Saturday, June 28th, began well- ended TERRIBLE.
We left Saturday Morning, Sky on his bike and Janet and I on the Voyager leaving about 9:30 AM after having some breakfast sandwiches that Janet made. Stopped at Hy-Vee in Galesburg for fuel and proceeded to I-74 and our trip to J&P's Open House in Anamosa, Iowa. We stopped at the rest area on I-80 north of Bettendorf to allow blood to run back into our white knuckles after hanging on tightly through the rough road in the last few miles of Illinois. It was nice to be in Iowa, where I-80 is much smoother. After the break, we traveled west on 80 to the exit for Tipton, Rt 38 North, and that is where we found the road was ok, but the wind gusts coming out of the west and northwest were not pleasant. It got worse as we climbed higher in elevation on the way to Rt 64, where we turned west and the wind was still fierce, but we were heading more into it. We had to wait in line on the interstate for quite awhile as traffic was backed up for 3/4 to a mile, waiting to get into J&P. We were lucky enough to get a parking place only several feet off the paved road in the South parking lot. Had our burgers and looked around at the vendors and stuff. Watched the people doing the precision riding skills demo and the guys on the sport bikes doing stunts. Sky bought a barrel style bag, not too big, to go on the luggage rack of his Tour Glide. We left Anamosa and got fuel in the first small town on Rt 38 south, as the station in Anamosa was packed with bikes. The wind didn't seem quite as bad traveling south as it had coming north. Stopped at the first rest area after turning east onto I-80 for a breather after fighting the wind. When we got to Davenport, we took I-280 and went on the bottom side of the Quad Cities so we didn't have to experience the extremely rough road of I-80 as it comes off the Mississippi bridge into Illinois, land of poor road maintenance. When we got back to the shop, we had some snack food and drinks and Sky left about a quarter till ten.

This is where it all went TERRIBLY BAD.
We saw a bike go by as Sky was getting ready to leave, but due to darkness, we didn't know who it was. Sky had to wait for some traffic at the driveway and proceeded to go home to Billtown. Shortly thereafter, squad cars went by, sirens blasting, we heard more coming as they slowed for the corner, turning onto Rt 150 from the overpass bridge on I-74. I went out and 3 ambulances, a fire rescue truck and two more squad cars went by in a short period of time. Bad feelings started.

Sky called and said that the motorcyclist that we saw go by was hit head-on by three young boys in an old pickup truck as they were attempting to pass another car. The cyclist was dead. The boys were alive, but the truck had rolled several times and ended upside down. Sky came back around 10:40 and we watched the rest of Red Green as he waited for them to clear the roadway. Sky left again a little after 11 PM, and we had a bad feeling still about who the cyclist was.

Sky called about 2 something in the morning and said the thing we had been fearing. The cyclist was our good friend Kevin Cain. He had been on the Central IL ABATE poker run earlier that day. Much sadness and no sleep after that news. We will miss you Kevin!