Day 39: Streator to Bradley, Ill.

We arose today with furtive uncertainty that we may not be able to ride in today’s weather conditions. Forecasts showed severe storms moving south from Wisconsin and Minnesota, and our route had us moving straight through empty corn fields with no shelter from lightning. When we tuned into the local weather, however, we learned that the storms had lessened in severity, and there was nothing more than some possible showers and afternoon storms forecast As such, we decided to head east, and were on our bikes before 7:30.

We were definitely off-route today, with neither our origin nor destination towns on the adventure cycling route we’ve been following. Nevertheless, we were able to navigate our way out of town and onto an excellent, quiet, paved farm road that took us the first 30 miles out of town on straight roads through cornfields. Eventually, the dream ended, and our paved road turned to gravel. Though we are equipped to ride on gravel just fine, when there are paved options nearby, we tend to opt for those, as they are much more pleasant over the long haul.

We headed north briefly, then continued east on only slightly busier roads. We expected today to have limited services, but around mile 45, we happened upon a cafe which seemed to be the lifeblood of the small town we were in, Bonfield. We stopped in for lunch, and enjoyed the excellent “tenderloin Tuesday” sandwich, before completing our last 15 miles into town. It was an early afternoon arrival, but we were glad to be off the road before any storms rolled through. As we arrived at our hotel, one of the owners came out to greet me, and shared that he is a touring cyclist himself. We talked a little bit more about our route and trip so far, and he seemed excited that we had booked a room, since the hotel is otherwise booked up.

This afternoon, we looked ahead to our route for the next few days, as we’re forecast to have favorable conditions. It looks that we should be back on the Adventure Cycling route, with just a few diversions on our way to Michigan. Tomorrow we will head to Indiana Beach, and hopefully make it to Defiance by Friday.

By the numbers:
Miles traveled: 60
Total climbing: 689 ft.
Average pace: 14 mph
Total Aldi Bagels consumed: 3
Average temperature: 73F
Times passing over Route 66: 1
Mars/M&M products consumed: 2

Celebrating a good day’s ride at the Hoppy Pig.

 This morning’s clouds hovering over fields on our way east.

 Clouds behind the windmills.

Goodfarm road, which we followed for most of the first 30 miles of the day: a quiet, paved road through farmland.

 Stopped for bagel break before turning off Goodfarm.

Our lunch stop in Bonfield. 

 Ed passing over historic Route 66.

Stopped along Goodfarm this morning.