Mile 1020: Dixon, IL

My dad and I woke up in a daze. Apparently, though train sounds are very endearing occasionally, when you sounds like you are about to get run over by one every few minutes, it's a bit difficult to get some sleep. We both loved where we slept, and had no disturbances, but both woke up several times at night.

Rochelle is a sleepy town, and in the early mornings many people from the adjacent neighborhood hit the parks for a walk or run. We watch them go by, and also watch some more storms come in, after a minute we decided to continue on to Dixon.

When we planned our trip out, we mapped it out so we would go through the town of Oregon and pass the Castle Rock State Park. It was a beautiful ride and we were blown away by staircase leading up to the overlook.

When we hit Dixon it was a bustling town compare to the prior town we had passed-- known as Reagon's home town, but other than that it seemed like it was struggling. Sitting on beautiful Rock River, you can see the town trying to make efforts for tourism, but generally speaking it was a hard town to navigate and to find things to do or of good places open.

I was craving a cold drink, so I spotted a tavern, one of the few things open.  The Tavern was called Val's place and I saw a nice bike parked in front with a handful of motorcycles in front as well. PERFECT. I thought. (thought I think my dead was hesitant).

Vals was a true american bar, where people want to treat you, and talk to you, and Val was a great owner---everyone knew everyone and you could tell laughter and tears were shared at this place over the years betwteen a handful of people.

We walked in, and although I know we stuck out, people seem excited to see us. One guy, Chip came up to us, excited to see other bikers and blown away by the fact that we were touring. He told us how he bike everywhere and that he can't seem to get anyone to bike with him.

He kept pausing while talking with us. "Wow! I just can't get over you guys are doing this."

Chip, isn't your typical cyclist, he cycles because he has to, and he cycles because he's fallen in love with it. Somewhere along the line Chip lost his license and had to cycle, so just about anytime of the day in Dixon, and I mean ANYTIME of day, you could see chip riding without using his hands, without a shirt, with earphones in, jamming and crusing around Dixon. The thing about Chip is he is a simple guy that loves biking, his friends, enjoys his town, and although he and his friends included some funny stories including almost cutting his leg off with a chainsaw and losing all his front teeth in a car accident, he is someone that will look out for you and has a heart of gold.

Chip could not let us leave without insisting that we join him for dinner, he somehow coordinated a way to mmeet up with a friend nearby where he cooked us porkchops. We told him abouts where we were staying and that we would be okay for the night.

When we left Chips we were exhausted and rain was coming in. We settled for some dugouts in a park instead of setting up tents that way we would be protected and have some privacy.

The storm came in, and lightning and thunder hit around us, but we were pretty comfy in our dugouts and although at the time we weren't positive, we though we saw a glimpse of Chip riding his bike around the park ...looking out for us:)