Grandfather (Gf) and Planned (P) Rail-Trail Rides





Winter Time in Iowa: Winter was warm until
December 21, when a Blizzard hit and made it
tough on the cardinals and chickedees. We had
17 cardinals eating at one time---pretty but cold

  I decided it is necessary for me to include past Rail Trail rides aka Grand-fathered  Rides (Gf) to  accomlish my goal of traversing America from border to border.  So while the snow is a fly'n and thermometer readings hover below where water ices up, I will park my gluts on this chair and scribe my recollection of Gf Rides and plan trail rides for 2013.  So far it has been doable to locate bicycle trails latitude by latitude to get me to America's north and south borders. If you are interested in images of trails ridden or planned, let me know and I will send you the information.Keep checking back for Gf reports and plans for next year.

Seg #11 Kewash Trl 4.5/15 sm 11/1/12

Seg #11 Kewash Trail Washington, IA: 4.5/15 sm 11/1/12

Start	Keota, IA	N41.363725W91.946385	N-S miles  4.5*
End	Washington, IA	N 41.299605W91.703825	Trl lgth14mi Ride15mi

 

Bridge Engineer Mark scopes
out a railroad bridge now a
very sturdy bicycle bridge.

 This ride was a straight southeast route from Keota, Iowa to Washington, Iowa not far from Coralville. This section pretty much completes all the latitudes I can get out of Iowa. This was Mark’s third ride so he is about hooked. Unfortunately the weather is switching to late fall-like, so riding days are going to be numbered. Connie and Donna dropped Mark and me off at the Keota Trailhead and took our picture. Unfortunately the picture of us and the trail sign did not make it into the camera. We were happy to have the wind at our back the whole ride. The tailwind, reasonable fifty degree temperatures and an excellent lunch made for a pleasant day. Most all the leaves were gone but the grass was emerald green and black sketched-like tree profiles, especially the oaks, made for an artistic experience. Other than a couple of white tail deer watching us and then loping across the fields, there wasn’t much going on the Kewash Trail. Mark did have some interesting information about the bridge construction of the one and only bridge we crossed during the ride. Having devoted my entire life in the biological side of knowledge, it has been refreshing and very interesting to learn about the physical engineering side of life. While we were riding, Donna and Connie were shopping in Washington. Although Washington, Iowa would not normally be a shopping magnet, it might be for Donna in the future. She found appropriate sized shoes that she had spent months trying to find. Connie also found some comfy ones.

We had our lunch in Kalona, home of many Amish folks. Now that some of the traditions and expectations of this group has been exposed on the History Channel’s “Breaking Amish, it was interesting and tasty to have some “home-made” eating. Years ago, when I was a freshman at UNI, my roommate Ken took me to his home in Kolona. I remember how interesting it was to see horses and buggies in the streets and tied to railings in front of businesses. That was nearly sixty years ago. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Another memorable Kolona event involved the Geoff Maze family when Kayoko’s parents from Japan visited the Midwest a couple, three years ago. After driving around Kolona, we went to the sale barn where the auctions had just completed. Granddaughters Kiara and Kari were in seventh heaven, petting the chickens, goats, calves and any other animal in close proximity. Wow, these girls are growing up fast based on their last school pictures. We need to get to California or they need to come to Iowa this summer. Maybe Geoff and Chris will do some trail riding with me.

Seg #10 Tunnel Hill Trail ride #1

Seg #10 Tunnel Hill Trail Harrisburg, Il:  10/26/12

Start	Stonefort, IL	N37.614197 W88.708763	N-S miles  11.5*
End	Muddy, IL	N 37.777567 W88.500538	Trl lgth48mi Ride42mi

It was a short night last night. Any more I am not a night time driver, especially when it is raining, but, that is what I did. Using the car’s on-board GPS and Trixie’s (the name Connie and I thought fit the electronic voice emitted from the navigation system) lovely reports, I drove the shortest, although scary, route to Mt. Vernon, IL. Trixie had me driving roller coaster county roads that were narrow and torturous. Even though I was theoretically guided on the shortest route, Trixie had me driving much longer than I expected. Of course my uneasiness with the rain enhanced the night time driving challenge causing me to nurse the car to sublimit speeds. It took me an additional hour going the shortest route. When I finally found a motel, they didn’t have a room available. The night attendant suggested I go down the road a couple miles. In trying to find the the correct road, I ended up going the wrong way on an interstate off ramp. That was not a good idea, especially with a semi-trailer truck  headed straight at me. Thank Goodness there were all kinds of safety barrels warning and redirecting vehicles. And, thank goodness the trucker was going slow enough that I could whip a “uie” and shoot back the correct way. Lucky for me a few hundred feet after my U-turn I was at the entrance of motel that appeared to have rooms. I got a room and proceeded to drive back around the motel to my room. The shortest route appeared to be back to the street I had just taken to pull into the place. Being pitch dark with rain falling and a weird down sloping drive, it was a “bear” for me to see the exact path to take. I took what appeared to be the shortest and best route.

