Southern Illinois: The Tunnel Hill Trail

We recently discovered the Tunnel Hill Trail and needed to explore this old railroad bed trail. The Tunnel Hill Bike Trail is a 46-mile Bike Trail through Southern Illinois. It runs from Eldorado, the North Terminus, to Karnak, the South Trail Terminus.

We start by heading to Eldorado, Illinois, for a couple of days. We have always been fond of the Twin Rivers area. This is where the Ohio River flows into the Mississippi River; it holds a special place in our hearts. The home of the Mark Twain National Forest, it is a relatively unknown area to the rest of the country.

Crossing the Ohio River at Shawneetown, we stop to look at the first European Settlement in Illinois. It has an old bank that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Over a couple of days, we rode the 30 miles on an old railroad bed from the Civil War. General Burnside built this railroad line all the way to Cairo, Illinois, to resupply Grant on the Mississippi River during the Civil War's western campaign. This section is relatively flat and runs through farm country.

The Saline Creek Pioneer Village was a neat find along the bike trail. It contains buildings from the pioneer period. It included a block house, a prairie school, and a building from the French period. The most important building was the Pauper House, also known as an almshouse, or a poorhouse. This one, built in 1877, was in use until 1950.

So, the term "going to the poor house" has a real meaning. An Almshouse was built on public land where indigent people were sent to work as farm laborers. In Illinois, each county had one of these. The Paupers' house, or Poor House, was built in 1877 and operated until 1950.

On other trips to the Twin Rivers area, we stop in Vienna, Illinois, to finish the western leg of the Tunnel Hill Trail. We actually rode through the railroad tunnel and to the Nature Center in Karnak. For any byclist in the area, this is a must-stop ride into history and nature that can't be missed.

Monument Valley

Monument Valley has always been on my mind since I was a kid.  If you have watched an old western movie or two, it was part of the scenery.  It is a place I had to visit while I was on this earth. 

John Ford, the famous movie director, shot dozens of moving pictures here.  The most famous being the John Wayne epic, The Searchers.  It is an incredible location with tall Red Sandstone Buttes that the Navajo call The Valley of the Rocks. This was a must-stop on our trip to California.  We are about a month into the trip.  We are camped in the Navajo Nation at Canyon De Chelly, about 100 miles away from the Valley.  So we're off on an adventure.  We drive through siltstone valleys that the buttes sit on.  It's a desert landscape where the views go on forever.  

Monument Valley is a Navajo National Park.  There is a $10 entrance fee to drive the 17-mile dirt road that winds through the buttes.  The most famous being the West, East Mitten, and Merrick Butte.  Those three buttes form that famous picture of the Valley. 

It seems surreal that we are finally here.  Our first stop is John Ford's Point.  It's a famous scene where John Wayne looks over the Valley searching for his niece, who has been kidnapped by an Indian raiding party.  It's a moving portrait of the Wild West. 

While driving the 17-mile loop, it was a full-on adventure.  The road was crowded with tourists from around the world.  They were on a road that required 4-wheel drive.  The tourist with their low-clearance rental cars were all over the place.   We still had fun driving around the slow-moving traffic. 

After touring Monument Valley, we started our trek back to our camp at Canyon De Chelly.  We stop in Kayenta at the Amigo Cafe.  It was good to get my Fried Bread Taco, which filled up a whole dinner plate.  After a great, long day, we are back at camp with visions of Monument Valley in our dreams.

Weather Balloons and the Roswell UFO Crash Site

In 1947, an Air Force Weather Balloon crashed in the barren cattle country northwest of Roswell, New Mexico.   A lot of people, including Google Maps, think this is a UFO crash site.  It’s now all part of an urban legend that refuses to die.  We were in the Blanco Mountains, within driving distance of the site.  After all, who can say they’ve been to a UFO Crash Site?

Well, since we were here, why not?  It’s why we have a Jeep to explore the unusual.   So we drove 40 miles out of the  Mountains into the desert to see the crash site.  Our drive through ranch country began on pavement, then transitioned to a dirt road, and finally to a 4-wheel drive two-track road, which led us to the site.

At one time, there was a plaque that had been removed.  In its place was a rock pyramid with various items left by visitors incorporated in and around the pyramid.  The drive to the site felt out of this world.  Vast rolling sagebrush country for as far as the eye could see, with the Blanco Mountains to our back. 

We did this on a whim.  We really had no expectations of a close encounter with alien life forms.  It was good just to be in the desert, seeing something strange.