Ray and I left about 8:45 this morning on the first leg of our trip. It was a pretty chilly start to the day, but the weather warmed up nicely and it turned into a pretty day for about 2/3 rds of the ride. We booked west on I-80 for about 75 miles even though I hate riding on the interstates. (Interstates are for cars and trucks. Motorcycles are for the two lane roads.) But we have ridden all the nice scenery between home and Starved Rock many times, so we needed to make some time to get on our way south along the Illinois River. Just west of LaSalle, we headed south toward Peoria riding highways that parallel the Illinois River. Illinois is not known for spectacular natural scenery, but the further south you go
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