Bright Light Lewistown, Illinois Late 1980's or early 1990's.

While heading home from work (Going south on Rt. 78 heading toward Havana, Illinois)noticed a bright light at a 45 degree angle. It seemed stationary. My first impression was that it was a helicopter with a very bright searchlight. Didn't make sense since this was happening at 5PM (CST). It was located ESE of my position.
Object looked like a large bright diamond. Seemed to be somewhat bigger than a star . It was a sunny day with very few clouds if any.
Arrived home in 5 minutes and noticed my wife was hanging out clothes. Told her about it and she said she had seen it. At this point it was still in the same position and was viewable from my home. We both went inside.
After all these years, I have a couple of questions I cannot answer.
1. Why didn't I get out my binoculars or camera (telephoto lens) and view or take pictures? Is there a mind control aspect of UFO sightings? 2. Was it Venus? or a Weather balloon? At the time I was a Mainframe Computer Operator Supervisor that worked for a company in Peoria, Illinois. I have read UFO books since the mid 1960's and consider myself quite knowledgeable on the subject.
Time and date are approximate.  PD