exploring
Yesterday around noon I drove Matt to work and decided to go for a drive I'd been wanting to take. In the past, I've gone down IL-45 to around Pesotum, or wandered around the farm roads of Savoy and Philo. The best way to do this from my house is to take Lincoln Ave. south until it comes to a T at Windsor Rd., where you should take a right, then a left on Neil St., which is IL-45. Alternatively, you can turn left earlier, at First, and wander around Savoy, itself a rewarding experience. So yesterday I decided to turn left on Windsor instead, taking me east through Urbana and beyond.
Windsor Rd. continues east until somewhere between Tipton and St. Joseph, where it jogs straight north and ends at a T with Homer Lake Rd., which continues southeast for a while until it hits IL-49. It then straightens out before continuing northeast as E 1490 N Rd./Lincoln Trail Rd., where it turns to gravel. You can see what I mean by using this map, although it redirects to Urbana for some reason. Tipton and St. Joseph are tiny, and Homer Lake Rd. is southeast of Urbana. Around the intersection with N Vermilion W Rd., there's a tiny cemetery concealed by trees and accessible by a narrow grass track at its edge. That's what I was going back to today after Matt brought me home. I invited him to come, but he was too tired.
Lincoln Trail Rd. has no shoulder, and the grass on either side is marked by a trench that I thought I wouldn't be able to get out of in my Corolla, so I found an even smaller trail over a creek but ran into the same problem. I did see horses, though, and some truly ancient barns and a lot of roads with no names, one marked by two millstones. I didn't want to drive on the cemetery's grass, so I thought I'd try to find some shoulder on N 30 E Rd., which is basically a north dogleg of N Vermilion W Rd. To use the side that looked more promising, I had to turn around and drive south again. On the way, I saw a brown and white dog that turned around when it heard me, hopefully for home.
When I found a place that seemed good enough to stop, although I still couldn't quite get out of the road, a green truck was just passing, heading west on Lincoln Trail Rd. It slowed down, backed up, and turned onto N E 30 Rd. and pulled up next to me to ask if I needed any help. I thought the story about the cemetery would sound crass, since it's probably someone's family's, so I told him I was lost and asked how to get back to Urbana. Instead of giving me directions, he offered to lead me back to US-150. He told me he was born and raised in Ogden, which is about halfway between Urbana and Indiana on US-150, and almost due north of where we were then. He also told me I was pretty. I turned my car around and followed him north. We turned left on US-150 and he pulled over in a garage in Ogden to tell me that I could follow US-150 all the way back to Lincoln Ave. in Urbana, which is what I did.
I told him that I'd just graduated from the U of I, will be moving back to Chicago, and wanted to see as much of the surrounding area as I could before I left, because I'll miss it, and all those things are true. Kerry told me that he knows all the roads of Illinois and that, if I'm ever lost again, to call him. I wrote his name and phone number down in The Crocodile Bird, a Ruth Rendell novel I'm reading and that I'd brought in case I wanted to stop at a diner. Kerry works at the U of I as a building service worker in ISR, where I used to live, and said I could also call him if I ever want someone to drive around with and need a guide. He talked to me about Taste of Chicago and told me to let him know when I go because he wants to go. I told him I'd studied history and he told me that he's Native American and his cousin is a history professor in Native American studies at Columbia Missouri. He concluded by telling me, "I'm a good, good man," and stopped to wave to me before getting back in his truck.
On my way back on US-150, I passed another cemetery, although this one was big enough to have a name and the trees looked planted. It was called Mt. Olive and contained several tombs which I think may be of interest to Matt.
Windsor Rd. continues east until somewhere between Tipton and St. Joseph, where it jogs straight north and ends at a T with Homer Lake Rd., which continues southeast for a while until it hits IL-49. It then straightens out before continuing northeast as E 1490 N Rd./Lincoln Trail Rd., where it turns to gravel. You can see what I mean by using this map, although it redirects to Urbana for some reason. Tipton and St. Joseph are tiny, and Homer Lake Rd. is southeast of Urbana. Around the intersection with N Vermilion W Rd., there's a tiny cemetery concealed by trees and accessible by a narrow grass track at its edge. That's what I was going back to today after Matt brought me home. I invited him to come, but he was too tired.
Lincoln Trail Rd. has no shoulder, and the grass on either side is marked by a trench that I thought I wouldn't be able to get out of in my Corolla, so I found an even smaller trail over a creek but ran into the same problem. I did see horses, though, and some truly ancient barns and a lot of roads with no names, one marked by two millstones. I didn't want to drive on the cemetery's grass, so I thought I'd try to find some shoulder on N 30 E Rd., which is basically a north dogleg of N Vermilion W Rd. To use the side that looked more promising, I had to turn around and drive south again. On the way, I saw a brown and white dog that turned around when it heard me, hopefully for home.
When I found a place that seemed good enough to stop, although I still couldn't quite get out of the road, a green truck was just passing, heading west on Lincoln Trail Rd. It slowed down, backed up, and turned onto N E 30 Rd. and pulled up next to me to ask if I needed any help. I thought the story about the cemetery would sound crass, since it's probably someone's family's, so I told him I was lost and asked how to get back to Urbana. Instead of giving me directions, he offered to lead me back to US-150. He told me he was born and raised in Ogden, which is about halfway between Urbana and Indiana on US-150, and almost due north of where we were then. He also told me I was pretty. I turned my car around and followed him north. We turned left on US-150 and he pulled over in a garage in Ogden to tell me that I could follow US-150 all the way back to Lincoln Ave. in Urbana, which is what I did.
I told him that I'd just graduated from the U of I, will be moving back to Chicago, and wanted to see as much of the surrounding area as I could before I left, because I'll miss it, and all those things are true. Kerry told me that he knows all the roads of Illinois and that, if I'm ever lost again, to call him. I wrote his name and phone number down in The Crocodile Bird, a Ruth Rendell novel I'm reading and that I'd brought in case I wanted to stop at a diner. Kerry works at the U of I as a building service worker in ISR, where I used to live, and said I could also call him if I ever want someone to drive around with and need a guide. He talked to me about Taste of Chicago and told me to let him know when I go because he wants to go. I told him I'd studied history and he told me that he's Native American and his cousin is a history professor in Native American studies at Columbia Missouri. He concluded by telling me, "I'm a good, good man," and stopped to wave to me before getting back in his truck.
On my way back on US-150, I passed another cemetery, although this one was big enough to have a name and the trees looked planted. It was called Mt. Olive and contained several tombs which I think may be of interest to Matt.