Gardner to Pontiac

I made my way from Gardner to Dwight.

Having lunch at the Turtle Tap which is a bar and grill kind of set up.

Downtown wasn't much to speak of, but like most other towns it was centered on the rail depot which is still serviced by AmTrak. They had taken their old depot and us it as a museum for the historical society.

They actually do have a bit of history here with a Frank Lloyd Wright designed bank and the old Keeley Institute - an alcohol treatment facility from the mid-1800s.

This piece of 'art' was outside the Keeley Institute. I still haven't quite figured it out....

Then it was off the to Ambler Texaco station.

I spent the night with a Warm Showers Host. A great guy and good conversationalist. He had this ricksahw sitting at the side of his house.

You can see by the standing water that yes, they have also been getting deluged with rain. Much of Illinois anywhere near the Illinois River is getting flooded.

From Dwight it was off to Odell. A very wet day of riding. When I arrived in town it had just stopped raining, and I was dripping wet.

Misty, that runs the Wishing Well Cafe in Odell took this pic of me dripping on the cafe floor. She was very kind and serves up a great hamburger there. I also had breakfast there the next morning.

I camped out at the town park. Odell is a great town and welcomes bicycle tourists for a night in the town park. They're not alone in this. A number of small towns across the country do this for bike tourists. They realize that not only do we spread good word about them, but for little to no lay-out of money, we will stop and spend money in their towns.

And of course I had to visit the Odell Standard Oil service station.

And yes, that is a 1953 Winnebago they have parked beside the station.

Wouldn't you like to see these prices again?

Route 66 and Odell are known internationally. There are even international Route 66 associations.

From Odell it was off to Pontiac. Let me tell ya, it sucked.... I had a 27 mph headwind after the previous day's soaking rain. I made better time walking than I did riding. A gentleman from Odell stopped about halfway to Pontiac and gave me and the bike a lift - he found it a bit had to believe I was even out in that wind.

I didn't mind seeing that day come to an end and still making it in to Pontiac.... Actually, this was about the first cloudless opportunity I'd had on the trip up to this point.