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July 11, 2019—Anna, Illinois


We have been following a much studied and well planned agenda.  However, today those plans were upended.  Leaving our hotel we noticed that a lot of the fields next to the roads were flooded but we were oblivious to its consequences.  We were heading to the bridge that would take us over the Mississippi River into Missouri.  The first road west was closed and so was the second.  Perplexed, we asked a stopped motorist for information.  She told us that this part of Illinois has been flooded for most of the summer and that access to the bridge has been closed for a month.   The only options were to travel either 50 miles north or south to take alternative bridges. Sounds just like something a cyclist would love to do.  Since we were heading north anyway we stayed in Illinois and headed to Anna, where motels were to be found.  Now we need to figure out a new route to get to Chester Illinois, our next stop.  We were told that some of the river side routes had been closed but a hillier route does take us there.  This evening we will check out our route options and look at the highway department’ list of closed roads.  The unexpected has made this trip a little more adventurous.

Our alternative route did take us to Jonesboro, Illinois were Lincoln and Douglas had their famous debate and where Mom’s café served us lunch and some motherly advice. 

Pictures

Maps (Planned and actual)


Comments

  1. HPJuly 12, 2019 at 8:27 AM

    Was it Napoléon or Giscard d'Estaing who said: "Planning is replacing chance with error"?
    Keep your wheels turning!

    ReplyDelete

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