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Post date: Jul 4, 2015 12:24:28 PM
Headed out of Le Claire, down through Quad Cities - crossing the Mississippi River in Davenport, Iowa. If you check out our trip map this represents quite a detour south from our general east west route. Our primary destination today is Central Illinois Dragway, in Havanna, Illinois. A few years back my cousin Frank Hutto, a life long "motor head", invested in this local drag strip.
Still driving on back roads ... the topography was flatter and the corn taller than Iowa. We were traveling through an area that is drained by the Illinois River. Just a few miles from Havanna, we were forced to back track and detour about 10 miles. Found out when we got to Havanna that the river was 20' over flood stage, and that a bridge on our intended route was impassable.
Our Google directions to the dragway (there were no signs) took us south of Havanna several miles, passed a major coal fueled power plant on the river. We kept zig zagging through cornfields until we got to the front gate - which had a warning sign indicating that "drag racing can be hazardous to your health". We rolled on in.
We pulled up to the office/maintenance area and were promptly met by the Lasecke family - Jeff and Theresa, and their two kids. Got an orientation to the dragway (1/8th mile long) and the sport for the next couple hours. It was fascinating. They have hosted all kinds of competitors/events, everything from juniors (one was 8 years old) to nostalgia cars ....
to jet engines (200 miles per hour). Jeff had just finished dewatering the track the day before - so Shaelyn, then I, took Lola for a trip down the strip, Pretty cool!
Thanked our hosts and headed back up to Havanna for some ice cream before cutting cross country to the east on back roads to Bloomington, Illinois (actually Bloomington/Normal). Bloomington is home to the corporate offices of State Farm Insurance. Normal's name originates from the fact that it is the home to Illinois State University - originally a "normal" school, or teacher training institution. We checked into local motel. Had a wonderful Italian dinner that night at Lucca Grill - a local favorite since the 1930s. Place was packed with local families, cocktails were strong and food was great (local lore has it serving the first pizza in southern Illinois).
Lisa and Shaelyn dropped me off at the motel then headed out to the movies.
I slept like a log.
RH
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