Pere Marquette Park, Illinois

Luanne and I met at Pere Marquette State Park in Illinois August 12 thru 16th. I hadn't
gotten around to writing a report because I've been suffering from the
aftereffects of "keeping up with Luanne" or I'm getting a sinus infection.
Probably the Luanne problem!

We put the trip off for a couple of days because of 100 degree weather, but when
it dropped into the 80's we decided we were a go. We did have a couple of days
that weren't too bad, but then the humidity descended and the a/c's ran full
time.

We chose Pere Marquette because it is adjacent to a biking trail and we planned
on riding during the trip. I mistakenly thought it was going to be fairly flat
because the trail parallels the river, oh was I wrong. The trail runs up and
down over the river bluffs and was I huffing and puffing.

We arrived Wednesday and had fun catching up and running the dogs. I am happy
to report that Tucker and Teddy are now best buddies, and Tucker no longer
attacks Teddy. Big relief!

Thursday we did our killer ride, from the park to the town of Grafton. The
reward was lunch on a patio overlooking the river watching the boats and barges
go by and then an ice cream cone. During the flood of 1993 the entire town was
completely submerged, it must have been awful. Unfortunately, we had to ride
back to the park. I, of course, was dying and Luanne went sailing in.

Luanne and Tucker were up every morning and had a long walk before Teddy and I
emerged from Saffire. The park had lots of great places to walk the dogs, and
we were able to let them run off leash a lot.

There's a fun resaturant not far from the park, Fast Eddie's Bon Aire in Alton.
The food is CHEAP and good, burgers $1, shrimp 30 cents each, chicken $1.50, and
they claim to serve the coldest beer anywhere. It pulls a great crowd, people
watching is exceptional. We went early afternoon Saturday and the place was packed.

The heat, humitidy and bugs drove us into Saffire in the evening, and we had a
great time watching season one of 30 Rock. I think it is a great show, and
Luanne's laughter says she agrees. We're looking forward to seeing the second
season when we camp in September.

We did some geocaching Sunday with mixed results. We found quite a few, and
were frustrated by a couple that said the cache was "under the rock" and there
were 10,000 rocks. We headed to Alton and found the statue of Robert Wadlow,
the Alton Giant. He was 8'11" tall, today he would have been a star in the NBA!

Two young girls camped across from us and watching them we learned how to make a
great fire. They brought about five cans of lighter fluid with them and sat
and squirted until the flames rose 15 feet, let it die down, and did it again!
I'm not sure what they were smoking while they watched the flames dance.

We headed home Monday morning. I spotted a truck wash across from Fast Eddies
so went and washed Saffire, so she's clean and ready to go in September to meet the WAC's who are traveling to Missouri from all over the country!

Next journey leaves Kirkwood on September 13. Will post if there is wifi, or send a big one at the end. Stay tuned...this one will be full of kayaks, trout, fly rods, hikes and good friends along for all of it!