Illinois 2017

Lewistown, Canton & Moline, Illinois

Thursday, July 20 through Monday, July 24

We drove from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to Canton, Illinois and Moline, Illinois, including attending a couple of get-togethers by my high school classmates of 40+ years ago (Canton and Lewistown, Illinois). We also visited (drove by) numerous points of interest in both Canton and Moline (including my former residences and schools in both cities).

I tracked the trip with a Bad Elf GPS Pro+ GPSr (GPS receiver). There were a few problems:

The second track for 2017-07-23 is supposed to end with our return to the car after walking along the Mississippi River. It instead includes a few minutes of driving.
Similarly, the third track of the day should include a minute or so of the previous track.
The track is too far north (about 0.0015°) along I-80 east of Iowa City (from near Durant to the Cedar River), then too far south (from west of the river to near Iowa City). Waze (iPhone) did exactly the same thing, but the car's navigation system did not.
The altitude in the Iowa City area was also horribly inaccurate (about 700 m too low).

NOTE: the downloadable GPX tracks are the full GPX files, while those shown on the provided "view map" links are simplified (with minimal effect on geographic accuracy) for much faster viewing.

Original GPX tracks are unedited, except as noted.

Businesses are named below for reference only. No endorsement should be inferred. If you wish to see my opinion of the places mentioned, see TripAdvisor (for those that I have actually rated).

Overview

Overview map—This is a composite map of all the GPS tracks on a blank US/Canada map.
All GPS tracks / view map—The whole trip, including walking, driving, etc.

Thursday, July 20

GPX / view map —Driving in the Oklahoma City area.
GPX / view map —Driving in the Oklahoma City area.
GPX / view map —Driving from Oklahoma City to Joplin, Missouri. We stopped for gas near the Sapulpa/Tulsa/Oakhurst city limits border (the station was apparently in Tulsa).

Friday, July 21

GPX / view map —Driving from Joplin, Missouri to the Big Horse Vineyards in Lewistown, Illinois (where one of the get-togethers was). We stopped for gas in Hannibal, Missouri.
GPX / view map —Driving from Lewistown, Illinois to the hotel in Canton, Illinois.
GPX / view map —Driving from the hotel to Walgreens, to various local points of interest, and back to the hotel in Canton, Illinois.

Saturday, July 22

GPX / view map —Driving all over Canton, Illinois, passing by numerous points of interest. Includes a lunch stop at my former employer: Monical's Pizza (5th Ave. & Liberty Pl.—just south of Locust St.). The track begins and ends at our hotel.
GPX / view map —Driving from the hotel to American Grille, where the 40-year high school reunion was held.
GPX / view map —Driving back to the hotel.

Sunday, July 23

GPX / view map —Driving from Canton, Illinois to Moline, Illinois. Includes visits (driving past) my former residences there, a stop at Whitey's Ice Cream in Moline, and ends at the Ben Butterworth Parkway at the border between Moline and East Moline. The Rock River was flooding, so we were unable to get through on a couple of streets near the river.
GPX / view map —Walking on the Ben Butterworth Parkway. I accidentally left the GPS receiver running on this track after we started driving back to the main road, so it includes a minute or so of driving.
GPX / view map —(See also previous track) Driving from the Ben Butterworth Parkway to Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois and on to our hotel in West Des Moines, Iowa. (See comments at top of page regarding GPS receiver accuracy east of Iowa City.)
GPX / view map —Driving from the hotel to dinner in West Des Moines, Iowa.
GPX / view map —Dinner to gas station to hotel in West Des Moines, Iowa.

Monday, July 24

GPX / view map —Driving from West Des Moines, Iowa to Emporia Kansas (gas stop) to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.