MAD MAC'S MARCH
ACROSS ILLINOIS' LINCOLN HIGHWAY
NATIONAL SCENIC BYWAY
MARCH BULLETIN DAY 5 - SEPT 5
PLAINFIELD TO AURORA (15.48 MILES)

DEPART: 5:49 AM
ARRIVE: 11:42 AM 15.48 MILES IN 5 HOURS AND 53 MINUTES (GROSS)
AVG SPEED: 2.63 M. P. H.

5:49a - Depart downtown Plainfield. Head up US 30 to Aurora. This is the scariest roadway segment to date. Very narrow shoulders and have to hop up and down off the road to get out of the way of large trucks zooming past way above speed limit. Saw State Police squad in pursuit of one of the maniacs.

6:55a - Hit 135th Street (Pilchers Road) and the coffee I had in the morning had kicked in and I had to, ah, go real bad. Walgreens to the rescue again! When people say that there's a Walgreens on every corner; they're right. Here one is under construction and I utilized the porta potty on the job site.

7:10a I observe a helicopter crop dusting a cornfield. Very unique site. An old glass bubble type helo with large yellow framework (with pipes) extending from under the cockpit outwards about 20 feet on both sides of the aircraft. Just weird sight. Took some pictures and head up Heggs Road toward Oswego.

7:55a Spot the most vandal proof secure mailbox in Illinois on Heggs Road between 127th Street and 119th Street. Evidently this farmer had tired of kids, or "utes" (My Cousin Vinnie) driving down the road smashing mail boxes with baseball bats from passing cars. This thing is 3/8 to ½ inch steel plate mounted on a steel post 6 inches thick and probably sunk down 10 feet or more. A baseball bat striking that thing would bounce back or take some utes' arm off!

10:05a - Cell phone jingles and this time I catch it before the message takes over. It is Ann(e) Hanson of the Star Newspapers desiring an on the road interview. I sit down just before the Kane County Line on Hill Ave and we chat for about 15 minutes. (Someone look at the Star editions for the next few days and see if anything popped up. Clip and Send, Please)

11:42a Hit River Street and Downer Place in Downtown Aurora.

11:50a Double back to meet my return driver Carl Jacobson, LHA Illinois Director, of Aurora, who is standing in front of Johnny O's Surplus store on Downer Place. (Mr. John Gallis, owner was supposed to meet me there, but could not due to a death in his family.) With Carl is Bruno Bartoszek, a retired English teacher. Bruno gives me a stern lecture on getting too much sun. You're red he said. I told him that was the beer coming out, not sunburn!

Carl drives me back to my car in Plainfield and I head home do some packing and then head back to check into the Comfort Suites in Aurora. Sue Vos of the Aurora Convention and Visitors Bureau has arranged for my room there. Crash at about 1:00a.

FOR THOSE WHO WERE THERE, PLEASE E-MAIL ME CORRECTIONS OF NAMES AND FILL IN THE BLANKS ON ANYTHING I LEFT OUT.

SINCE I DO NOT HAVE LAPTOP OR REMOTE E-MAILING CAPABILITY FOR CERTAIN LEGS OF THIS JOURNEY, I WILL BE ISSUING BULLETINS IN THE FUTURE AND UPDATES IF, WHEN AND WHERE POSSIBLE.
Next day's walk. Mad Mac's September
Tom McAvoy (Mad Mac)
Home: 9130 West 89th Street Tele: 708-599-2815
Hickory Hills, IL 60457-1208 e-mail: madmc51@aol.com
Work: IDOT, District One, Programming Bureau Tele: 847-705-4386
201 West Center Court Fax: 847-705-4666
Schaumburg, IL 60196-1096 e-mail: McAvoyTJ@nt.dot.state.il.us
On March: SEPT 1-14 ONLY: Cellular Phone: Tele: 708-204-3608


The above text is from e-mail that Tom sent to us from the road.

You can still participate, with Tom, on his walk across Illinois.
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This page is at http://www.lincoln.tripod.com/madmac/update5.html.
Created 12th September, 2001.