Chicago, IL to Emerald Grove, WI
16 Biking Days, 4 Days Off
On the road again, just can't wait to get on the road again....ah, felt good to be back in the saddle. A tiring 92 miles led us from the Shafer household in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park all the way into the great state of Wisconsin. Even though we were all ready to get going on our west bound journey, Chicago was a nice stay over. The Shafer's were very kind to let us park our bikes and gear in the garage and put Armin and I up for a few nights. Adam even let me sleep in his room. Thanks Lisa, Ron, Adam, and Emily for being so kind to us during our extended stay!!
In total we only spent two actual biking days in Illinois. A very quick dash through the Northern portion of the state. Shortly before the state line we had our first outwardly mean person encounter. Julie and I were resting in some shade off the highway on someone's lawn. It was a pretty big lawn and we weren't any where close to the house. But, a lady came out, gave us a whistle and said, "hit the road." Come on, is it that big of a deal for us to take a ten minute break in the shade? So, we hit the other side of the road and I was able to get a picture of the mean lady. At the same time I also checked the trip odometer which read "999", but I was looking at it upside down, "666". Hmmmmmm.......
Oh, and I was wrong, Illinois didn't have the worst state line sign. Wisconsin didn't even have one for us. There goes that picture taking series. That's what you get for taking the back country roads.
Tonight we are in the small town of Emerald Grove. The one church in town has a real nice lawn that we could have probably just put up tents at, but nobody related to the church is in town. As we were knocking on the door, the neighbors across the street, Ray & Janet, told us nobody is ever around. In the process we told them our story and they offered up their land. Very nice people, but also very drunk. Ray keeps stumbling over to us and offering us all beer, shrimp, and the use of things in his "bar". He even brought us a plate of fresh fruit, which happened to have very good muskmelon. As we are making dinner and setting up camp Ray continues to drink with friends and is bumping some old school rap. RIP Tupac. Every now and than we hear Ray yelling. Sometimes at the dog, sometimes at his kid (or stepson). At around 7pm there was a really big fight/ yelling scene that really made us nervous. It seems to have ended and the old school rap turned off. I don't usually sleep w!
ith a knife at hand, but tonight I probably will. Ray is nice, but you never know what a drunk is capable of.
Tomorrow we might hit up a bike shop in the next town. Poor Armin broke another spoke. Than were going to keep pouring on the miles. The plan is to head NW until we hit the Mississippi and than follow a scenic route along the river.
