Robert Stuart Trail 1812 — 1813

Day 9: August 20th, 2007 Detroit — Prairie Du Chien

Around half past eight I am finished with my breakfast. Then I say good–bye to Jean and drive with Matt over to Adnan. Unfortunately, he is completely booked. The earliest possible time slot where he would be able to squeeze me in would be in the afternoon. But maybe only the temperature sensor is broken. He has this one on stock and would sell it to me for $30 instead of $37! That is great and I take this part with me. Maybe I will install it tomorrow, because my drive today is way too long.

I fill up my spare gas cans at Ad’s gas station. Then I hit the road. Unfortunately the weather is as bad as yesterday. The heavy thunderstorms are even worse than yesterday! Sometimes you are almost not able to see a thing and you cannot drive faster than 50mph. And this today of all days, where I must drive 600 miles…

I–94, State Line MI and IN

On I–94 I cross the state line to Indiana.

I–94, State Line IN and IL

Shortly after I reach the state line to Illinois. On Highway 6 I circle around the toll road in Chicago, like every year.

From Highway 6 I drive to I–57 and finally to I–80 West.

Near Joliet I cross the Des Plaines River. Like every other year, I video tape the steel bridge.

I–39, IL

Then I turn onto I–39 and reach Highway 20.

Highway 20, IL

On Highway 20 I drive to Highway 84 through Galena, IL.

Highway 84, State Line IL and WI

Finally I cross the state line to Wisconsin. Now the rain starts to slow down and sometimes even the sun starts to shine. On Highway 80 I drive to Highway 11 through Hazel Green. Then I continue on Highways 35/61/151.

On this one I drive through Dickeyville, WI.

At Fennimore I must drive a small detour. From Highway 61/Blues Hwy it goes to Highway 61/18/12th St, then to Washington St and finally to Highway 18.

On Highway 18 I reach Prairie Du Chien. This time I have no problems to find a motel. Around a quarter past seven I check in. Then I immediately call Sherry for our dinner appointment. She picks me up with her daughter and we drive over to the Hungry House Cafe. There, here other daughter Stefanie is cleaning tables. She just turned 16 and she was allowed to receive her first lip piercing. Only during work she must take it out.

Sherry invites me for dinner, which was not planned from my side. Instead, I planed to invite her. Then we do a brief drive through the city and she invites me to her house. This gives me the chance to meet the rest of the family, her husband and her other daughter, who arrives later with a friend.

Unfortunately the weather seems to influence my throat, which slowly starts to rasp. Hopefully I will not pick up a cold. Regarding my temperature sensor I asked for a mechanic and they were able to give me a good address. First I planned to do it myself. But according to my service manual, the sensor sits on half height of the engine. Therefore I would loose a lot of coolant fluid. In this case, the mechanic is probably the better solution.

Around 10pm I ask Sherry to drive me back to my motel. There I check my video taping of today. Then I go to bed.