Spydering Along The Illinois River

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Ray and I left about 8:45 this morning on the first leg of our trip. It was a pretty chilly start to the day, but the weather warmed up nicely and it turned into a pretty day for about 2/3 rds of the ride. We booked west on I-80 for about 75 miles even though I hate riding on the interstates. (Interstates are for cars and trucks. Motorcycles are for the two lane roads.) But we have ridden all the nice scenery between home and Starved Rock many times, so we needed to make some time to get on our way south along the Illinois River.

Just west of LaSalle, we headed south toward Peoria riding highways that parallel the Illinois River. Illinois is not known for spectacular natural scenery, but the further south you go along this river, the country becomes more wooded and hilly.

We stopped in Chillicothe, just north of Peoria for lunch at Castaways. It's a Tiki themed bar with real good food. After lunch we headed south and after about an hour, our weather luck changed for the worse. For the rest of the ride to Wildwood, Mo., we rode through a steady light rain. We put on our rain gear and pressed on.

At Grafton, IL, the wintering home of many bald eagles, we took the Grafton Ferry across the Mississippi River to Missouri.

Fortunately, our hotel has a covered parking garage to get the bikes out of the weather for the night. Brett came over and picked us up in his car and took us to dinner at the Big Chief Roadhouse. It's an old Rte. 66 place that used to be a motor hotel with cabins and a restaurant. It was established in 1929 and is my favorite place to go when visiting Brett.

With the lousy weather, there isn't much to say or many nice photos, but all I can say is we completed the first leg of out adventure and it was really good to see Brett.

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Photos

Ray and His Trusty Steed
All loaded up and ready to leave on a sunny morning.

Castaway
Chillicothe, IL

Our Barmaid, Aubrey
At Castaway

Waiting For the Grafton Ferry
Crossing the Mississippi River

Dad & Brett
Dinner at the Big Chief

Comments

[Jan Kribs]

Well at least Big Chief Roadhouse is never a disappointment! Hopefully the sun & clear weather will find you soon!

[Dan Flaherty]

Looks like a lot of fun !! Glad you 2 survived the rain thanks to the 3rd wheels.

[Snowhawg]

Third Wheel
The third wheels take all the danger out of riding in the rain.

[HeatherLauren]

Rain, rain go away!
Sorry to hear about the cruddy weather. Hope it gets better for you!

[Snowhawg]

Rain and Color
We had thunderstorms and rain all day yesterday, so we never left the cabin. the colors is just starting. Not much, but the scenery and view from the cabin is wonderful.