We took off north on hwy 257, then headed west on 50 to 550 which wound us through the country and on to hwy 41. The traffic was sparse today, so travel was easy. We continued up onto hwy 63 and then crossed over into Illinois on Interstate 74.
Danville HD was our first H-D stop. It was surprisingly small, but had a friendly staff, fresh coffee, and a free "dip dot" to add to our collection. (We've figured out poker chips and dip dots take up very little room, and you can just have too many t-shirts :) .)
We continued to our next stop on I-74 at Urbana. This dealership was a much larger one, and they were having a great sale. Fortunately for 'ol Tom's wallet, there's just no room aboard the bike for a sale, monster or otherwise...LOL. We did find a poker chip, however, and the price was right at $1. People there were extremely friendly and we had some nice chit-chat. Interestingly, the Monster Ovals were the big hit of the parking lot. Several guys apparently are shopping for them now and are having trouble getting them. Hooray we did all that research and made the big buy last year.
We hopped back on the bike, cruised back on I-74 and, a bit later, stopped at the final dealership on our east/west route in Bloomington. It was another nice dealership, although at first we thought it was closed. The entrance is around back away from the highway. Kind of makes sense, once you think about it. We did our little visit, looked for the poker chip at Bloomington to no avail, but they did have the dip dot...but $3.95! Yikes! Guess it all evens out...we spent a whopping $4.95 on our first day's souvenirs.
Near the H-D dealership is a Steak and Shake with fast service and good food. I texted our son Kurt that we were in B-town AND at a Steak and Shake (he's in B-town, IN, and one of his favorite quick spots is the Steak and Shake...I got back an LOL. I'm guessing before the day was over that he ended up at the one in HIS B-town...it's a tempting place!
Our compliments to the interstates of Illinois that we covered today. We made great time, had very little construction hold-ups (just a little slowdown on I-39 north, but no stopping), and were able to go about our business with no "interference" :).
We took the final leg of our first day's journey trading our west I-74 for north I-39. This is a "dry spot" for H-D dealerships, with the exception being in DeKalb, but it was out of the way, so we took the "half-way there" stop at a convenience store. There we ran into some really nice people from southern Illinois that were also headed to the H-D museum in Milwaukee. They were very kind in complimenting the color of the Harley and we all laughed that it would be great if we ran into each other again at the museum tour next weekend. After wishing "safe travels" to all, we continued on the final leg of the first day's journey.
We arrived in Rockford and took the first exit that lead us to the Alpine area. I had made reservations for the Alpine Inn http://alpineinn.rockford.com and we certainly were happy with our accommodations. The rooms have obviously been remodeled recently and look every bit as nice as the more upscale hotels we've stayed in over the years. (See photo stream.) We ordained them "biker friendly" when the innkeeper gave Tom a towel to soak off the bugs on the windshield. (Sounds crazy, but when on the road, it's the little things that do mean a lot.)
Before we settled in for the evening and took that priceless shower, we stopped in at the Irish Rose Saloon http://irishrosesaloon.net and had a much needed and very cold beer to celebrate our good riding day. While there we also had our supper of pork chops and basil chicken breast with good seasonal vegetables and a great salad of mixed greens and a basil vinaigrette. While there, the owner came out to the patio and visited a bit with us (not too many people there yet for the supper hour) and we asked her about the Frank Lloyd Wright home that was built in Rockford. Since we're headed to Taliesin tomorrow, we were hoping for a "warm up". She sent out the waitress who, in turn, drew us the perfect map to the home. We followed it and ended up at a whole neighborhood of amazing homes, one of which we THINK was the home we were looking for--no matter, they were ALL eye candy (see photo stream). I didn't get ideal shots since I had to be quick with the pictures; didn't really want to be hauled in at Rockford for casing homes...LOL.
Our final stop for the evening was the good 'ol CVS up from our motel that afforded us with a good cold beer that we could enjoy post-shower.
So, I guess I've covered everything but the ginormous windmills. As we were traveling up I-39 we started seeing the giant energy-producing windmills...makes you feel like the "land of the giants"...those things are HUGE!! Fun to see over two dozen of them in an area, some turning furiously while others were completely still. THAT is some power!
We're now officially clean, called our parents to let them know we're safe and sound, had our evening cold beer, a good meal, and I'm wrapping up this post. Tom is outside the room watching bazillions of motorcycles run up and down the street. Life is good. Stay tuned...the journey continues tomorrow.
photo stream: http://picasaweb.google.com/weisman.asai/WisconsinTripDayOne?authkey=Gv1sRgCPPoxJ-Uy8fs1QE&feat=directlink
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