Up Up Up to Starved Rock

So, the story is that Native Indians were apparently marooned on top of this rock, until they starved and died. How wonderful, and fitting actually.

We left Princeton, had another straight shot East until Illinois' version of the diagonal, called Plant Road. This dropped us by a small airport (no planes sighted for days until Plank Rd), through Peru (must've ridden farther than we thought), by a funeral (Dylan, don't make a scene) and through LaSalle.

Fairly lost at this point, grabbed a walking mailman and told him that he looked like a mighty good La Salle Tour Guide. Lucky we asked him, the bridge and area we planned to use was evidently closed down and another plan came together. This involved a town called 'Jonesville,' doesn't sound right, does it? We kept on churning and found Staved Rock campground. Not the Oasis we had planned, but the folks were nice nonetheless.

Lot's of families had to come by and talk to Riley and Dylan about Blackjack. They were proud, and as they were sword fighting yet again, it gave me a chance to make a few business calls. Then, R came running to me with serious concern on his face. I look over and Dylan is holding his leg in big-time pain. (Note, no pictures to share here...my gift to you)

The sword fight apparently caused a skid by the tent stakes, which gave Dylan a monster gash on his left leg, about 7 inches. No need for stitches, but enough blood to keep everyone on edge for a bit. The medical kit was in high fashion for a while, took Dylan all of 1 minute to find his laugh again and feel manly about his new 'scar.' Mom would again, be so proud.

A quick freeze dried Meat Lasagna (that I thought was dandy), a dash over to the neighbors for some tasty s'mores (Ian, Austin and Emma were happy to talk with R & D all night), and we were ready to dine again the next morning with those yummy peaches from Wally-World we had saved up.

Tent camping...windows open, al fresco. It was a perfect perfect night.

Now, up and at 'em...Look towards Blackjack and trash everywhere...oh no! We've been robbed! A Raccoon, darn smart one...unzipped our packs! Yup, ate it all, Dylan's Oatmeal, ShotBloks, bananas, and my peaches...history! Darn it. Now, our job was to break camp, load up and get to Ottawa for a breakfast. Not a short ride, however our neighbors happened to be a couple that rode a tandem up from St Louis. They were nuts like us, and shot us some raisins and cranberries to get our blood sugar up a bit. Dylan wanted to know, 'When's breakfast?' Hang on D, we have about 12 miles to go!