Day 42 (Fri. June 23/06)

Morris, IL to Battle Creek, MI

The route we chose to take home kinda had a purpose, after we decided not to ride through the northern states.

Mainly, we were looking for some Route 66 patches that we didn't purchase on the way to Santa Monica, the end of the highway. Why? We thought the one we liked best mispelled "travelled", but we later found out the US spelling has only ONE L, so the patch was correct. Well, when we got to Santa Monica we couldn't find any souvenier shops with Route 66 items except for key chains and licence plates. What a disappointment!

Here we are in Wilmington, IL at Camz Unique Gifts and Collectables where we were able to get a patch of "Historic Route 66". When he heard our story, he gave us Route 66 key chains.


Secondly, Pat always remembered the Burma Shave signs from when she was a kid living in the west. We didn't get pictures when we went west so we decided to go by them again for pictures. Here are 2 sets from Godley, IL. This was the same type of roadside signs that pulled Wall Drugs out of a slump when they started offering free water and coffee for 5 cents in South Dakota (which they still do).




The things Pat gets us into seems to never end. She thought we had passed the old prison where Prison Break was filmed on the trip west, so we went hunting. Guess what? This was a real prison and we were chased by 2 guards in a van who warned us not to take pictures or our camera would be seized. Thanks guys, but Pat had managed to snap a few before they stopped us.

We asked them about the prison in the film and they told us to go into the "Visitor Building" and they would tell us how to get to it. Surprise! This was the "Visitor Building" for people to visit the prisoners. They were very helpful and as we were leaving a guard came out to talk to us and make sure we knew where to go. He was also interested in the "Harley" and our trip.


Here we are at the abandoned Joliet prison with no one to stop us from taking pictures. It's all closed up and didn't have any sign of movie activity. There appeared to be a smaller building across the road that was still being used. It was built in 1896, so we think the prison was built then too because it looked similar in design to the prison.


I've decided I will "NEVER" go to Chicago again. The construction on I80 was the worst we have ever seen anywhere. We got off, zigged and zagged around side streets and then couldn't get back on twice because the east bound ramps were closed. Finally we found a detour that said it was to I80 east but it was poorly marked and I'm sure it took us in more than 8 directions. So, when we finaly got on I94 we thought we were in the clear. NOT! More construction and single lanes, including this stop for about 10 minutes.


Daily Stats
455 Kms Ridden
6 Hrs 41 Mins Riding Time
2 Hrs 11 Mins Stopped Time
66.4 Km/Hr Avg Riding Speed

Fuel Used: 27.67 L
Fuel Cost: $21.75 US
Avg Km/L: 16.12