NY to California 2011 via Lincoln Highway – Day 4 – Van Wert, OH to St. Charles Il

The Super got another wash via the heavy rain overnight. Good thing too as it was starting to get quite dirty.

The town of Van Wert looked much better in the morning as the shops were now populated. We had breakfast at the historical  Balyeat’s Coffee shop open since 1922. After a couple of hours of driving past cornfields we stopped in downtown Columbia City for some espresso at a Brewha. As lunch time approached it was time to find a brewery. We located Mad Anthony in Warsaw OH.  Back on the Lincoln Highway took us past some depressed areas south of Chicago and then to amazing Three Floyd’s Brewing company. (http://www.3floyds.com/).  As evening was starting to come upon us we needed to find a town to stop for the night.

We drove north on RT31, close to West Chicago, and came upon three great  towns that have managed to retain their small town America appeal; Batavia, Geneva and St Charles OH.  As we drove main street in St. Charles we noticed a sign for an “Auto show/cruse in”. So we pulled in and joined the group of cars. It turns out we were not the only Alfa on display. Bill Ficht was there with his beautiful 1973 GTV which we were told was formally owned by Craig Morningstar. Finally we wandered over to The House Pub which featured an amazing selection of bottled micro and imported beer.  St. Charles is a recommend town for visitors

Part one
Total Distance: 289.30 km (179.8 mi)
Total Time: 3:23:50
Moving Time: 4:53:25
Average Speed: 85.15 km/h (52.9 mi/h)
Average Moving Speed: 59.16 km/h (36.8 mi/h)
Max Speed: 129.56 km/h (80.5 mi/h)
Min Elevation: 152 m (499 ft)
Max Elevation: 258 m (847 ft)
Elevation Gain: 455 m (1493 ft)

Part two
Total Distance: 127.60 km (79.3 mi)
Total Time: 5:49:04
Moving Time: 3:29:36
Average Speed: 21.93 km/h (13.6 mi/h)
Average Moving Speed: 36.52 km/h (22.7 mi/h)
Max Speed: 124.67 km/h (77.5 mi/h)
Min Elevation: 129 m (422 ft)
Max Elevation: 203 m (665 ft)
Elevation Gain: 516 m (1693 ft)