November 20, 2012 -

Nice rural run on U.S. Route 20, also known as Grant Highway, to historic and beautiful Galena IL, home of US Civil War General and 18th US President Ulysses S. Grant. Good long straights once you get past Rockford. Be sure to have lunch at the DeSoto House Hotel tavern, opened in 1855 and still going! Notable guests include Ulysses S. Grant, Abraham Lincoln, Stephen A. Douglas, and William Jennings Bryan. Go 2 miles to the Southwest and you are at the Mississippi River. Do the speed limit in the small towns.