RCFM Trip: Wednesday

[vakkotaur]

Left Fairmont a bit after 7:30 AM
Stopped for the night in Salem, IL a bit after 7:30 PM
Oh yeah, Wednesday included pickle trees, too.
(This was written Wednesday night, just not posted right away.)

Got turned around around Mason City, IA. Hwy 18 southbound had a washout. The trooper (who was pretty much just watching the intersection) I asked about getting to Waterloo directed me into town with "..just follow the signs." Of course the signs only help if you know exactly which ones to follow. I stopped at a gas station and asked directions... and got told, I found out a few minutes later, how to get right back to the detour that got me messed up in the first place. Fortunately the construction worker holding the sign told me something useful: Keep going the way I was pointed (opposite the way the trooper told me) and take the first real left and continue on, even on gravel, and then take the next real left (not to a dead end) and I'd be able to pick up Hwy 18 again. That worked.

The rest of the trip through Iowa was nicely uneventful. Illinois, however, had a few minor events. One was that I-74 has two southbound exits from I-80. One is for local traffic around the Quad Cities, so I didn't take that one and continued on..and on.. and on. I turned off a bit too soon, getting suspicious and ready to ask for directions again but the sign for the other lane that I soon passed indicated that I-74 was indeed the way the I had been going. So I managed to turn around and get back on track.

That went well enough, and I wound up having to take I-474 around someplace (Peoria?) as that kept me from one construction zone - and it worked out to be about what Yahoo maps suggested anyway. What did not go so well was the seemingly endless series of construction zones, with one routing traffic off of the interstate and into town.. which had its own construction on the detour. Did someone get an award for that bit of timing?

On I-74, I think, I saw a couple sets of signs in the old Burma Shave style:

Tell your senator
when he runs
to ban the criminals
not the guns
Burma Shave
Guns save life .com

Crooks and tyrants
love gun control.
Unarmed victims
are their goal.
Guns save life .com

I'd stopped in Clear Lake, IA and had a light breakfast or brunch at a Subway, and had had a couple bottles of water through the day, stopping at the odd rest stop or gas station. Around 5 PM I was pondering supper. I could have put it off, then I saw the sign and I knew where I had to have supper. irpooh likely has a story to tell, and I will get a couple photos to her. Supper was at a place called Pickle Tree Farm in Mahomet, IL. Aside from the excessive amount of green pepper in the salad, I had quite a good (and filling) meal there.

I was getting near Urbana, the approximate half-way point of the trip when the sky darkened, then opened up. Many, many big sparks flashed across the sky and the rain got quite heavy. Not heavy enough to keep me from seeing the right way (which was actually left..) to get to I-57 southbound. As it seemed to letting up, I kept going as I wanted that kind of weather behind me. A while later there was a repeat performance, but at least it was shorter.

About 7:30 PM I decided I'd been on the road long enough and the weather was gonna do whatever it wanted. It was time to stop, and Salem was the first place that looked like a reasonable candidate. I've refueled for tomorrow, and am checked into a Super-8. It'll do. The storm seems to have passed, and now I think I'll relax with and try those mint bath salts I've had for a while.

[Later] The bath was relaxing, but the salts were rather disappointing. Perhaps I didn't use them soon enough.

Comments

OH WOW A PICKLE TREE FARM!!!!

[irpooh.livejournal.com]

Now you know the farm variety is totally different from the SD "wild" variety... BUT ...
Ohhhhhhhh My........ now we have to think up an excuse to travel in that direction... totally the opposite from any planned trips remotely near the area!