My Thursday 8 15 2019 Journey
My Thursday 8 15 2019 Journey
Thursday I ran an errand over to Annawan, IL. Which is on I80 about 30 miles MOL east of the BIG River. It is the 1st ‘lengthy drive I have taken for a while and because of the direction it brought back several memories. I decided to write the story before I put it on my procrastination list along with my ‘Trains Planes and Automobiles story from Last April. Maybe as you know reading this, as you get older there is a competition between new stuff that may be happening in the future and old memories from the past. In this short journey many memories from the past surfaced.
It was a great travel day, temperature about high 70’s very low 80’s sunny but not blistering, no rain. I had never driven the car this far west on or near I80, but I had rode my MC several times this way. So I had several routes to chose from which brought up memories from the past..
1- Of course the fastest route from Google Maps was to use the interstates with or without tolls. But I usually liked to keep off the toll roads. And I liked taking the ‘back roads’. So I decided to take my usual westerly, north westerly route avoiding as much of the Chicago traffic as possible. IN14/US231/IN110/IN10/IL114/IL17/IL47 to I80 at Morris IL. This is where I80 comes down from the South side of Chicago and northern IN and heads MOL west. I had figured out and used this route long ago on many of my motorcycle rides to the North West and West.
2- It was a pretty easy trip through all the IN and IL cornfields and country side. The roads generally were in pretty good shape and the traffic was not bad. When I hit I80 and as usual it was loaded with trucks. I did not actually count but there seemed to as many big trucks as cars, maybe more.
3- Managed to catch a rest Pcubbed stop about 15 miles or so east of Annawan.
4- I had decided I wanted to listen to a Toni Morrison book on this trip. The only CD audio book the library had was “Home” so I checked it out. I will admit that I was not able to catch much of the story as I was trying not to get lost and trying to figure out how to use the CD player which I had not used before. It was very interesting to hear Toni Morrisons emotional reading of her own book. I will have to read the book.
5- Coming back I decided to take US30, lets 'ride with Abe’ for a spell, east from Joliet IL to Valparaiso IN and on to US35. I had only taken that route once before on my MC going West. Because of the MANY stop lights and huge amount of traffic It was not on my good list. But I decided to do it anyway to see what it was like.
6- In general it was the same as before except going East rather than West. Lots of intersection lights, lots of traffic, hot dog drivers in a hurry for some reason or no reason. There were no stop and go back ups east bound. But there was one west bound west of the IL/IN border. It must have been 5 miles long or so. I did not notice why it had occurred.. it doesn’t take much.
7- It reminded me, as a youngster growing up, our family used to take US30 all the way from north of us (Winamac) to Sterling IL to visit my moms dad and family. It sure was different before the interstates and population of today. Us kids task was to count out of state license plates. Sterling where I was born (1933) is another story.
8- Oh and a great MC story. Riding west loaded with my camping gear, heading to a MC rally in IA I believe. The 1st and only time I took that route. I was going through East Chicago in IN. Stop and go lights, lots of traffic. I was riding right side lane next to a couple young ladies for a spell. They noticed my Teddy Bear I always carried strapped to my rear top box. They/we started talking through their open window at stop lights. Turns out they had several Teddy Bears and they wanted to give me one. Holding it out the window for me to take. I had to not accept as I already had one and would have had trouble stuffing it somewhere, with my bike fully loaded, while riding through all the traffic.. They finally accepted. We finally parted ways. . . but it left a memory with me forever... the fun of riding a MC.
9- Seeing all of the people, all of the businesses along the road, all of the apartment style living complexes, all of the cars, all of the trucks, and some motorcycles.. . . . .just thousands and thousands of people. Me from rural Indiana, what are all these people doing? Where do they get there food?, where are they going?, where are they coming from?, and why? It is good in a way as it vividly reminds me that my relatively small rural community in Indiana is NOT were everyone lives. AND this is just the South side of Chicago. It continues on for a 50 miles or so to the North.
10- While going West on IN 17 reminded me, on one of my MC trips going to IA, probably the IA rally, I decided to take IL17 as far west as it would go till I hit the Big River. There I wound up at a sort of resty area along the river, shade trees, grass etc. Also a rather big doc with a big barge tied up loading something. I talked to a local truck driver about it. He told it was a place for them to haul their grain and load it on the barge and they took it down the Mississippi River to New Orleans to load on a big ship and take it where ever they go . . China?.
11- The total round trip distance was about 415 miles. The time both ways about the same. . . 4 plus hours. A little further going over but much less stops and starts. Returning was shorter distance with many more stops and starts.
12- My Journey ended and satisfied my favorite journey phrase - - "It is good to have an end to journey toward, but it is the journey that matters in the end." Ursula K. Le Guin--,
That.s seems like about it for my story. If you made it this far, congratulations, I think. Any questions or comments let me know...tom41n at or near outlook dot com.
