~BunceMan's TranzAmerican Bike Ride~
Log Entry #28: July 5, 2005
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Day 23: Coralville, Iowa, to Atkinson, Illinois, on Highway 6, and then south about 5 or 6 miles to Johnson-Sauk Trail State Park on State Highway 78. By afternoon on July 4, the rainy weather had cleared. Peggy and I.. and Fletch, had settled in at the Heartland Inn in Coralville. So we all went for a stroll along the Iowa River and saw some cool flowers and other "living" things..
Woke up to a clear day on the 5th and was on the road by 8:15am. Peggy directed me to a bike path that followed the Iowa river through and out of Iowa City, and ended heading south on W66. Objective: cross the Mississippi and get into Illinois.
The end of the bike path offered me two options.. 1) W66 to Highway 22, which was the most direct route to the Mississippi, but offered Iowa's standard narrow roads with no shoulders and potentially heavy traffic -or- 2) a longer, more roundabout route, but probably less-traveled route.
I'm at the 22 intersection.. I look both ways.. nobody.. so I go for it. Had to get off onto the gravel shoulders for a few big trucks, but the winds were goin' my way, so I made good time to Muscatine, Iowa, on the west bank of the Mississippi.
I'm always impressed with any bridge that spans a body of water. I made it across to Illinois, and so did Peggy. The countryside along Highway 6 (which parallels newer and faster Interstate 80) was much like Iowa: well-tended and manicured. Illinois, however, offers better road shoulders. The weather remained cool and the winds favorable, until I pulled into the state park...
Day 23 mileage: 127 miles | Mississippi River | Peggy Pics