monmouth, illinois is laid out very simply: broadway and main are the two big streets, broadway east-west right through the middle, and main north-south right through the middle. in the center of town, a very orderly roundabout circle guides people and everyone goes wherever they want that way. there is virtually no use to getting off those main roads to cross town, so almost all the other streets are entirely residential. and they have, for the most part, big old houses or at least interesting-to-look-at houses throughout much of the town.

i set off with my dogs, one at a time, from a small house on the near-northeast quadrant about two square blocks from downtown. i try not to take the dogs on the same street another dog just went on, but i know the streets well enough so that i avoid some for lack of shade, or for just having houses i don't like. most of the houses in my neighborhood, i like. and i can take streets or alleys, which gives me a lot of choices for four different dogs. sometimes, the third or fourth dog goes into the southeast quadrant, or the northwest one, or even if i'm adventurous the southwest one. this of course requires crossing broadway or main, or both, and sometimes twice. or i can take them right up through the roundabout to the fountain in the very center, and all of town gets to see what well-behaved dogs i have.

they occasionally poop, and i try to bring a bag to pick up the poop but sometimes forget to bring it, or they poop twice, and i've managed to leave a little dog-poop around town. but mostly people are friendly to me, and my dogs generally get along with theirs or at least refrain from clawing each other's necks out. i've seen much of monmouth this way but to be more specific, i've seen a lot more of the northeast side than any of the others, and have to wait to see the rest of it for when i have a car and no dogs.

but i must say, illinois in late june is beautiful. lots of flowers, good weather, sunny and blue skies, grass everywhere - the dogs love it. it's a cornucopia of smells. every day they're dying to go out in it.

galesburg will be the same, only bigger. monmouth is ten thousand, galesburg is more like thirty-five thousand. it has a bookshop and a coffee house; it has more of a downtown. trains are big in both towns. in monmouth you can hear them at night. but in galesburg, railroad days is the big event, once a year. stay tuned, and i'll give a full report.