Marion, IL to Shady Grove, TN
While sitting around the campground in Marion, Ann was reading a brochure and learned about a BBQ cook off in the town of Murphysboro that evening. So we jumped in the car and went the 20 miles to this event. What a great time we had eating the BBQ pork, chicken and all the typical trimmings of a southern BBQ meal. As we were walking around the grilling area we met one of the BBQ chefs from Ubon’s restaurant in Yazoo City, Mississippi. After hearing of our trip he offered to bring us his BBQ while we are riding down the Trace in his area. We look forward to that day next week.
The next morning we headed to Paducah KY. At lunch time we stopped in Vienna at the worlds slowest McDonalds to refresh and get a cold drink on this very hot day of 98 degrees. We were looking to locate Highway 5 that our map showed as being our road to take. We couldn’t find a sign for it anywhere. So we started asking around, we probably asked 3 locals (that had lived here all their lives) and they did not know where it was. Since we had plenty of time at the McDonalds we asked some more and showed them our map and it turned out we were right on 5. It is amazing how you can live in an area all your life and not know what the highway is called.
We spent a day and a half in Paducah getting haircuts, groceries and all that fun stuff. What a nice downtown area. They have flood panels all along the river to prevent downtown from flooding. These walls have murals that highlight the history of the area. What a nice touch.
The next morning we headed to Grand Rivers, KY. This is the start of the “Land Between The Lakes” park region. It is the area between Lake Barkley and Lake Kentucky. This area provided wonderful cycling, wildlife and camping. We saw lots of deer and wild turkeys, as well as bison in this area. For the last week the weather had been threatening rain and cooler temperatures to approach. The rain finally reached us. We rode around the showers. Along our route thru this Land Between the Lakes area we saw several old huge limestone ore furnaces that were used in the early 1800’s. Each of these furnaces produced about 40 tons of pig iron per year. This area also has around 200 old cemeteries from the Civil War era thru the early 1900’s and is rich in Civil War history.
Another new state – Tennessee.
We camped in Waverly at the Loretta Lynn’s campground. As it was raining we got a camping cabin for the night – what a treat to not have to put up the tent in the rain. While there we went to visit The World O’Tools Museum in Waverly. What a site to see. This is the private collection of Hunter Pilkinton, who unfortunately had passed away 3 months ago. He had been collecting tools of every kind including blacksmith, machinist, carpenter, wheelwright, wagon maker and woodworking tools up until the day before he passed away. There were over 20,000 tools there, along with hundreds of catalogs from tool manufactures and a complete set of Popular Mechanic magazines from Volume 1, Number 1 to current and Scientific American 1846 through 1923. Unbelievable collection. The guys had a great time here. Mrs. Pilkinton and son Donny and daughter Doris are trying to get this all organized into a full fledged museum. What a chore that will be, all in honor of Mr. Pilkinton.
We then rode to the long awaited Natchez Trace. This will be our route for the next several days down through Mississippi. Once we arrived at the Trace we loaded in the motor home and went 30 miles away to Nashville as it time to change out our motor home driver, do some bike repairs and some site seeing. We went to a local Hampton Inn, while Bill & Janet stayed at the KOA. We toured the Grand Ole Opry Hotel with its wonderful garden area. We also got a much needed chiropractic adjustment from Dr. Lounsbury, his receptionist, Tricia was most helpful getting us in and with locating our things in the area. (Sorry, Dr. Saver we just couldn’t wait until we got home.) We had dinner with Tim’s cousin, Danny Northup while here. What a joy to see him all grown up and doing well. We also had a local tandem rider that has had extensive wheel building experience rebuild our rear wheel. Many thanks to David Hunter. Tomorrow afternoon we start the Natchez Trace. More about that later. Good bye to Cathy our driver and Hello to Kathy our new driver for the next 2 weeks. Cathy has been a joy to travel with and done a fantastic job getting our gear and the motor home to the next campground along the way.

HAPPY 50TH BIRTHDAY TO BROTHER JOE OAKLEY !!!!

