Bike the Tollway!

Today Rick, my mom, my dad, and I rode on I-355. I-355 is the rode that Rick and I take to and from work. The tollway has been adding an extension for I-55 to I-80. This extension will make our commute much less horrible. Before it opens tonight, the tollway and many other sponsors hosted a bike ride on the new part of the road. Click here to learn more about the ride. Although it was cold and windy, we are so glad that we rode today!

My mom and dad drove to our house early this morning. We loaded our bikes into the truck and drove to Lemont, IL. We parked at a bank and rode about one half mile to the start of the ride. This was Rick's great idea. The information we recieved from the tollway reccomended a few parking lots about one mile away from the start. Rick thought it would be easier to just park at Jewel and ride to the start. This turned out to be one of his best ideas EVER!!! We got to the start a little before 9am which meant there were a ton of people waiting to begin.

The new road is called Veterans Memorial Tollway. It happened to also be Veteran's Day today--coincidence, I think not! There were many veterans along the first part of the ride and some were also riding their bikes. It made for a very nice addition to the event.

Rick and my mom at the starting line!

The Port-a-potties that my dad used before we started (Andrea- we thought of you).

My mom and Me---still at the starting line.

What a cute picture!!!

My mom and dad. They are smiling here, but my dad was not happy about how long we had to wait to get started.

All four of us! Fresh and ready to take on the tollway! The first and last time we will ever ride it for free!

During one of our pit stops. We stopped under the Open Road Tolling so that I could take some pictures!

Thumbs Up to Open Road Tolling...less so to the governor, but better than Indiana's.

It wouldn't be a picture on the Tollway without a little love for Jack!

The wind was in our face the whole first 1/2 of the ride. Going up or down a hill was difficult because of the fierce wind. The wind was about 15 mph. After about 13ish miles we turned around and headed back to the start. It was amazing having the wind behind us-what a huge difference. On our way back we stopped at one of the two festivals along the road.

Here is my dad (helmet AND hood) in front of a tank- A Sherman Tank.

There were also Civil War and Revolutionary War reenactors also. Here I am in one of the Civil War tents!

The family with the Revolutionary War soldiers.

Mom and Dad with the Civil War soldier.

There were also animals at the festival-a wolf, a fox, a mountain lion, and a Tur-tle (for Alex!). Note-the turtle was the only animal out of its cage.

The rest of the ride was very easy after the festival. When we got back to our car we had ridden 21.1 miles--a great work out and a great time.

Jack was working overtime for the tollway directing traffic in one of the parking lots. We stopped to visit on our way home.

After we got home, we went to lunch at Public Landing Restaurant in Lockport. We came home and finished watching the Packers win. The good end to a great day (but it was really only 3:00pm).