Day 59: Quincy, IL

We started out the day thinking we'd be spending time in Keokuk, IA researching my third great grandparents, Thomas and Elizabeth (Van Anglen) McEveny.  But we found out early in the day that the recorder's office was not open on Mondays (only on Tuesdays and Thursdays).  That's because the land records in Lee County, IA are split between Fort Madison (those records are available Monday through Friday) and Keokuk.  The odds that I was going to find much of interest were fairly small, so we opted not to hang around until the recorder's office opened on Tuesday.

A mailbox in Warsaw, IL.

It was a very scenic ride for most of the morning, with the road following the edge of a dammed portion of the Mississippi River for quite a while.  After we reached Warsaw, the valley widened into a massive floodplain with an active corn harvest in progress.  The harvest traffic wasn't too bad along that stretch of the route, until Alea came upon this sign:

Road closed 3.5 miles ahead.

It meant that we'd have to detour onto the main highway, and that the main highway would have more harvest traffic than normal.  And that road had no shoulders!

Alea managed to survive Hwy 96 between Lima and Ursa, though only by driving off onto the soft shoulder five different times when she could see harvest trucks driving north and hear other harvest trucks bearing down from behind on their way south.  But after Ursa (about 7 miles down the road) there were paved shoulders all the way into Quincy, IL.

At the beginning of the detour road there was a crew painting the yellow centerline stripe.  They had flaggers out and were forcing all traffic into one lane.  The flagger directed us and the two cars in front of us over fresh paint, spattering yellow paint over the driver's side of the van and trailer.  The trailer got it particularly bad.

Needless to say, we weren't pleased.  But we managed to get most of it off at a car wash.  And the bits that we missed will likely come off easily enough the next time we go to another car wash.  After washing, I took the time to finally (after three full years) to clean the trailer's stainless steel fenders with a purple Scotchbrite Pad.  I figured a picture would be an interesting contrast to what the fender had looked like earlier in the day:

Ooh!  Shiny!

Once I got to Quincy I headed straight for Madison-Davis Bicycle Shop (a Trek dealer), where I was able to get a new rear wheel installed for $150.  It's not as fancy as the one it is replacing (which would have been over $400), but it will get the job done.  Needless to say, the van's polka dot jersey theme was a hit with the staff!

Yet another good reason to camp in a teardrop (narrow underpasses)!
In Quincy, IL at Cedar and Bonanzinga.

Alea covered the 52.2 miles to Quincy, IL in good time, allowing us time to do chores (which included laundry, in addition to bike repairs and car washing).  We camped at a former KOA, Driftwood Campground ($20 - power, water and showers).  We had one of the three cheapest campsites, each carved into the hillside with lots of privacy.  They were a lot nicer and more private than the more expensive sites with sewer connections.