Biking on the Great Western Trail

We had arranged to bike today with George (Carl's son Scott's father-in-law) on the Great Western Trail.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Western_Trail_(Illinois)

It was about 18 miles from where we got on the trail at the St Charles Trail Head to the restaurant in Sycamore where we stopped for lunch.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&ll=41.952518204289184%2C-88.50256999999999&spn=0.508421%2C1.234589&z=12&mid=1VBs7GYedNoi5qh30Mp6BIKIQ6_A 

 

Preparing to leave from the St Charles Trail Head

 The trail took us through farmland as well as towns.

A silo along the way (about here on Google maps)

The trail was mostly hard packed fine gravel/dirt in very good shape. A few areas (like before / after we would cross a road) were asphalt. Some road crossings were bridges and some were at grade. (I took this picture while riding my bike - a very risky move for me! I'm not too certain of my biking skills!)

We are pretty sure that we saw a farmer in a distant field tedding hay (like what we had done on the farm in Virginia) - but too far away to get a picture...

A garden at the back of the parking lot at the Sycamore Parkway Restaurant where we enjoyed a delicious lunch. Note that there are corn stalks forming the back row in the middle of the garden!

 

George's wife, Marty, was SO kind to provide our transport -- so instead of having to bike both ways, we only biked out to Sycamore and then loaded the bikes on the carrier to get back to where we parked the Jeep at the St. Charles Trail Head. I also got to talk a little more with George and Marty today to know them a little better. Many, many thanks to Marty!

 

After a walk around the campground this evening, we appreciated the beautiful sunset:

Sunset over the grassland in the forest preserve behind our campsite...

... and reflected in the side of Gracie.

My knees are feeling the results of our activity today... I had thought that my seat might be the most impacted, but, so far, that part of my body seems to be okay! A bit of pain relief cream before bed will hopefully resolve the current knee aches.

So nice to be able to spend time with friends and to enjoy God's creation!