I traveled 1629 miles on a weekend and still not qualify PT2

[NavMode]

Heading down this 2 lane I spotted a sign Tampico 10mi Birth place of Ronald Regan. Looking at the stopwatch and calculating in my head I figured I had time for a detour. I must confess I was a history major in college and soon I will show a discrepancy in time/mileage.

Tampico was a nice little town and I took 30 min. for pictures. For you math majors I am sure you are already seeing a problem that will soon grow exponentially.

Leaving Tampico I followed what I thought was the correct way back. I now know why Hanzel & Grettle left bread crumbs. I turned east and then south only to have Marcia (GPS) start yelling something about “Legal U-Turns and such.” I came to a 4 way stop that didn’t look familiar. Fortunately there was a Road Crew guy at the 4 way. Brian gave me two options. One, a more straight shot through Mendota to Peru and then on to Kankakee. Only problem pretty straight and flat. The other, nice curves, hills, and very scenic. Re-calculating time/mileage my discrepancy was growing by the inch. I should have listened to Brian, as he was leaning for me to take the Safe Mendota route. When you come to a fork in the road….

Hills & curves won out. Unfortunately, I didn’t take the time to program Marcia (GPS) nor write down the directions. Dad always told Mom I had a mind like a steel trap.

Left became right, North became South. Finally totally lost and with the sun low and in my eyes, so much so I had to switch from my prescription to sunglasses, I came to an intersection which I could have sworn said Kankakee 27 miles straight ahead or Peoria 41 mi south. I was so proud I took a picture, still sure it said Kankakee. The road was what we call a “B” road in Iowa, paved but no lines. Unfortunately it also had a lot of pea gravel on it and I had to slow down to 30 miles an hour. Math majors you may not even need a calculator for this problem. Driving for what seemed hours and watching my gas gage hit empty and them some I started to worry. Kankakee was to be a scheduled fuel stop.

Panic was setting in when I pulled into the Don Brady farm. As I walked toward the machine shed Don looked up and said “I bet you must be lost and you’re looking for Kankakee.” I either had it written on my face or this man was psychic. He smiled and said, “If I had a dollar for everyone that has stopped here, including school busses for games, I wouldn’t need to farm. I explained my plight and he gave me directions to Neponset for gas and direction to Kankakee. He even volunteered to write them down, but you remember my steel trap mind, right.

Filled up at Neponset and headed out. Don forgot to tell me that this route was Heaven for a Bike. Nice banked curves, switch backs, and no potholes. It was so fun I missed the turn off and ended up in Spring Valley. Nice quite town, very Americana. More time lost to sightseeing as you can see. Math Majors I think we just hit the exponential curve.

Finally, trying to correct the error of my ways, I headed to I-80 and put the pedal to the metal, so to speak. Figured I take Joliet exit down to some two lanes into Kankakee. It had now become an obsession to stop at Kankakee even if it was too late for the song and pictures. I was like a crazed animal with the name of a town on the wind.

Arriving in Kankakee at 10:21 pm, I pulled into a Marathon station and filled up. The night shift was very friendly and helped me figure a shorter route to Indianapolis, IN. It was Hwy 17 to Hwy 1 to Danville, IL.

From Danville I-74 straight into Indy. In Indy I took the Speedway exit and decided to become a little artsy, so I spent more for gas and bought it at a Speedway gas station, across from the Indy Speedway.

I knew I was in trouble with time, but I had come this far so I decided to grab some shots of the Speedway. Ok math majors is it the Square Root of PI * x-(2). Oh well, I knew it was bad.

At a rest area between Indy and Dayton, I called Donna (1:30 am) central time, and asked her to call my son in Kettering and have him call me. Even though Justin’s was a known stopping point I neglected to get his # or address. I’m sure someone a lot wiser than me once said “The difference between winning or losing a race is ALL in the DETAILS.

Justin called and I gave him the bad news that I wasn’t going to make Kettering. I asked if there was a truck-stop west of Dayton that we could meet. He didn’t know of one but said there was a Speedway near the Airport exit. I told him not to wake the family as I would only have about 5min to spend. One and half hours later I was standing with my #3 son in Dayton, OH. Pretty much had time for a quick hug and picture and I was off again. The stop watch said 22 hrs and 20 min. You’re Dead” I didn’t hear any Fat Ladies singing, but a few were warming up.

Somewhere between Toledo, OH and Temperance, MI the Time/Space Continuum and all the laws of Physics came crashing down on me. The Fat lady did sing, Cinderella lost her glass slipper, and the little kid from the second Indiana Jones movie was yelling “NO MORE PARACHUTES.” I pulled over in time to take the pic. Time 24 hrs 0000 Trip counter 915 miles

http://tinypic.com/useralbum.php?ua=wYO ... O0ug%3D%3D