Altamont, Illinois, Sept. 26 — My second major trip of 2013 covered the states and parts of states in the Old Northwest Territory that I hadn’t visited in July, along with Kentucky. Along the way, I clinched I-70 in two states (until the Stan Musial bridge opened earlier this month), visited my last two counties in Illinois, and saw my first SEC and Big Ten football games in person.
Some of this text is in a choppier style from immediate writeup. This will be true throughout the reports.
Route: IA 5, IA 92, IA 163, US 34 (via old 34 through Agency), US 218, IA/MO 27, US 61, US 24, old US 36, Bus 36 into downtown Hannibal, MO 79, I-72, IL 106 to Barry, I-72, IL 267, US 67 north on new segment to Hillside then turn around, IL 255, I-270, I-70
Once on IA 163 at Oskaloosa, the GPS had me going straight through to the north US 61/24 junction north of Hannibal. It did not signal “stay on US 218” at Mount Pleasant or “stay on IA 27” at the split; it assumed I would follow the four-lane all the way through.
Changes on the Fairfield bypass: “Convention Center” now a second line on EB exit for Business 34, and Keosauqua is moved to main IA 1 BGS. Farther south, “Former 394” is off BGS at 218 split, now “27 South” in Clearview in old space.
Font frenzy: That’s a Clearview greenout on an FHWA sign. For previous versions of this sign, see the IA 394 page.
I did a quick stopover on the west end of Mount Pleasant’s Business 34 to detour within the city limits of Westwood, noticing a rare-for-Iowa “End State Maintenance” sign on the offramp.
Followed MO 16 into Canton for Casey’s, which was closing the following week for remodeling. Missouri is among the states losing 89 octane gas. I took the south part of business route out, new for me.
I traveled some old US 36 in the Hannibal area, which was the business route in the city, and then IL 106 east of the Mississippi to Barry.
The newer plaque at the still-extant west base of the Mark Twain Memorial Bridge in Hannibal.
After I left I-72 at Jacksonville, I got stuck behind a semi for the ENTIRE length of IL 267. Corn looked very spiky, a few plots being harvested, some looked more ready than others.
I followed 267 all the way down to US 67, where I headed north a bit to see the recently finished north end of the IL 255 freeway, and then headed south on 255. “To I-270” is south control city for IL 255. The GPS went bonkers because this was too new for it.
North of Alton. IL 267 is signed the entire length of the pre-2002 alignment of US 67 in central Illinois. Illinois has built an interstate-grade freeway, but only extended the 255 number, not the I-255 designation.
Traffic came to a complete stop right after I-270 ramp to I-55 north and I waited 20 minutes to go 5 miles. KMOX finally mentioned the jam after I was out. Once I was on I-70, there were beautiful conditions during dusk.
I ended the day in Altamont in time to see most of Iowa State’s win at Tulsa — the last ISU win until the end of November.
New counties: 1 (Bond IL)