June Road Trip

In mid-June, I set off on a four-day road trip, mostly through Western Illinois.  My first stop was Starved Rock State Park, an hour or two southwest of Chicago. I almost stopped there on my drive back from Colorado, but opted for the I&M Canal bike ride instead.  My favorite spot in the park was Eagle Cliff overlook, an aptly named promontory that feels like a human scale aerie a couple hundred feet above the river.

On the second day, I focused on an the area in the vicinity of Dixon, Illinois, the town were Ronald Reagan grew up.  In addition to visiting his boyhood home and, in nearby Tampico, his actual birthplace, I did some hiking at Mississippi Palisades State Park and McCure Sand Prairie Preserve.  I also stopped at the John Deere Historic Park in Grand De Tour. The park is built on the homestead where John Deere perfected his famous plow and manufactured them for many years.

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Most of my stops on my third day related to Abraham Lincoln: New Salem Historic Park, where he operated a couple stores before devoting himself to law; his tomb in Springfield; and a state park commemorating one of the first Lincoln family farms in Illinois. At my most notable, non-Lincoln-related stop, Nauvoo Historic Park, I rode in an ox cart.  This city was the Mormon's last settlement before Salt Lake City.  The LDS church runs the park, with church members acting as historical interpreters from the era.

On my last day, I crossed the Indiana stateline and spent most of the day in Turkey Run State Park.  It was my third visit to this park.  It seems I go there about once every dozen or so years: once as a kid with my family, one summer during my college years, and this most recent stop.  The park holds a lot of memories for me.  I checked out the campground where we camped, but hardly recognized it; watched a float party from the bouncy suspension bridge; climbed up and down the ladders in Bear Hollow and crossed the Sugar Creek via the 1840s covered bridge. Before driving north to Niles, I took a short hike in nearby, much-less-crowded Shades State Park.

To save money, I camped out all three nights, the first two nights at campgrounds right on the Mississippi and the third at a jewel of a state park tucked among the vast agricultural lands of central Illinois. I regret not stopping to watch a Minor League ball game in Quad Cities.  The stadium which is beautifully situated right along the Mississippi River looked pretty full and I wasn't sure yet were I'd be able to camp.

Statistics
Miles: 1251 (1,225.46 driving, 25.4 hiking, 0.2 oxcart)
Days: 4
States: 5
Total Counties: 54
New Counties: 30
Pictures Taken: 397
Pictures Archived: 70
Fuel: 37.39 gallons
MPG: 32.8
Cost: $262.43 

Eagle Cliff Overlook
Starved Rock State Park

Sentinel Rock Overlook
Mississippi Palisades State Park

Reagan Boyhood Home & Park
Dixon, Illinois

McCure Sand Prairie Preserve

LDS Temple
Nauvoo, IL

Berry-Lincoln Store
New Salem Historic Park

Rock Hollow
Turkey Run State Park

Narrows Covered Bridge
Turkey Run State Park

Tip of the Mitt

Not twenty-four hours after pulling in to Niles at the of April, it was time to hit the road again.  I had a wedding to attend in Northern Michigan.  My best friend from high school, Dan Hadley, was getting married in Petoskey, Michigan.  With nowhere to be the week following the wedding, I extended my stay in the region a few days.  Growing up I enjoyed a fair number of trips to the area, but this was my first visit to the area as an adult.  Hence, it was the first time I had the freedom to set the itinerary.

I stayed the first two nights at the Perry Hotel in downtown Petoskey.  A great, historic hotel that Dan and his bride, Rachael, picked for the reception on Saturday.  They had a wonderful ceremony at the local Presbyterian Church just a few blocks away.  In addition to enjoying the wedding festivities I found time to explore the town on foot and attend mass on Sunday morning.

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After checking out of the well appointed Perry Hotel, I based my explorations the next few days from more austere accommodations in Traverse City.   Being so close to Mackinaw, I didn't want to head south without first seeing the Mighty Mac and buying some fudge to take home.  I got a little exercise in with a modest hike through Wilderness State Park also at the tip of the Lower Penninisula.  Monday, I explored the Leelanau Peninsula and Sleeping Bear Dunes, ending the day with a short, post-sunset hike to Empire Bluffs, which offered a spectacular view of the towering dunes to the north.  Tuesday, I checked out Hartwick Pines State Park, site of one of Michigan's largest and oldest virgin pine forests, before driving back to Niles.

Statistics
Miles: 1,257.2 (1,233.6 driving, 23.6 hiking)
Days:5
States:1
Total Counties:41
New Counties: 14
Pictures Taken: 178
Pictures Archived: 70
Fuel: 37.762 gallons
MPG: 32.7
Cost: $572.20

Perry Hotel

Cieslak-Hadley Wedding

Canada Goose Pond
Wilderness State Park

Mackinaw Bridge

Grand Traverse Lighthouse

Empire Bluffs

Hartwick Pines

I&M Canal

I didn't make it back to Michigan last night as I had hoped.  I ended up staying the night in Rockford, Illinois.  Since I had the whole day today to drive a comparatively short distance, I sought an opportunity to use my bike one last time in an exotic location.  I found good spot in the The Illinois & Michigan Canal trail. 

I parked in the town of Morris and rode about seven miles to the Aux Sable lockhouse and aqueduct.  The original canal ran ninety miles while it was in use.  Today sixty have been restored for recreational use.  A modern shipway replaced the historical canal in the 1930s.

Riding back to the car was a lot easier than riding out, probably a combination of the wind and grade both being easier going west.  I had a couple near scuffles with Canadian Geese guarding there new chicks, but at least my bike worked OK, a notable feat given its been on the back of the car for nearly 2,000 miles.

He built. I came.

The farm used in Field of Dreams, which is just a couple miles east of Dyersville, Iowa, remains largely as it was when they finished filming.   I arrived there right about sunset and the place was pretty deserted. The original owners apparently still live in the farm house, maintain the site, and run a small gift shop (closed by the time I arrived).  Somewhat surprising, they don't charge admission to the 65,000 people who come to see the farmhouse & baseball diamond each year.  Other than lack of corn on the outfield & powerline running over the infield, it looked just like in the movie.  Carved into the bleachers is a heart that says "Ray loves Annie."  I don't remember where/if this featured in the movie.  I'll have to watch it again to refresh my memory.

Quick Stops

While driving today, I made a couple short impromptu stops worth mentioning in brief.  My first stop outside of Mason City was Fort Atkinson, a frontier military post that was garrisoned during 1840s.  A short distance from there, I drove a couple miles off the highway to see St. Anthony's Chapel, billed as the smallest church.    Later in the day, I paralleled the Mississippi River for about a half-hour.  In the town of Guttenberg, I got out of the car a couple times; once at a wonderful park along the lever and then to climb up the observation deck at Lock & Dam No. 10.  While driving through the small town of Dyersville, I came across one of the grandest Basilicas I've ever seen, Saint Xavier.