Before we had gotten to Wenona yesterday we had called the number for a bed and breakfast in Kempton to make sure we had a room for Tuesday night. We spoke with David and he said the bed and breakfast was closed because the man that had been running it had died and they sold the home to a family that is now living there. He did say that he would rent us a room at the home that he calls the World Adventure Club House in Kempton. We were relieved to at least have a place to stay. So on Tuesday morning we got up early and headed to Kempton around 6:50AM - we had 58 miles to bike and it was a great day with the wind in our favor the majority of the time. The few miles that we had to bike south was headwinds but fortunately we didn't have more than 10 miles or so of biking south. We arrived in Kempton around 1:30 and went to the World Adventure Book store to see if we could check in to our room. When we had called earlier and talked with David Hatcher Childress, he had told us that there was a restaurant that we could eat at. Once we arrived at the book store we found out that the restaurant was closed but would open up later that day. We checked in and then one of the book store employees named Joe walked us over to the house. We met David Childress on the way. While showing us the house David told us of some of his travels over the world and explained the significance of many of the items stored in the club house. There were four separate bedrooms each with a different decorating theme, the Atlantis room - for the lost city of Atlantis, the Pacific room - for the Philippine Islands, the Inca room - for Central America, and the African room.There was all kinds of neat stuff like a coat of armor, a mummie, an African face mask, sea shells,etc etc.
After getting settled in and cleaned up we road our bike back to the Sargent Pepper's Bar and Grill to relax and rehydrate. While there we struck up a conversation with a couple of the regulars and found out a little bit about the area. It turns out David Childress is an author and also a regular on the TV History channel. We were also told of a community nearby, I think it was Stealth or something similar, where the locals supposedly have some type of spacecraft built and stored and ready to go in the event of the end of the world or Armageddon or whatever. How's that for weird stuff!! We were very impressed with the regulars, very polite, absolutely no swearing, and no smoking by their choice. The bartender asked if we minded if the regulars smoked? Before we could reply, one of the regulars said no that's ok, if their bikers it's obvious they don't smoke so we wont. How polite is that?
We were just getting ready to order something to eat when we got a phone call from Gary and Marilyn Solomon, our biking friends from Ohio. They told us not to order anything, that they were on their way to pick us up to go out to eat. When they arrived we had a great visit renewing our friendship and bringing each other up to date. We finally decided to show Gary and Marilyn the club house, where we are staying, and then headed by car toAshkum, IL to the Pizza Palace for a delicious barbecued ribs supper.
Marilyn and Gary are going to bike with us for a couple of days and we look forward to spending the time with them. After dropping us off they drove to Watseka (where we will spend Wednesday night) and they checked into the Super 8. Tomorrow morning they will start biking towards us and we will meet in the middle at "The Loft" in Ashkum for breakfast and then all four of us will bicycle to Watseka. It was so great to spend time with them and we so appreciate there coming to bike with us the next couple of days!
Another great day - Marilyn and Gary, thank you for making this day extra special!
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| On Tuesday evening we had this entire house to ourselves for $30.00. This house is the World Adventure Clubhouse and you will see below some pictures that were taken on the inside. It was rather strange and creepy but what can you expect for $30.00. |
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| We are still biking by the wind generators and also huge power lines as we cross Illinois! |
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| This is what greets you as you walk in the front door of this house! |
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| One room has a pool table with all kinds of artifacts and stuff hanging on the walls all over the house! |
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| Another room with African masks, skeletons, and misc. items! |
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| Marilyn and Gary talking with Jennifer Bolm (her and her husband own the home we stayed at) at the book store in Kempton! |
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| Mural on the outside of the book store in Kempton! |
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| This is the mural on the side of Sgt. Peppers Bar and Grill! It was so interesting once we stopped to study it. There were paintings of Dorothy and Toto (dog), Blues Brothers, Elvis, John Glenn, Beatles, Three Stooges, and even President Obama painted on this mural. It was really cool. Of course, John and I are trying to be funny posing like the Blues Brothers! |
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| More pictures of the Mural! |
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| Mummy in the house that we stayed at (creepy huh) What can you expect for $30.00 lol |
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| This is the sink in the upstairs bathroom - it looks like a spine and there is also a matching mirror on the wall behind it! |
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| We are still biking amongst the wind generators and of course with that comes huge power lines also! |
I was raised in Kempton and loved it. The house you stayed in used to belong to a lady named Irma Wilson. She used to baby sit me and my older brother and sisters. She was one of the sweetest persons in town. Here is a picture of her taken in that house. Just FYI.
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