Day Fourteen – Marshalltown IA to Home
Miles: 607
Another early and fairly long ride. We ate at the Hampton and were riding just after 6:00. We were able to stay off the interstate for most of the day. Our first stop was on the riverfront in Burlington IA, 170 miles in and three hours of riding. Prior to stopping we rode Snake Alley for the second time. Not a big deal but riding across Iowa is not always packed with things to do and sights to see. We had lunch at McDonald's in Farmington IL. As we approached Peoria we jumped on I-74 over to Bloomington where we jumped onto IL9 and rode to Williamsport. We stopped there to look at the Williamsport Falls but there was literally nothing to see so we stretched our legs and continued on. We wound our way down to Darlington where we made our last stop at the Darlington Covered Bridge. It was nice and shady there so we were not in a big hurry. While we were there a couple of teenagers were nearby and looking to do some fishing on the banks of Sugar Creek. Their Dad came by I guess to pick them up and it wasn't even one minute after they left that a huge tree fell right where they had been standing. They were super fortunate. At Lebanon we gassed up and decided to hit the interstate. Indy was full of traffic as normal but as soon as we hit I-74 there was a major backup. We exited and tried an end run but it was a nightmare. We ended in heavy traffic and had to ride through downtown Shelbyville which was experience significant amounts of construction. We made it home 12 hours on the nose after we left. Stay off the interstate!