Thursday I ran an errand over to Annawan, IL. Which is on I80 about 30 miles MOL east of the BIG River. It is the 1st ‘lengthy drive I have taken for a while and because of the direction it brought back several memories. I decided to write the story before I put it on my procrastination list along with my ‘Trains Planes and Automobiles story from Last April. Maybe as you know reading this, as you get older there is a competition between new stuff that may be happening in the future and old memories from the past. In this short journey many memories from the past surfaced.
It was a great travel day, temperature about high 70’s very low 80’s sunny but not blistering, no rain. I had never driven the car this far west on or near I80, but I had rode my MC several times this way. So I had several routes to chose from which brought up memories from the past..
1- Of course the fastest route from Google Maps was to use the interstates with or without tolls. But I usually liked to keep off the toll roads. And I liked taking the ‘back roads’. So I decided to take my usual westerly, north westerly route avoiding as much of the Chicago traffic as possible. IN14/US231/IN110/IN10/IL114/IL17/IL47 to I80 at Morris IL. This is where I80 comes down from the South side of Chicago and northern IN and heads MOL west. I had figured out and used this route long ago on many of my motorcycle rides to the North West and West.
2- It was a pretty easy trip through all the IN and IL cornfields and country side. The roads generally were in pretty good shape and the traffic was not bad. When I hit I80 and as usual it was loaded with trucks. I did not actually count but there seemed to as many big trucks as cars, maybe more.
3- Managed to catch a rest Pcubbed stop about 15 miles or so east of Annawan.
4- I had decided I wanted to listen to a Toni Morrison book on this trip. The only CD audio book the library had was “Home” so I checked it out. I will admit that I was not able to catch much of the story as I was trying not to get lost and trying to figure out how to use the CD player which I had not used before. It was very interesting to hear Toni Morrisons emotional reading of her own book. I will have to read the book.
5- Coming back I decided to take US30, lets 'ride with Abe’ for a spell, east from Joliet IL to Valparaiso IN and on to US35. I had only taken that route once before on my MC going West. Because of the MANY stop lights and huge amount of traffic It was not on my good list. But I decided to do it anyway to see what it was like.
6- In general it was the same as before except going East rather than West. Lots of intersection lights, lots of traffic, hot dog drivers in a hurry for some reason or no reason. There were no stop and go back ups east bound. But there was one west bound west of the IL/IN border. It must have been 5 miles long or so. I did not notice why it had occurred.. it doesn’t take much.
7- It reminded me, as a youngster growing up, our family used to take US30 all the way from north of us (Winamac) to Sterling IL to visit my moms dad and family. It sure was different before the interstates and population of today. Us kids task was to count out of state license plates. Sterling where I was born (1933) is another story.
8- Oh and a great MC story. Riding west loaded with my camping gear, heading to a MC rally in IA I believe. The 1st and only time I took that route. I was going through East Chicago in IN. Stop and go lights, lots of traffic. I was riding right side lane next to a couple young ladies for a spell. They noticed my Teddy Bear I always carried strapped to my rear top box. They/we started talking through their open window at stop lights. Turns out they had several Teddy Bears and they wanted to give me one. Holding it out the window for me to take. I had to not accept as I already had one and would have had trouble stuffing it somewhere, with my bike fully loaded, while riding through all the traffic.. They finally accepted. We finally parted ways. . . but it left a memory with me forever... the fun of riding a MC.
9- Seeing all of the people, all of the businesses along the road, all of the apartment style living complexes, all of the cars, all of the trucks, and some motorcycles.. . . . .just thousands and thousands of people. Me from rural Indiana, what are all these people doing? Where do they get there food?, where are they going?, where are they coming from?, and why? It is good in a way as it vividly reminds me that my relatively small rural community in Indiana is NOT were everyone lives. AND this is just the South side of Chicago. It continues on for a 50 miles or so to the North.
10- While going West on IN 17 reminded me, on one of my MC trips going to IA, probably the IA rally, I decided to take IL17 as far west as it would go till I hit the Big River. There I wound up at a sort of resty area along the river, shade trees, grass etc. Also a rather big doc with a big barge tied up loading something. I talked to a local truck driver about it. He told it was a place for them to haul their grain and load it on the barge and they took it down the Mississippi River to New Orleans to load on a big ship and take it where ever they go . . China?.
11- The total round trip distance was about 415 miles. The time both ways about the same. . . 4 plus hours. A little further going over but much less stops and starts. Returning was shorter distance with many more stops and starts.
12- My Journey ended and satisfied my favorite journey phrase - - "It is good to have an end to journey toward, but it is the journey that matters in the end." Ursula K. Le Guin--,
That.s seems like about it for my story. If you made it this far, congratulations, I think. Any questions or comments let me know...tom41n at or near outlook dot com.
posted by IN Tom at 6:45 PM
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