Friggin' Boulder

NOT! There was friggin’ huge boulder, about the size of a Smart Car, laying in the dark just waiting to crunch any vehicle that came its way. The shape of this boulder was perfect for impaling the car on the passenger side. Damn I said to myself and then decided not to try to assess the damage until morning. I needed a good night’s rest to accept the dent. The damage didn’t look any better in the morning, in fact worse. I still haven’t taken the car in for a repair estimate but it will be at least a couple thousand bucks I’m guessing. Remind me not to drive in the dark when it’s raining.

The wind was blowing like the day before but the deciliters of rainfall had dropped to an insignificant measure and appeared that it would stop by ten o’clock. I drove on down to Stonefort, Illinois and unloaded the bike, and put on a rain suit.


Hanging chairs in rural Illinois

On the way there, I noticed rural homes with a single white plastic chair hanging from a rope in trees or porches. I guess it was a Halloween decoration. Stonefort is nice little town with a restored grocery and train depot. First I rode to north end of the Tunnel Hill State Trail near Muddy, Illinois. With a 15-20 mph head wind along with a wet crushed limestone trail, it was like riding the packed sand of the beach. That kind of surface requires fat balloon tires, most certainly not narrow road bike tires. Chugging up a soft trail against the wind, took me a couple hours longer to ride the 24 miles, 12 miles up trail and 12 miles downwind back to the car at Stonefort. The plan was for me to ride another thirty miles on the south end of the trail, but I was too beat to ride much farther. The good thing about calling it quits was I able to get close enough to Springfield so that I could make it to Petersburg by the midmorning schedule to pick up Connie. I want to get back to the Tunnel Hill Trail because it has a mile long tunnel cutting through a mountain, comparable to the spectacular Elroy to Sparta trail in Wisconsin.

Stonefort Station restored. Now an information
center and public restrooms---Nice place

Segment #9 Spingfield, Ill: 12/32 sm 10/25/12

Seg #9 Sangamon & Interurban Trl 5/13 & 7/19 (12/32) 10_25_12

Start	Centennial Pk	N39.75356 W89.760532	N-S miles  5*
End	Stuart Pk	N 39.82716 W89.709334	Trl lgth 6mi Ride13mi

 

Start	Wabash Trl	N39.763422 W89.668221	N-S miles  6.6*
End	Chatham, IL	N 39.66805 W89.704455	Trail lgth8mi Ride19mi

 



Connie and Linda, Med Tech pals
44 years. Henrietta is a 4 year old
friend. Isn't she cute---all three girls

This ride was born out of another combo trip; which is to say, I hooked a ride with Connie who goes to Petersburg, Illinois every fall to visit her good friend Linda. Linda comes to Iowa for spring time visits. These trips include the transport of Henrietta, an antique cookie jar that both ladies wanted to buy at the same time. As a compromise, Connie and Linda decided to share the bird by hauling her back and forth between Iowa and Illinois. I think Henrietta likes the idea given she has not shed a feather ever since this four to five year exchange has been occurring. Petersburg is just north of Springfield so it took only an hour to drive on down and unload for a ride on the Sangamon Trail. It was 77 degrees but the wind was a blow’n. This was a paved super highway like trail with new concrete roadbed. With the wind at my back, I made good time going six miles. It took longer to get back to Centennial Park due to the wind. While this trail was likely fostered from an old rail bed, there wasn’t any information I could find on its heritage. The Sangamon Trail gave me a measly five miles of latitude.

It was nearly 3 p.m. by the time I got on to the Interurban Trail.   This trail is an example of a Rail with Trail layout. The bicycle trail is the consequence of rehabbing an old electric commuter train line that parallels an active rail line currently used by Amtrak. While I was riding, two Amtrak trains came whizzing by. Amtrak brags of its bicycle user friendliness but so far I have run into to a lack of interest in being able to haul my bike to one point and then ride back to the start. It would help so much to complete some of my cross country rides without Connie having to haul me some place. By the time I was on the Interurban Trail, it was blowing a gale out of the Northwest. Couple that with the wind and it was not a fun ride. In fact I split the eight mile ride into three sections so I could miss the heaviest of the rain and warm up. One interesting sight on the trail was riding across the bridge over Lake Springfield, the 4,200 acre lake that supplies the city of Springfield and surrounding communities. Hundreds, if not thousands of snow geese were taking a migration break on the water. This goose sighting reminded me of the incredible experience we had years ago at Desoto Bend, Nebraska. There were thousands of snow geese that year that happened to come in the day Connie and I were visiting the preserve. Other than the Sand Hill Crane migration in central Nebraska, the snow goose migration in the fall is a close second place for exciting, memorable ecological lifetime experiences. With all the wind fighting and “monkeying” around loading and unloading the bike, there wasn’t enough light to ride the Lincoln Prairie Trail. The next day when I drove passed this trail I decided I was glad I didn’t ride a trail that had few trees and paralleled a busy highway. My idea for taking rail trails is to avoid the danger and noise of vehicle traffic. With this trail so close to the road, I doubt if I could have heard my Ipod playing Tom Clancy’s audio book, Act of Valor.