Oklahoma/Illinois 2025
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Canton, Illinois; one-way back to Maine
Thursday, June 19 through Tuesday, July 15. 2025
This complex trip started out as flights from Ellsworth, Maine to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Embedded in this trip to Oklahoma was another (driving) round trip to Canton, Illinois, to join part of their bicentennial celebration. After returning to Oklahoma, a few days later, we drove my car to Maine, with the intention of keeping it based in Maine.
I tracked the trip with a Garmin eTrex SE GPS receiver (GPSr), using my iPhone 16 (Gaia GPS app) as a backup.
NOTE: the downloadable GPX tracks are full-resolution 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 to break up separate events, and where necessary to fill in missing data. Altered tracks (other than cropped) are noted in their descriptions.
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 few 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, June 19
- GPX / view map—driving from Ellsworth, Maine to Bangor International Airport in Bangor, Maine. We detoured around some slow traffic in the Holden/Brewer area.
- GPX / view map—walking from the car rental lot to the terminal, then to the aircraft, at Bangor International Airport
- GPX / view map—flying from Bangor, Maine to O'Hare International Airport near Chicago, Illinois
- GPX / view map—walking from the arrival aircraft to the departure aircraft at O'Hare International Airport
- GPX / view map—flying from Chicago, Illinois to OKC Will Rogers International Airport in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
- GPX / view map—walking from the aircraft to the terminal, and to a taxi/van waiting for customers
- GPX / view map—riding the taxi/van to the house in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Monday, June 23
- GPX / view map—driving from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to Springfield, Missouri, including a dinner stop in Joplin, Missouri
Tuesday, June 24
- GPX / view map—driving from Springfield, Missouri to Canton, Illinois, including a dinner stop in Canton, Illinois and various other points of interest in town
Wednesday, June 25
Thursday, June 26
- GPX / view map—driving from Canton, Illinois to Moline, Illinois and vicinity, visiting various points of interest. There was road construction and a semi-trailer rollover, both of which caused us to take unusual routes to get to our various destinations in the Quad Cities.
- GPX / view map—hiking at Sylvan Island on the border between Moline and Rock Island, Illinois
- GPX / view map—driving back to Canton, including a stop in Rock Island for dinner, in Moline for ice cream, and a diversion southeast of Galesburg to view the Wolf Covered Bridge (located a short distance northeast of Maquon, Illinois)
Friday, June 27
- GPX / view map—driving to various points of interest in and around Canton, Illinois
- GPX / view map—driving to dinner (Monical's Pizza) and to a concert ("Ultimate Doors" at the Canton High School, recreating a concert by the original "Doors" in 1967 on the same stage, but with very much better results&hellp;the original band gave up on the horrified audience in 1967, but the tribute band had an enthusiastic audience in 2025)
Saturday, June 28
Sunday, June 29
- GPX / view map—driving to Wee-Ma-Tuk Hills (west-southwest of Canton), Cuba, and other Canton-area points of interest, ending near Canton Lake.
- GPX / view map—hiking (counter-clockwise) at Canton Lake
- GPX / view map—driving around Canton, plus an excursion south to the Emiquon Preserve between Lewistown and Havana, Illinois
Monday, June 30
- GPX / view map—driving from Canton, Illinois to Springfield, Missouri, including a dinner stop in Springfield (Missouri)
Tuesday, July 1
- GPX / view map—driving from Springfield, Missouri to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Police had blocked our normal route in the Tulsa, Oklahoma area, so we had to take an unexpected detour around Tulsa. Construction of service facilities near Stroud, Oklahoma resulted in another unusual routing when we needed to stop for gas there.
Saturday, July 12
- GPX / view map—driving from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to Glen Carbon, Illinois (Illinois suburb of St. Louis, Missouri). We encountered very slow traffic (and about a 48-minute delay) near Depew, Oklahoma (because of a crash involving a semi), and detoured around additional slow traffic near Springfield, Missouri. We stopped for dinner in Lebanon, Missouri, along the way.
Sunday, July 13
- GPX / view map—driving from Glen Carbon, Illinois to Ashland, Ohio, including a dinner stop in Dayton, Ohio. We again encountered various significant traffic slow-downs and detoured around road construction near Greenfield, Indiana.
Monday, July 14
- GPX / view map—driving from Ashland, Ohio to East Greenbush, New York (near Albany), including a dinner stop at Syracuse, New York
Tuesday, July 15
- GPX / view map—driving from East Greenbush, New York to Ellsworth, Maine, including a dinner & shopping stop in Portland, Maine. We took a "scenic" route from Gardener to Belfast, Maine.
