Lock 22 of the Hennepin Canal Parkway

July 23, 2023 On July 17, 2023 (Monday), we rode to the Wagon Wheel Restaurant in Mineral, Illinois. Mineral is a small town and didn’t seem to have a lot of businesses there. The food was bar food and I had a good hamburger. Bruce wanted fried chicken, but the kitchen was so backed up, […]

Buffalo Rock State Park in Illinois and Dinner

July 20, 2023 After our stop at the US Army Corp of Engineers Rock Island Visitor Center, we headed on to the Buffalo Rock State Park. It wasn’t crowded like the other two state parks. There was a birthday party going on in the pavilion, so I didn’t take any pictures of it. We were […]

Starved Rock State Park in Illinois

July 18, 2023 After seeing the beautiful sunflower field at Matthiessen State Park, we decided to try Starved Rock State Park along the Illinois River. While this park was also packed, we were able to find a spot to park in the visitor center parking lot on the far edge near the Illinois River. Nox […]

Matthiessen State Park in Illinois

July 18, 2023 We decided to go see the waterfall at Matthiessen State Park on July 8 (Saturday). It turns out that going to the state park on a Saturday was not our best idea. The parking by the visitor center was full. There was a significant walk from parking in a field to the […]

Wildlife Along the Hennepin Canal Near Sheffield, Illinois

July 15, 2023 I am sharing pictures of flowers and animals I have seen around the Hennepin Canal. The oriole was very orange, but came out yellow in the picture. I worked hard to get a picture of the oriole and was disappointed that the color wasn’t right.

Rock Island State Trail Wyoming Depot Access in Wyoming, Illinois

July 10, 2023 On July 4, we looked for a hiking location using Google Maps as we wanted to see more of the area. The Rock Island State Trail came up. It is a rails to trails conversion and based on pictures people shared, it looked like it was near water. We rode south along […]

A Day Exploring Near Princeton, Illinois

July 9, 2023 On July 5, 2023, we decided to go for a motorcycle ride and see some local sights before buying some groceries. Since it was Wednesday, we expected the visitors center at the Hennepin Canal Parkway State Park to be open. We rode to the visitors center and found it closed. I took […]

Walking West Along the Hennepin Canal in Sheffield, Illinois

July 6, 2023 On June 29, after some rain that cleared up the smoke from the Canadian wildfires, we hiked along the Hennepin Canal Trail to the west. We walked a mile down the trail to a road. The road had two culverts, one for the canal and one for the trail. After walking through […]

Walking Along the Hennepin Canal State Trail in Illinois

July 1, 2023 On Sunday (June 25), we decided to walk to the Hennepin Canal Parkway State Park along the Hennepin Canal State Trail. The trail runs right behind the campground. We headed to the left (east) and found the trail to be level and easy to walk along. We saw many birds. Two bright […]

Fort Hays Historical Site in Hays, Kansas

June 2, 2023 Since we had some time before our dinner invitation on May 20th, we decided to check out the Fort Hays Historical Site. I enjoyed this walking tour. It was free, but I think they normally charge. All the prices were marked out, with free written next to them. The simulated bison ( […]