversation went like this, "Surely, not all four lanes will be closed and we will be able to get our bikes through.  There seemed to be cars coming towards us." So we decided to ride the 3/4 of a mile and try it. Sure enough all four lanes were closed. They were putting in a new bridge.  It looked like a side road might be our solution. We took off, but soon it did't seem quite right. So this was a good time to pull out the smart phone. Sure enough it was going to take us to a dead end. Conversation again, " pelts go back to the last cross roads we came to before we got to 55 and go East that should take us around the construction." Good plan off we went. About 2 miles later we came upon the Logan Correctional Facility. I thought we were getting unusually close as we continued to ride around it. We passed a few employees on a break and they looked at us oddly. We continued and I began to turn right at a "Y" in the road. Suddenly people were yelling "No, No!" So I figured we should take the left part of the "Y." Then I noticed a golf cart up ahead stop and wait for us. Conversation,
"Is this the way to go around the Facility."
"No, you are in a prison compound. You will have to turn around and leave the way you came."
"Can you tell me how we can get by the construction on 55."
"Just go back to 55 and turn left it will take you to the Interstate and you can go about three miles around the construction."
"We were already on an Interstate for three miles today. If we do it again they might bring us back here. :)"
"Then the only way to go is to go back and take county roads around. It is a long way."

There went our smiles. I got out the smart phone again and mapped out a route. It was a long way and it was very hot. We soon decided that making it to Lincoln today sounded pretty good. So it doesn't look like we will knock off a day on our schedule.
There may be very high winds here tonight, but we are in a safe place.  We had a couple of drinks at the bowling alley next door and watched some people gambling on the machines and then ordered in pizza. Life is good!

Sorry my pictures didn't come through tonight. If I get them I will post them later.

Peace and Prayers
Mary Kay and Jack

The Wind Found Us Today

Day 6
Today - 52.55, This  trip - 190.95, Total 1190.95

The mileage is getting easier to handle but we still have to plan our daily trip so that we will have a place to sleep at the end of the day. Today we easily made it to Springfield, but were tested a few times.  We began the morning with overcast skies and a wind from the South. My route planning from the night before hit a snag in the first 1/2. Let's blame it on a poorly marked intersection. I quickly realized the error and we turned around. That gave us the first taste of the wind in our face. I thought to myself that I was glad we weren't riding South. Back on historic Route 66 and headed North was just what we wanted. This will date those who understand it, but Mary Kay and I are getting "our kicks on Route 66."

The Illinois map tries to take us off of Route 66 before it deadends or gets to busy with traffic. That is good in some respects, but ends up adding several miles to a trip with many sideway miles. That happened today and as the wind picked up speed it also was coming more out of the Southwest. That was just the direction that many of our sideway journeys took us. Plus we got a few more hills that way. We started getting visions of Kansas. But We knew we weren't in Kansas anymore.  The good thing was that those trips were short and we would quickly return to an 8+ mile stretch with the wind almost directly behind us. That was good!

It seems that this continues to be a journey of faith. First of all we have faith in each other that we can  finish this trip that we began four years ago. In fact I believe we are pretty close to our old form. The other faith that keeps popping up is the more important capital F "Faith." Today after a little bit of a struggle we came upon "The Our Lady Of The Road Shrine."  This was erected in 1959 by a local Catholic Youth Group to remind those journeying on Route 66 that speed was causing deaths. They erected the shrine to give travelers a place to pray for safe travels. We did.

We finally found places to sit and relax today a good old Subway and a McDonalds. What a difference that made. Most of the last 12 miles were on a paved Interurban Bike path. What a wonderful day!  There was one other mishap. At the end of the day my legs don't have quite the spring in them that they usually have. We were at one of our frequent stop intersections in Springfield when my jump up, my shorts, and my bike seat just didn't mesh quite right. I broke off the first couple of inches of my bike seat. That brings up a problem that only time will tell the best solution.
1.  Ride without the little pointy end of the seat - while that might be the cheapest (which is usually
my choice) it might not be the best for my physical health.
2. Buy some duct tap and tape it back on.  Again, pretty cheap - so that is my choice.
3. This one we will save for later - buy a new seat. The negative are the cost and having to break in my seat to a new bike seat.
I will let you know tomorrow if my first choice works.

Our plan was to only go to Lincoln tomorrow. It looks like that woul be a really short day. So we are thinking about riding on to either Atlanta or McLean. It looks like Wednesday could be a rainout day, so I think if all goes well we will go as far as we can. With any luck we might be able to ride some on  Wed. and rearrange our plan to arrive home earlier.

The repaired seat

When we stopped at the County Market I saw this and it reminded me of my Dad. He sold Ford tractors for a while in Plymouth after WWII

Of course this is the broken seat

A nice place to sit for a not so healthy lunch. It tasted good though.

Our Lady of the Road Shrine

Hail Mary prayer along the rode by the shrine. 

Remember Burma Shave?

We are getting our kicks on the

1940 - 1977 section

Angels On Your Shoulders

Miles today 49.7, Miles for this trip 138.4, total from Denver 1,138.4

The title of post come from a parishioner at Our Lady Queen Of Peace church in Bethalto, Il. We saw that this church was about a half mile off our route for the day, so thought we might make mass. We arrived just as it was ending. As we road up on our bikes we did get a few looks. Since mass was over we went in to say a few prayers before getting back on the bikes. As we were leaving a lady asked us what we were doing. As we left she said, "Angles on your shoulders." What a great parting blessing for us.

We road nearly 20 miles after that before coming to what I thought might be a Farmers Market. It turned out to be a fruit and vegetable stand. But it would have been a little difficult to take much with us. We were also looking for a place to cool off and sit down. You guessed it, there was a gas/convenience store just up the road.  Those places are really cold when you first walk in after a few hours of riding you bike. We got some drinks, cheese and crackers. I also noticed that a Marine Corp unit was selling grilled brats just outside. For all my Marine Corp friends Semper Fi. It was just what I needed.

Back on the bikes and a quick turn onto Histori Route 66. Pretty uneventful but nice ride for another 20 miles, but time for a cool off and energy stop. Yep, convenience store, but still no place to sit down. That has made it a long day!!

I mentioned that we are riding on Old Route 66. I got a bike map from the State of Illinois. The map and direction are great except it is written for a trip from North to South.  That doesn't sound to
complicated does it? Well when you are hot and sweaty and looking at small print that says:
Go.  Dir.    On.                                                                       Miles.          
L.     S.       Mt. Oliv Rd./Lake St.                                          1.3
L.     E.       Main St.                                                                . 3

And you have to think in reverse stuff happens. Well I missed a road sign and a turn.  Not a good thing to do on a bike. As a typical man I did't tell Mary Kay we were on a road that didn't appear on our map. Fortunately my sense of direction is still good so I just kept heading NW. All the time hoping that I didn't come to a country road that only went SW. We didn't and while the roads weren't excellent, well maybe not even fair, we made it back to 66 and shortly to Litchfield. What makes the story even better for me was that we made it their about 10 minutes before today's thunder storm. Thank you God. As we ate at the China Town Buffet I told Mary Kay the story. At least tonight we could laugh about it. I believe tonight I will study the map and make a few personal notes.

At dinner Mary Kay's Chinese Cookie said, "You will conquer obstacles to achieve success."  That left us wondering what is ahead of us? At least we know that one of us will come through it successfully.  Mine said, "Everything will come your way."  So I guess together we should be well off.

Hope your day was a good one! Missing our family!!!

Prayers and Peace,
Mary Kay and Jack