We rode from Springfield to Litchfield in a strong headwind. With most of the crops already being harvested we do not get much of a break from the wind like we did when the corn was much taller. Along the way we saw a new crop we had not seen before, it is peas. From Litchfield we rode onto Vandalia which was the capitol of Illinois in 1820. We visited the old capitol building and also the museum. We stopped in Salem on our ride and had lunch at The Courtyard Coffee House. The ladies there were all so nice; they were so intrigued by our journey. They thought we needed some extra energy so they gave us some carrot cake (Ann's favorite) for free. And then they filled up our water bottles for us with ice and water. What a treat. From Vandalia we rode to Mt Vernon. We saw more pea fields and some sorghum fields also. Illinois has had such great roads for cyclist and very courteous drivers. Even the county guys mowing the ditches have been very kind; they stop and shut off their mowers when they see us coming so nothing will go flying at us as we ride by. The temperatures have been in the upper 90's. Tomorrow we ride the final 50 miles of Illinois and roll into Kentucky where we get back on our originally planned route and head to the Natchez Trace in Mississippi. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BROTHER RON NEWBY!!

It’s September 17th and greetings from Springfield, Illinois. You will notice that our original route didn’t include the center of Illinois however after some research and remapping we decided not to go along the west side of St Louis. The last time we wrote was from Des Moines. Our time in Des Moines was exceptional. From the high school football game on Friday night and Ann getting to see an old high school friend, Rhonda Stubbs, to the grand finale on Sunday, the Family and Friends reunion.

September 9th was a special time for us. Tim’s parents had planned a wonderful party with over 100 people there. The food was plentiful and great. Of course we all ate too much. It was great to see so many of the family and friends. Monday was a rainy bleak day, we decided to hold off getting on the road until Tuesday. Because we are raising funds for cancer we had an interview with KCCI television that was broadcasted Tuesday at noon on the local TV station.

We left on Tuesday September 11th and headed to Sigourney. Tim’s Dad rode with us to the first turn, then we were on our own. After a long 93 mile day in the hills we arrived. Of course we had to make a stop in Pella at the Jaarsma Bakery. In Sigourney we stayed with Pat & Merle Lane, new tandem riding friends. It was great to be inside out of the cool weather as we were both getting over colds. The next morning it was very cool and we left for Mt. Pleasant. Merle had Cathy (our motor home driver) on the back of his tandem and rode out with us for a few miles as we headed out. We stopped for lunch in Washington. We are starting to see some of the corn and beans being harvested in this area.

The next day we rode to West Point. Here we saw the old fort area as well as an old steam engine. We had read about a Mexican Fiesta in this town that started the night we arrived, so of course we had to go check it out. This is the oldest running fiesta in the state. We enjoyed an authentic Mexican supper and listened to some music. We then moved toward Springfield, the capital of Illinois, home of Abe Lincoln. We visited the old capital building that was built in 1837. Lincoln made many of his well known speeches from here. Then we saw the offices where he practiced law. He was a very successful lawyer that made the equivalent to $200,000.00 annually in today’s dollars. The Lincoln Museum is a site to see. It is a wonderful museum with a central plaza and lots of galleries to go through and high-tech special effects that recount his life. It went from childhood through his assassination at Ford Theatre. We had to go by his tomb where he and his wife Mary and 3 of their 4 children are buried. Very nicely done. His home that he purchased in 1844 was the only home he ever owned. This home is part of a national park (the only one in Illinois) that is a 4 block historical area that is pedestrian only. Tours were conducted by park rangers that truly had an interest in Lincoln’s life; they made it so real for you. Springfield also has a Frank Lloyd Wright prairie style house that was built in 1902 to 1904. 12,000 square feet of detailing, art glass work and original furnishings. This was the first home in Springfield to have electricity. It was very interesting to see his lamps and furnishings that he designed. Again we had a wonderful tour guide that made you feel like she lived in this house and she knew everything about it. Springfield, although a large city was a great stopping off point, so much to see and do. We were glad we came this way. Also great riding around this area as where we camped was out in the country surrounded by corn fields and nice blacktop roads to ride on.

