My daughter works and lives in downtown Chicago, with no time off, so if I wanted to see her, I had to go there. I knew I wanted to ride my Burgman (650), as it is the most comfortable of my bikes for that kind of trek from Arkansas. No super-slab for me, so routing in Chicago itself took lots of work with satellite views of roads in GoogleEarth. Really saved my bacon. I opted for a hotel out by O'Hare so I didn't need to navigate city streets at all (public transportation is the way to go there, $20 gave me unlimited transportation for 3 days on the L and buses). I decided to ride along the rivers (Mississippi and Illinois) as much as possible, and had a blast. You can see all 93 captioned photos HERE, with just a few of them in this report. Southern Missouri has great roads, like the Ozarks, but I ride and photograph them all the time (either on my WR or my Burg), so I didn't even stop for pictures south of Louisiana, MO. The route to Chicago was pretty direct. Coming home was similar, but I went due west to Burlington, IA to follow more of the Mississippi Great River Road. Not the hills like at home in the Ozarks, but the terrain around the Mississippi is really pretty nice and great on 2 wheels. I kept my daily mileage low (~250), as I was stopping quite a bit for pictures and old man bladder. My first night stop was in Louisiana, MO, which is right on the Mississippi on Hwy 54 well north of St. Louis. Like many river towns, this was once a thriving community with a river-based economy, but time has not been kind. Still, it has some great old buildings, murals and oddities worth a couple of hours. The slideshow link has lots of photos from here. This guy converted some giant tanks along the river into his house. The concrete art "Death Rides a Girls Bicycle" in front of his home was worth a visit for sure. Hwy 54 Bridge over the Mississippi. It may be a "lazy" river, but the barge traffic was pretty constant. Typical of county seats and their landmark buildings. This is the Pike County Courthouse. The second night I stayed on the Illinois River near Peru at Starved Rock State Park Lodge. Definitely unique geology (giant rock in the middle of nothing, canyons, waterfalls) and neat history (one native American tribe starved out another one by surrounding the rock). The "hiking trail" was pretty urban, with 10' wide paths and staircases up the hills. Understandable given the traffic this place gets! Made it to my hotel near O'Hare in the early afternoon, and had time to go downtown for a show on Friday night, where my daughter is a stage manager. Ya gotta get a hot dog in Chicago and check out Lake Michigan, of course. Great to see my daughter, but being that close to almost 3 million people gets a bit oppressive, so Burlington, IA was my next destination, and well worth a stop. Like Louisiana, MO it has seen better days. It boasts "The Crookedest Street in the World", built in 1898, which was weird to traverse on the loaded Burgman. I don't recall the time when Iowa and Illinois were at war, maybe it is the crooked politicians in IL that prompted them to point these guns in Crapo Park (still Burlingtion, IA) in that direction. Rather than take busy 61 south out of Burlington, I went back into Illinois and took the lightly-travelled Carmen Road (part of the Great River Road). Good choice. Carmen Road brings you to Nauvoo, a town with a history I knew nothing about (see the sign). It was deserted on the Tuesday morning I was there, but you can tell it was equipped for throngs of people. Enormous LDS church looked out across the river. Lots of original buildings were scattered across expanses of lawn. These were not reproductions, but rather a well-planned settlement which today is open to the public with lots of demonstrations and displays. The buildings all house little pieces of history that would take a good day to go through. In the mid 1800's, the population (12,000) was similar to Chicago. Now there are less than 1,200 there! Jonathan Browning set up his home and Gunsmith shop in Nauvoo in the mid 1800's The River Road south of Nauvoo follows right along the banks for quite a long way. This part had been under water just 2 weeks prior, but now even 18 wheelers were on it. Most of this stretch down to Quincy, IL was in much better shape, with almost no traffic. The image on the GPS looked that way for about 50 miles. Off Hwy 79 near Hannibal, Lovers Leap seemed to be worth a stop. Missouri school zone? Seriously? Back in southern Missouri, I had to ride 66 for a stretch: Total trip was about 1,500 miles, with not a hitch of trouble from the Burgman. I averaged right at 48mpg, just slightly over my average speed for the way home! If this was too much, you shouldn't be reading this far down. If you didn't get enough, the trip photos (in order) are HERE
Great report and photos Tim. The burgy is a mighty machine no matter what the naysayers spew out. Thanks for taking us along.
Thanks for sharing your trip. A friend and I rode along some of the same the river route a few years back from Davenport to O'Fallon. Really wanting to do it again!
Nice ride report and photos. Just bought a 2007 Burgman 650 with 2,400 miles last week. Looking forward to hitting the road. (I put 45K miles on my last VStrom 1000 in just 5 years) Izola's looks like a good destination. Love family diners! We were stationed at Scott AFB, IL (just east of St Louis) from 2003-2008, and my wife's family is from just south of Milwaukee, so a lot of your photos brought back memories. Thanks!
You stayed 3.5 miles south of my office (the 4 Points is on the SE side of O'Hare and my office is on the NE side). Glad you enjoyed Chicago but I know how you feel about the 'hordes'. Next time you come to visit, let me tell you about a place, not too far from where you stayed, to get an even more "real" Chicago-style hot dog. Thanks for the pics and RR. I hope your daughter is enjoying her new home (and job).
Great, I'll holler next time I come up! My daughter's lived there for about 3 years now (near Noble Sq off the 90/94), and several years ago I did my best to eat every dog in Chicago in one day. I failed (of course), but I did manage to eat at 11 different places. On this trip I only had one dog, and just happened upon it. It wasn't super, but it was a good one (Chicago Dog House on Fullerton near Lincoln Ave). I typically don't count street vendors in my dog counts, btw. I took this route into the O'Hare area, which really avoided lots of traffic and most of the super-slab. As you know, the "O'Hare-Elgin Expressway" isn't really that heavily traveled off-peak, and made it a breeze to get in there. If you have a better way, I'm all ears . After coming in that way, I think I'll use that next time I cage in, as I could not stand being on I-55 and I-294.
The Elgin-O'Hare Expressway really is just the section from I-290 to Lake Street (the four lane divided highway - west of I-290). The section east of I-290 is still referred to as "Thorndale Road". I live a quarter mile northeast of the I-290/Thorndale Road interchange (if you recall the Westin Hotel). You passed right by my development. I would agree that during non-rush hour it's a pretty nice way to get into the "near suburbs", as it were. You chose well. The hot dog place is called 'Jean & Judes' and is located in River Grove (I think) on Des Plaines River Road which was east (on Irving Park Rd.) and then south (on River Rd.) of the 4 Points. My wife's mother went there as a child. They pack the fries on the dogs (which drives me nuts but I'm in the minority based on their clientele). I'm sure you know not to ask for ketchup, that's verboten (we bring some from home). Sadly, the Cock Robin, which shared the parking lot, burned down a few years ago. J&J only offers soda. The CR had great shakes and malteds. You may want to check out the Holiday Inn Express, in Itasca, for your next trip. A little further out but you could jump on the train (Metra) in Itasca and take that downtown (to Union Station).