The Plan

Okay, here's the plan. My spring break starts on Friday, March 25th, Good Friday. I'm gonna try and make it a better friday, by embarking on a long-distance bike trip to my hometown. I think I can do it, and I am gonna prove it.

So here's my idea. I'll leave Peoria around 7:00 am Good Friday. I'll ride on Route 150 to Route 39-51 and try to make 120 miles by the time the sun falls. (this should be easy enough, lotsa people do 200 miles a lot quicker, but I'll have stuff packed on the bike).

Okay, so I'll ride up to a campsite in Earlville, which is about 30 miles south of Rockford.

Map of
3719 Suydam Rd
Earlville, IL 60518-5087

As a contingency plan, I have a couple optional campsites. There is a possibility I will get the Earlville campsite early and want to go farther. In that case, I will try to make it to a campsite east of Rockford, in Garden Prairie.

Map of
Garden Prairie, IL

And if I don't quite have the gumption to make it to my planned campsite, I'll stop at Starved Rock!

Map of
Utica, IL

I know I can make it to Utica in one day. If I don't, I'll just find a hotel for crying outloud! I'm pretty sure from the websites for these campsites that they are open, other ones say they open in April. Again, if they are not open, I'll just get a hotel. Camping is secondary to the biking, but it seems like if I get a hotel instead of camping, it's sorta like cheating.

Regardless of where I stop on the first night, I should be able to make it home on day 2. Now I have to get all my stuff together by March 25th...