Day 062 - Effingham to St Elmo IL

Another mostly sunny day. Warmer than yesterday with temps in the 60's and 70's. There was a 15 mph crosswind from the south.

Early on in the walk I smelled petroleum and saw a working oil well close to the road that looked brand-new. I had walked right thru the middle of a of a large oil storage tank farm last Friday on the east side of Casey.

As I approached Altamont I passed Effingham County Fairgrounds which has a harness racing track. Two jockey's were taking their horses thru their paces.

I passed the third high school in as many days where entire classes of students in shorts and T-shirts were on their way to the school's athletic field for Phys Ed. It's good to see that PE has not been dropped from the curriculums.

Because of Nicole's article in the Effingham Daily News a number of people recognized me and waved or honked as they drove by. A mail carrier made a drive by donation saying she had seen my picture on the front page of the paper.

One thing that has surprised me on the walk is how curious cows have been about me. I expected horses to come over and check me out as I walk by but I am surprised that if I call to the cows they will frequently get up and come over. I remember the cows on my aunt's dairy farm being lazy and needing strong encouragement to head to the barn to be milked.

Towards the end of the walk I passed the Wildwood Prayer Chapel. It is a tiny little wooden non-denominational chapel that was built in 2006. At the end of the days walk was the biggest greenhouse complex I have ever seen.

Thanks to OCRF for featuring me in their spring fundraising drive mailing.

Today's thank you for lodging goes to Brenda Maxwell a two and a half year ovarian cancer survivor. Her latest test results all came back great. She does not live along my route and could not put me up for a night but wanted to pay for lodging. She put me up on March 19 at the Holiday Inn in Cumberland. Since Holiday Inn gave us a super $39 corporate rate she wanted to provide an additional nights lodging.

Trivia answer:

Until the 1850's individual towns used to keep their own time based on local noon. The advent of trains necessitated the need to establish standard time zones due to their speed of travel and the need to come up with synchronized schedules.

Trivia question:

Decipher the meaning of the letters and numbers on the round green and white sign pictured at the end of the blog. Where is it located?