Tag: BikeAcrossUSA

Being about 15 miles west of downtown Chicago, today’s challenge was to figure out which way to go. So today’s ride was mostly southbound to get as much rural riding as possible. Although Highway 83 is three lanes in each direction, it has a good shoulder and was a good direct route out. Later it…

I went to Lickton’s bike shop when they opened on Monday. Talking with the staff I knew they had good experience with building wheels. Although they were busy, they were able to build a new wheel for me the same day – the guy who did it had also toured before, so he knew the…

Sunday was spent with family and waiting for recommendations for bike shops. I got several good bike shop recommendations, but Lickton’s in Oak Park was the best combination of being a good reference and closeness to my location. Furthermore, the recommendations I received indicated that they were a bit on the conversative side when it…

Steve – bike electronics/lights guru – drove up from Peoria to join me for the first half of today’s ride. With neither of us real familiar with the town, we took the direct route to Sycamore try to find the bike path to the Fox River. The path was not easy to find – we…

The best way to head east was to cross the river over to Rock Falls and then out through Dixon Road. Until it closed down recently, the steel mill in Sterling was the biggest employer in the area. Years ago, management had mansions in Sterling, while the workers lived in housing across the river in…

(I’m sure many of you are waiting with bated breath for this update, since I’ve been pretty quiet lately…) Since I was in a hotel, I had planned to get an early start (no camping gear to pack) and have breakfast at the place in town that was open at 6 AM. But because I…

Joe had given me some routing advice to go east out of the city. I was glad to get his advice on that, since according to the map there were not many roads going in that direction. It was already in the high 70s and really humid when leaving Joe’s at 7 AM. The heat…

I got an early start at 7 AM and went to the breakfast place in town. Soon thereafter, my hosts from last night showed up, and I was invited to the “regulars” table. About half of today’s ride was on bike paths. While I believe that the safety claims of bike paths vs. roads are…

I hate it when I forget to mention something in a previous report! Yesterday, I got my first horn honk in Iowa. At that point the road had a straight through and right turn only lane, and apparently the driver behind me didn’t like my presence in the straight through lane. After he passed, I…

Gary cooked up some eggs, pancakes, and bacon for breakfast, so naturally I had to stick around for that. I thanked them for their hospitality before exchanging e-mail addresses and taking off. On the way out of town I spoke with someone who has lived in Storm Lake since 1955. The recent use of immigrants…