Over Labor Day Weekend, Matt’s mom had the fantastic idea of spending the day biking along the beautiful and scenic Great River Road in Illinois. The weather couldn’t be better–amazingly cool temperatures (after going through a week-long heat wave of 90+ degree weather, this was a God-send), with little wind. We parked at the Piasa Bird exhibit in Alton and biked to Grafton, Illinois, stopping at a few places of interest along the way, such as the village of Elsa.

Getting Ready

The 16mile trek to Grafton was easy; we kept around a 9mph pace. The sky was cloudy, the air was cool. Once reaching Grafton we decided to have lunch at the Fin Inn (not the most notable food, however, the environment is nice, featuring an aquarium at your table) and then took the ferry across the Mississippi River to Brussels. Before boarding the ferry however, Matt and I had an unfortunate encounter with a wasp community and a renegade wasp stung Matt’s leg! OUCH!

The Ferry to Brussels

The ferry ride was great for multiple reasons. 1) I needed a break, 2) I love being on the water, 3) I really love being on the water. We didn’t bike the entire 8 miles to Brussels (I was tired and cranky and certain I wouldn’t be able to make it back to our cars) so we turned around about 3 miles in. The ride back to the ferry was much more difficult…on the way to Brussels we had a tail-wind, so on the way back, of course, we encountered a head-wind. After a brief respite at an ice cream shoppe in Grafton, we made the return trip back to Alton.

His & Her Trek Madones

During the trip back down the River Road, I really started to feel the pain of not having been on my bike for a year or so. My quads were aching. My uncomfortable bike seat exacerbated the situation. By the last five miles of the trip, all of our butts were hurting! But we made it, all of us proud of the day’s accomplishments.

The Great Piasa (pie-a-saw) Bird