First day out, arrived in Joliet, IL

The requisite "before" picture.

Well, I got a late start (1:10pm!) but I did leave today. I arrived in Joliet just as the sun was going down. The odometer says 64.9 miles, though I don't know how accurate it is since I didn't actually measure the circumference of the front wheel when I installed the odometer, I just chose one of the options that seemed close.

Today's ride demonstrated to me why I love Chicago and I hate suburban development. In chicago there are great bike lanes, coffee shops, restaurants, funky stores, interesting people, and it's all close and easily accessible. In between Chicago and Joliet there are industrial-scale meat processing companies (Quantum Foods!), there are eNORmous chain retail stores, and roads with no shoulder and 50mph traffic. I kept thinking "This is what cheap gas gives us." Everything is so far apart you have to drive a car. The scene in this second photo here almost made me cry... it is going to be an enormous new commercial development. On the right behind the sign advertising it you can see a beautiful field and forest, with a gorgeous sunset to boot (though it didn't come out well in the photo, sorry). On the left you can see a tiny corner of the acres and acres of bare dirt that they've scraped clean in preparation. Yuck. The thing that really gets me about it is that it isn't even close to anything. There are open fields and farms on either side of it. It's not even growing out from a town.

So of course I was relieved to finally get into Joliet and get onto the Joliet Junction Trail, pictured here. It is supposed to connect up with the Illinois & Michigan canal state trail which takes me another 60 miles or so west. There's supposed to be camping available along the canal trail, so I may not be blogging tomorrow night.

I hope you are all well. Good night.