Forest Preserve Tour

I've been giving myself a reason to ride my motorcycle. Sure, I can convince myself that it is to familiarize myself with the county, look for places to take the kids, etc. but I know the real reason is to give me some reason to get on the bike and go somewhere that doesn't involve hundreds of miles. It is hard enough for me to find something interesting to look at in Illinois, so this is giving me something to do.

I won't publicize all my findings on the forest preserves. After all, you might need to have a purpose some afternoon also. I will give my quick feelings on a few of them. For your reference, you can look at the map. I have it on my phone so I can use it for a reference. I've already viewed the ones close by and I concentrated on the ones south of 64. Since I've kind of avoided that part of the county most of my stay here, it actually was a bit of a tour of discovery. Tracy and I traveled through Aurora at one point in our newlywed past and became hopelessly lost trying to find US30. My avoidance of that area has held ever since we actually moved here.

My biggest find was Dick Young F. P. The place is huge. Not a whole lot of trees, but long, and I mean long, trails. The place is over 1200 acres, probably filled with ticks. Next to the FP is a Batavia park. That place had the soccer fields and baseball fields you would expect, but it also had an 18 hole frisbee golf course. Score! I only know of one other one in Streamwood and I haven't been there in about a decade.

Some other FPs weren't all that remarkable. Some had trails. Some didn't have an entrance yet, but I could see the signs that they had placed along the perimeter. I found some trails without an FP but didn't appear to be part of a bike trail or a housing complex. The farther south I got, the more McMansions were present. There was some nice spots along the Virgil Gilman Trail, and I would like to take it on a bike at some point.

I was interested in the Big Rock FP as it had some nice trails and was really in some unpopulated country. On the way, I looked over the dried cornfields and noticed some steeples. I became hopeful that, while I knew there wasn't a town over there, I might find that these belonged to an old church and provide a good photo to post. As I returned and got closer, I noticed that the steeples were large and fairly new. Dang it, it was a stupid Megachurch....No, the sign said it was a catholic church. I passed it by but thought that it was still a pretty buiding, and if in a different circumstance, I might think it a beautiful building. It was only my ruined hopes that was coloring my opinion.

I turned back to the church and wound my way around the building looking for a good shot. While I kinda found it, I didn't want to get off the bike, or turn to make it a more comfortable angle...I shot it at a stupid angle. I continued around the building to the main parking lot and got a better angle. I've found some beautiful pictures of churches lately stuck in the middle of nowhere.

Saint Katharine Drexel Catholic Church

I continued back north, finding a few FPs that were nothing but acres and acres of weeds, or small isolated fields. Some consisted of nothing but a picnic table. I pretty much finished up my tour of FPs, at least on the southwest side of the Fox River. I passed by quite a few farms selling pumpkins and I wondered how my wife was doing with the kids picking apples.

My journeys continue.