Route 66 Trek - St Louis to Chicago: Day 4 Lincoln to Chenoa, June 23, 2017

Route 66 Trek St Louis to Chicago
Day 4: Lincoln to Chenoa 
June 23, 2017 
Friday 

Distance: 92 km (60 mi)

Average Speed: 16.8 kph (10.4 mph)

Time on Bike: 5 hours, 44 minutes 

Trip Time: 8 hours, 30 minutes

Yesterday was an easy 'half day" of tailwind-powered riding, followed by poolside therapy, pizza, Agents of Shield, and a solid night's sleep.

My ears awake today to precipitation tapping on the roof and windows. Usually a pleasant sound, but not exactly what three cyclists about to pedal 100 km (60 mi) want to hear. 

At 7:15 am, packed and ready to roll, don't roll. 

We stand on Laura's front porch admiring the waterfall cascading from the downspout.

But we are not discouraged. 

We are hungry.

So what to do when you don't want to ride in the rain?

You wait about 10 minutes.

Then you pedal to a real family-like restaurant on the Lincoln town square for the consumption of some premium fuel (Eggs, bacon, toast, etc for Mark and I. Lots of coffee for Laura). 

After breakfast, the rain (we hope) has passed.

As we pedal north out of Lincoln we pay homage to The Watermelon made famous inasmuch as President Lincoln actually used the esteemed fruit to officially christen the town with his name. 

While many towns honour themselves with Lincoln's name, this Lincoln, Illinois, is the only town take can claim Lincoln himself declares this place his officially named town. 



Smiley, the Water Tower, cheers us on as we pedal through the countryside on old historic Route 66. 

While the temperature is still way up there, we are blessed by merciful cloud cover (with few sprinkles, but no deluge) and a nice bike trail paralleling Route 66 (It might have been an earlier version of old old Route 66). 



Brother Mark poising beside the winning entry for the smallest Route 66 Sign ever.



Just in case you wondered where Tony was hiding out these days. 



A clever means to preserve an historic road: Take an historic road and pave a beautiful bike path right next to it. 

This section of Route 66 south of Chicago was once actually expanded to four lanes; two, two lane roads, side by side, with a median in the middle. 

In the photo you see one of these roads maintained (for two directional traffic) and in good use today. The bike path follows the abandoned road which remains for us to appreciate.

If you saw the movie Cars 3, you'll appreciate this photo.



It's getting rather warm(er)! 

(Not a lot of shade around here.)

And, O Joy, we pedal into a 25-30 kph (15-20  mph) heated headwind. 



Alas, all good bike paths must end. 

Time to get back on the real road shoulder.
 

So I'm pedaling along thinking a washroom (or Restroom, as they say in the USA) would be helpful. 

I'm pondering the trees and bushes available to me. 

Then out of nowhere, this Dependable Dumper, or whatever it is called, appears. 

One of those serendipitous  moments from which true gratefulness springs.



Railroads and Route 66 go together like Hamburgers and Fries.

A glimpse of the past with this abandoned trestle. 




Another glimpse of the past in this roadside refreshment establishment now re-used for another purpose. 



A half picnic table of shade awaits us on the outskirts of Chenoa.

Our motel is just around the corner.

And a delightful supper at a great family restaurant. 

We had a good day of kicks on Route 66.