Day 5 - Savannah IL to Apple River IL

Friday June 15, 2001, 55 miles (89 km) - Total so far: 340 miles (547 km) Left the Palisades State Park at 8:30 a.m., drizzly, misty rain type of a day. 
Reached Galena Illinois near 12:30 p.m., weather has cleared now, spent some time site seeing, a beautiful, rich historic area Galena has. Rode out east from town at around 3:30 p.m. on the on my way towards home part of the loop now. Took the stagecoach trail road with the destination of Apple River Canyon State Park in mind. Reached the town of Apple Valley IL and noticed some resistance pedaling and a rubbing sound from my back wheel, found the problem to be a broken weld on the rack support. Fixed it up with by wrapping wire around the break then duct tape to hold the wire. The weather is terrific now, a cool 70 degrees, big fluffy clouds, and the wind has turned to help push me east now. Asked a couple people about getting permission to camp somewhere. A town park was recommended to me and when I found it there was a baseball game in progress. I asked a lady working the concession stand about camping, and she indicated there was no one to give approval to camp and thought no one would mind. The park was right on the Illinois - Wisconsin State line, chalked up a visit to one more state..