Pontiac, Illinois to Fort Wayne, Indiana

Leaving Pontiac, Illinois the heat has broken and there is rain, but cooler weather today. We run into a rainstorm near Reynolds, Illinois and stop under a tree to sit out some of the rain. As we stop the shoulder of the road there is a slight dip in the road and the bike tumbles over on the grass. Billy does a great somersault off the bike and neither of us is hurt, but the bike is too heavy to pick up when it's on an incline. A man sees the bike go over and stops and runs over to see if he can help. With his help we are able to right the bike. He then offers his mother's home garage which is nearby to wait out the rest of the rain. We accept his offer and follow him a couple of miles to the house. We park in the garage and visit with members of the family. This family seems to be the local dynasty - 11 children from the mother, 36 grandchildren, 16 great grandchildren... all in the local area. It's a close family who love to get together - so different from many of our spread our families these days.

We make it into Fort Wayne to visit Billy's daughter Liz, husband Andy and children Kate and Zeke.