Ken Steinhoff’s post about Bicycle Gardens Sprouting Up All Over made me think of this scene from a ride on August 31. In this land of corn and soybeans one might get the idea that life is strictly business — agribusiness. Then one sees a bit of whimsy, like this red bike left to grow in a bed of flowers along a gravel road.

I had started in Peru this morning, and ended up in Ohio. It wasn’t that long a ride, though. Those are towns in Illinois. We had picked this part of Illinois because it was near enough to O’Hare airport, where we needed to be later in the afternoon.

googlemap

About a mile ahead of the bicycle was one of my main destinations for the morning — a small piece of road that was the remnant of an old treaty line.

This morning I rode from Peru to Dad Joe Grove, then ended the outing in Ohio. Ohio, Illinois, that is. From there we drove to O’Hare airport, and now we’re back home. Back to work tomorrow.

Yesterday I hadn’t even known there was a Dad Joe Grove. I found out about it in the motel last night while trying to figure out the location of Boyd’s Grove. I had Boyd’s Grove marked at a couple of locations on my maps, and it turned out both of them were wrong. But the right location was too far away for a ride this morning.  So I went to Dad Joe Grove instead.   I’ll save Boyd’s Grove  for another time.

Tonight I found a great web site about the Galena Trail and Coach Road, which has additional information about Boyd’s Grove and other such places. I don’t know why I didn’t find this web earlier. It certainly wasn’t because I hadn’t looked for such a thing. But better late than never. It ought to be a great resource for future rides in my favorite parts of Illinois.

Today’s mileage: 31. 3-day weekend mileage: 134. YTD: 1674.5