Old Iroquois County courthouse building

Watseka, IL. Now serves as a museum. Note the "widow's walk" fencing on top.
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Grain weighing scales

Watseka, IL
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Pontiac to Watseka, IL

61.5 miles. The skies threatened rain as we pulled out of Pontiac, but it never did - continuing our incredible good fortune with the weather. In over a month on the road, the only moisture we have ridden in so far lasted for half of one day (a cold drizzle going into Lindsborg, Kansas). There was a strong wind blowing out of the southwest today, which meant a tailwind for most of the day, so we cruised most of the way. However, about 25 miles into the ride - and (of course) right after I had commented to Penny how remarkable it was that we had not run into any major road construction), we came upon a detour sign because it said a bridge was out 6 miles ahead.(We were on Indiana Hwy 116 about 5 miles east of Cullom.) The detour sign directed drivers to turn south on Indiana Hwy 115, which was almost directly into the howling gale. We did not know how far out of our way the detour would require us to go and were not enthusiastic about riding into the wind for and indeterminate distance. As we hesitated, a pickup truck going the other direction pulled up and I flagged the driver to roll down his window. When we asked him about the detour distance, he told us to just keep going straight for another 5 miles, then go one mile north to a parallel county road (all of which were paved) for a couple of miles, then one mile back south to rejoin the highway - a total detour of only 2 miles. When we pointed to the detour signs directing drivers to go south, he waved his hand across his face and told us to ignore them - the detour led to a series of county roads that had gravel surfaces. Thank God for locals. And guys: don't be afraid to ask for directions.

We stopped in Ashkum for lunch at a C-store that had a Subway in it. While we waited in line several of the local cops, including the Chief of Police, came in for lunch too. They asked about our trip, as countless people have. The Chief startled us by saying "welcome to Nowheresville". After we had regained our composure we assured him that we'd seen a whole lot of 'Nowheresvilles' on our trip and we really liked most of them!

Oh yeah, it was our 31st wedding anniversary today. No fancy dinner, wine or gifts but we had a very good day nevertheless.

Siesta time

Penny takes a well-deserved nap (note the death grip on the remote).
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