14 Hours, 820 Miles...I'm In Beloit, WI.

Monday morning, I awoke at 4 AM. Between walking my SR. Puppy...feeding him, feeding the cat...and gosh, you know...all the last minute stuff that has to be dealt with...I'm on the road by 5:30 AM.


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It's spitting...or misting this morning...by the time I had gotten to Nashville, I had been in rain for...what was it? Three hours???? I dunno anymore...rain, wet, and miserable....once over the mountains of Nashville...life got considerably better.

Photo by Mangtacio @ Flickr.com

The sun popped out...well it actually gradually climbed out of some misty, cloudy wet blanket...but when it came out...peeking it's shaggy but eye blinding blond rays out at the wet world...ahhh how nice...thank you for being here...thank you.

Riding up into Kentucky...up past Paducah. I like KY. but you can keep Paducah...I was glad to be out of KY (though I have discovered places to return to with my camera...). I'm in Illinois....and I'm making my way over to US 51. A road that runs straight up the middle of Illinois....it's a cool road, two lane...runs through a few small towns...absolutely no large towns or cities...US 52 has some great places to stop in...and spend some time. I didn't have that luxury this time...had to beat feet it up to Beloit IL. for an important date...made it in 14 hours...I arrived beat, tired, wind blown...and feeling really good...I love my life.

Made the appointed rounds on Tuesday morning...then the rest of the day was all mine. I checked in with a few locals...and found there are some really good points of local interest around here...Man I have so many places to hook up with...I don't know if I will hit them all...but I know I will hit the ones that are important.





My first stop this morning is in old downtown Beloit WI. There is a bridge that crosses over the Rock River...this is a walking bridge...and a family here in this area, decided to help beautify the area with this train...I think this is sooooo cool!










Now getting to this site...I have to walk about 1/4 mile...actually it was a good walk for my photo ops...I found a great place to get these pics of The Iron Works plant across the river...





this is an iron foundry...and they have beautified the outside of the building...so it don't blight the downtown area...now if any of you have ever seen most iron foundries...you know what I mean by blight...the iron dust coats everything...but not here...look for yourself....it's a bright spot on the river...and I love what I'm looking at.











Also, as I'm walking toward the walking bridge, I come across these guys fishing for catfish...I'm told the river is full of some monster Cats....I used to like fishing for cats....








Look at the Hydro-Electric building...don't you think this looks really nice? The reflections are amazing here....











After spending about 2 hours walking around in the part of town, I had the opportunity to notice a stone tower in the distance...I thought to go check it out. So riding up the road on WI 81 a couple of blocks...I come to this...walking up it's little hill...this is what I find. It's known as the Beloit Stone Water Tower...it was built in 1885. Most of the structure is no longer standing...the portion that held the water was made of Cypress...and it kept seven miles of pipes full of water and servicing the town. It was decommissioned in 1935.











Leaving the water tower...I head out of town for Beckman Mill. Wonderful, peaceful, beautiful...it's closest to being heaven...in pictures anyway....











I saw an old time saw mill on the site....








I'm sorry folks...it's getting late...I have a busy day tomorrow...and I'm heading off for bed...thanks for coming...I'm glad to have you here...





Be well...all who come here...

To Wisconsin and Home

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Tomorrow, Monday July 6th...I will be leaving for a road trip to South Beloit IL.
This is a town that sits on the Wisconsin/Illinois state line



I was doing a bit of research of South Beliot...and I've learned Beliot is a bastardization of a French word:Bellotte....meaning "pretty". Beliot and South Beliot are NOT pretty...but from the history I've read, when the valley was first looked upon by white men, it was covered in Elm and walnut, with a beautiful river running through the valley. It was a farming community for about 100 years...then...the industrial revolution hit Beliot and South Beliot...what a blight this caused in this area...

But once out of the city...once again the countryside recovers, becomes farming again...and loveliness stretches as far as the eye can see...as well as corn...lots and lots of corn.

I will be taking the "famous" US 51 Route...from the TN. state line up into Beloit....with lots of small towns and great photo ops to take advantage of. I will be posting what I find of small town Americana here...with you guys sharing the fun things, the mundane things...and even the sad thing...the death of small towns due to lack of traffic....ect)....with you guys...it will be a great pictorial, and I hope you will come and see what KY and IL. small towns are offering us in the way of cultural riches....