While riding we were watching corn being harvested in a huge field and then all of a sudden we looked and saw a whirlwind, dust devil as they call it here. It is a very mini tornado type swirling wind, it was moving across this field picking up speed as well as corn husks and etc. We watched as it crossed over the road we were on and into a field of standing corn, you could see the debris it had picked up being thrown up in the air some 500 feet high or so. What an amazing site to just stand there and watch it move. One of our mornings here we woke to 38 degrees but the next day the afternoon had a high of 92 degrees. Hopefully we will be further south before the really cold weather gets here. We are now more than half way through our journey. Today we leave for our ten day pursuit to the Nashville TN area. HAPPY BIRTHDAYS TO BROTHER DENNY OAKLEY AND SISTER CAROL NEWBY !!!

Wednesday, August 29 thru Saturday, September 08

Pipestone, MN to Altoona, IA

We got a late start this morning out of Pipestone and then we were on the road with a tailwind and mix of fog, clouds, rain and sun. Lots of cattle on the rolling terrain today. We rolled into the town of Luverne. It is a nice town with lots of huge old restored homes and a nice downtown main street area. We couldn’t find a café for lunch so we asked the UPS driver (who better to ask) and he told us to go to the grocery store around the corner and they would have a cafeteria. That turned out to be where the locals all go for lunch – great food. We then hopped on the motor home and headed to Sioux Falls, SD to change out drivers at the airport. We dropped off Rich and picked up Cathy who will be with us for the next 4 weeks. The day off in Sioux Falls gave us a chance get groceries, do laundry and bike check over. After leaving the airport we toured the Old Court House Museum. It is a 3-story 1800’s quartzite building. It was interesting learning the history of trapping and fur trading. They had all kinds of furs there that you could handle; muskrat, beaver, buffalo, mink, badger, sheared beaver and many more. Sheared beaver was the softest. Also, the museum had a great exhibit on the impact and lifestyle of the American Indian to the Dakotas.

Knowing we were at Labor Day weekend and finding campsites would be difficult; we headed to Spencer, Iowa and stayed in the same campground for three days. During that time we rode the mileage back to Luverne, MN. It proved to be a good decision as we got the last site in the campground. We lived in Spencer in the early 80’s for a couple of years, so it was fun to revisit the area. Things have really grown as well as this community of 11,000 people has become more active. They now have bike trails, skate board park, an aquatic center and lots of park area for soccer, baseball and play grounds. The downtown area is doing very well, lots of little businesses open and active. While having lunch a local banker and biker, Kevin, stopped and asked about our trip and told us about areas to ride and we invited him to ride with us the next morning. Saturday morning we did 68 miles with Kevin. We rode through Royal, Linn Grove and Peterson. Nice rolling hill country. We saw lots of wind generators in farmers fields on the route. This is another way for these farmers to get some income as this area is known for its constant 10 – 15 mph wind which is what is needed for these generators. According to Kevin a farmer can get up to $10,000.00 a year for each generator. All the farmer has to provide is the small footprint for the tower and an access road. This allows them to farm right around the structures. While in Spencer we also visited a local glass blower, Jessie Bogenrief, that has his shop in the old post office. Very nice shop that also had stained glass that is done by his parents – world class stained glass artist. We went to the Iowa Great Lakes for supper and to look around. We took a cruise on the lake and visited the Rock-N-Roll Hall of Fame for Iowa which of course had a big memorial to Buddy Holly who died in a plane crash after a concert in Clear Lake, IA. We also got a chance to visit one of our old neighbor friends, Bill Beams. He was Tim’s golfing and duck hunting buddy. It was sure great to see him.

Monday, Labor Day, we were on the road again to West Bend, IA. More rolling terrain. We could see some of the flood damage in this area. More wind driven generators, barns and crops. We toured the Grotto this afternoon, which is a tribute a Catholic priest did after an illness. A labor of love for over 40 years of getting stone and rock from all parts of the world and then making the story of Jesus.

Tuesday we rode into Clarion, IA and camped along Lake Cornelia. Nice ride along the farmland backroads. Lots of mosquitoes in this area. Temps were in the high 80’s with lots of sunshine.


Wednesday (September 5) we rode into Story City, IA. A bit of a headwind and a few hills. More farmland, we can see big differences in crops from one area to the next – we saw several areas of previous hail damage.

Thursday we rode into Altoona, IA where we met up with Tim’s folks. We will spend the weekend in Des Moines resting and having a family and friend reunion on Sunday. This happens to be Ann’s birthday on the 9th. We leave on Monday September 10th to head to eastern Iowa.