One Tank Road Trips

[JK Knives]

My wife and I have been doing what we call "one tank road trips", which basically means places we can go to on one tank of gas. So basically, a 300 mile round trip. We pack a lunch, so it usually costs $35 - $40 dollars, which is affordable, but still fun. Yesterday our trip was to Bishop Hill Illinois, about 135 miles from home. What we usually do is take the highway (in this case I-80), to our destination, and "backroad" it home, (Rte 6) which makes for different scenery. Bishop Hill was settled by Swedish immigrants in the 1860`s. The current population is 150. Most of the buildings are historical landmarks, that you can tour, and some have been converted to shops.

This is the old church.

Inside the church.

Boarding house.

Hardware store (now a restaurant.)

Wooden water tower.

Hotel.

continued in next post.

 

[JK Knives]

One of the early homes.

Inside.

Town meeting hall (later converted to a hotel, now a museum.)

General store, full of everything, including old time candy.

Old well behind the church.

Post office.

Old mortor in the town square.

All of the buildings in town were built in the 1800`s, there are no new buildings. It was a fun day!

 

[j williams]

I love Bishop Hill.... Went there alot when I was a kid with my folks. Havent been there in years...

Thanks for the pics John, I have fond memories of that place...

One tank road trips?? Sounds like a great idea!!!

 

[JK Knives]

My wife has had her hours cut down to 20-23 hours a week, so we do these little trips to keep our spirits up.

 

[Noshtero]

That's a cool idea actually. We used to do something similar on the Harley. Sort of a "1 day road trip". We'd go no more than a couple hours away so we could head home that evening. (1 tank on a motorcycle doesn't get you very far)

That looks like a cool town to visit.

 

[rooikat]

Sounds like a lot of fun!

We make similar trips on Sundays. Usually, we plan them around places we cam go with the shelties, as we seldom go anywhere without them.
Last weekend, we took them for their first real wilderness hike.

The week before, we went out to Lafayette village, a shopping area that allows small shelties into their shops. Also happened to be the sight of some of the NJ Lizardman sightings back in the 1970's.

 

[udtjim]

I do that too but with me it is lakes about that distance and almost always involves fishing. There are many good fishing spots about 100 miles from here in three directions.

Looks like a fun day.

 

[Mack]

Looks like fun. Karen and I love doing that kind of thing when I am home.
Hope the work hours increase soon.

 

[rooikat]

Tomorrow, we are off to Waterloo village, an abandoned town not too far from here.
I have not been there in maybe 20 years. There is a replica of an indian village, a church, a blacksmith shop, and assorted other reinactment-type set-ups.

 

[Bige610]

hey john if you ever want to head up this way let me know. There are a lot of state parks i havent had the chance to check out. there are 3 that i really want to check out. Volo bog which i have snow shoes but havent been there without snow. Morain hills in mchenry and chain o lakes state park. just throwing it out there. I need an excuse to go hehe.

 

[Colt6731]

My wife and I like to do the same thing. I love exploring the older small towns in NE and central WA state. There is so much history so close to our homes if we just get out and look for it.