American Discovery Trail: Marseilles, Illinois

Bridge over the Illinois River at Marseilles

I played bridge three times this week, at a tournament near here on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, so I only walked four days. I will be walking along the Illinois River for another 50 miles before breaking away as the river turns south at Bureau Junction, Illinois.

Next week, I will only walk one day as I will be playing bridge in California with Mike.

So, how is that bridge going? It's going pretty well. My goal for this year was to get to 100 points and get to Regional Master rank, which meant I had to get some silver and red points as well as the 100 points total. However, I hit that mark on July 1, so I had to set some new, loftier goals. My new goals are to get 100 points for the year (adding to the 40 last year) and to end with at least 10 gold points. I already have 84 points this year, so that goal is a sure thing, barring some catastrophe. The 10 gold are proving more difficult, but I got 2.5 this week playing with Russ, and we still have three tournaments left (including the one with Mike next week), so I am confident about that goal as well, though it is not quite a sure thing.

No tournaments next month as I stay home more with Jackie after she has knee surgery, so September should be a good walking month. 
 

American Discovery Trail: Joliet, Illinois

[I posted this post briefly last week, but then I realized that Joliet, according to the American Discovery Trail, is not 30 miles into Illinois, as Google Maps says, but is rather 60 miles from the border by the trail route. So it turns out that this week I am close to Joliet, not last week.]

This week we are near Joliet, Illinois, southwest of Chicago and on the outskirts of the Chicago Metropolitan Area. Apparently, I am not the only person who thinks "prison" when they hear the name Joliet, as information about the prison mentions that the name of the town is synonymous with the prison. This building is now called the Old Joliet Prison, and it is a historical curiosity that you can visit and go on a tour.

The most famous resident of Joliet Prison is a fictional character, Jake Blues from The Blues Brothers movie.

I looked up 49 fun things to do in Illinois, so here are a few of them:

Metropolitan Park, Chicago, home of The Bean. I already posted a picture.

Lollapalooza. It's a big music festival. Headliners this year include Megan Thee Stallion, Stray Kids, and Blink 182. I would not recognize any of these people or their music, but I may not be part of the target audience.

Navy Pier. A Chicago attraction. Dining, shopping, a big Ferris wheel.

The Leaning Tower of Niles. Half the size of the one in Pisa. I read that it is one of the biggest tourist attractions in Niles. Ya think?

Superdawg drive-in. Chicago-style hotdogs are a thing, and this is the place to get them. Carhops bring your food to your car, old style.

Abrahan Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. It says "Land of Lincoln" on Illinois license plates. 

They are proud of their guy.

A couple built a 17,000 square foot house in the shape of a six-stories-tall pyramid. It is covered in gold plating and surrounded by a moat. The couple believed in pyramid power, new-age nonsense that was popular once among the gullible.

It sustained major fire damage in 2018, but articles from that time say the owners hoped to restore it.

This could be you, hanging out in the 1,450-foot Willis Tower, looking over Chicago and beyond.

American Discovery Trail: Illinois

Today I entered Illinois. The trail across Illinois goes close to straight east to west, just 220 miles across. We will pass through the towns of Park Forest, Joliet, Morris, LaSalle, DePue, Tiskilwa, and Moline, exiting the state at Rock Island. We will follow the Illinois River about halfway across the state until DePue, then make our way west to the Mississippi River at the Iowa border.

Though our walk will not take us closer than 20 miles from downtown Chicago, we are currently in the Chicago Metropolitan Statistical Area, the third largest metropolitan area in the United States after New York City and Los Angeles, so we will be walking through the outskirts of the Chicago area for the next few days.

I know that I passed through Illinois when I was a kid, but also, I travelled here for a week of work when I was with Farmers Insurance. That work was in Schaumburg, a city a little north and west of Chicago, but the whole ride back and forth looked like one big city. My most enduring impression was that I worked on about the eighth floor of a building there, and looking out from the windows on both sides, the world looked absolutely flat, the most perfectly smooth and flat view I can ever remember seeing, like you could imagine you could see the curve of the earth from up there.

This week, I passed 3,000,000 steps, which, combined with 7,000,000 on my last walk means I have walked 10,000,000 steps since I started tracking in 2021. That's the equivalent of 10,000 steps per day for 1,000 days, so it is some measure of perseverance, a word that is not always associated with my efforts.

I passed Crown Point, Indiana, this week, the last stop before Illinois. This building is the Lake County Courthouse, designed in 1878.