More serendipity

Friday, 1 August: I was awakened at 5AM by a friendly Hebron police officer, who just wanted to let me know that a big lightening storm was on the way. It was so nice of him to look out for me like that. I think they may have stopped by the park a time or two during the night to check on me. I thanked him, but was way too tired to do anything other than bring my shoes inside the tent, and then roll over and go back to sleep. It didn't end up passing directly over us anyway.

By the time I finally woke up for real and got on the road, it was so hot I couldn't resist stopping by Kaitie's diner in Hebron, IL for some ice cream. It's a great mid-morning snack. And just to complete the plugs, the bartenders and patrons of Rumors bar and grill just north of town are friendly and helpful.

As I rode closer to Chicago, everything got more suburby and trafficky. It was pretty much reaching the height of blech when I stumbled upon a bike path that looked like it might be heading the same way as me. I found someone unloading his bike in a path parking lot and asked where the trail went. He pulled out a map and showed me that I was on the Fox River Trail which headed south many miles past where I needed to go. Fantastic! When I told him where I was headed tonight, he showed me where to switch over to the Prairie Path, which goes literally within a mile of tonight's destination. The Fox River trail is lovely and paved, lined with trees and shady in parts. There were multiple adorable old men on adorable old bikes. In response to my "hello," one of them gave me a weak little honk from his adorable old-timey squeeze bulb bike horn. The Prairie Path is also lovely, tree-lined, and shady, but mostly unpaved. Some people in Illinois refer to it with distaste as an "unimproved" trail. Funnily enough, it is very similar to-- and in places better than-- what is known in Wisconsin as a "State Trail: $4 per day fee for use." Okay, I think that was my last dig at Wisconsin. It's pretty much out of my system. Truthfully, there are many wonderful things about that state-- the scenery! The people! The cheese! The beer!-- that got overshadowed at the end by a few lame things. I just spent entirely too long baking my brains on the humid hills.

I got to my friend's mom's place in time to go out for dinner (portabello enchiladas, yum!) and have a nice chat (and some homemade apple pie with ice cream) before bed. In a real bed.