From Illinois to the back roads of Wisconsin

Today was supposed to be a uneventful day, or at least it was planned that way.  It turned out to be one of the most rewarding days so far on this journey.  Having wished Kevin and Nancy a safe trip of their own to Utah, I set out for the day.  I didn't get as much quality sleep the night before due to all the train whistles at 5am in Chesterton.  Apparently every train in the region comes through their little town.

With trains on my mind, I set out to get past Chicago with little annoyance on my part.  Traffic was very heavy but I managed to not make anyone made with the camper in the slow lane.  Trucking down the interstate which had not been my preferred means of travel, I was keeping an eye out for those wonderful brown information signs.  I was hoping to find something to divert on my way.  Low and behold, the Illinois Railroad Museum was only 5 miles off today's path.

What a treat this place was.  There were numerous barns with old engines and cars throughout.  You could enter most elements on the grounds.  They had several cars open and decked out as in their days of glory.  The engines were what mostly caught my attention.  Lately, I've been hooked on all the railway shows on TV.  Some showing the old engines from the past.  Now, I was right next to the beasts.  The biggest engine was the black snowplow, which is much bigger in person than on all the shows I've seen.  The Union Pacific engine was just like the one I used to play with on a track around my living room.
From there, I was off again to my next stop.  Following my GPS map is sometimes fun and sometimes uneventful.  Today was both!  As I was following along in Wisconsin, I noticed that the roads were getting smaller and the road numbers were now letters!  Yes, I said letters.  My favorite stretch of road was Highway PP.  But I I also got the fortune to travel along Highway W for a spell too.  As I was traveling along today, came upon a hill and curve, as I rounded the corner, all of a sudden I was in the middle of a wind turbine farm!  My excitement was hard to contain and I immediately started looking for a spot to stop and take a few photos.  That was the easy part since there was hardly any traffic in the country. 

Having taught my engineering classes about these wind farms, I was quite curious of how loud they were, I stopped and rolled down the windows and heard nothing.  So much for that theory.
Nearing my destination for the night, I crossed over the Mississippi river and while I was over the river, I could see my camp spot.  Yes, that's right, I camped right on the river.  If only Tom Sawyer had come by, it would have been perfect.  This community park was behind a big casino.  I was curious since I had never been in a casino before and made my way up to look around.  I am happy to say I brought every penny I took in there back out with me.  Tomorrows trek is where dreams are made...