Chicago.  Chicago will have its own page soon.

Chicagoland. Cook, Lake, DuPage, Kane, McHenry, & Will Counties will have their own section coming soon.

West of Chicagoland

Boone Co. (1982)

Belvidere. Always a pit stop due to cheap gas. Farming and industrial area. See the Dodge auto assembly plant by the side of I-90. Caproa. Once got really lost and ended up passing through here. Quiet farming area.

Winnebago Co. (1982)

Rockford. Like most Chicagoans, I have been here many times. Medium-sized city that is slowly becoming a satellite of Chicago as evidenced by airport. Heavy industry everywhere and a lot of rough neighborhoods so a classic Midwest city. Loves Park. You'll know it by the water tower decorated with a heart. Roscoe. Suburb of Rockford. Rockton. A pleasant suburb of Beloit. Visiting family on the river had the opportunity to explore the Rock River near here. South Beloit. Industrial suburb of Beloit.

Stephenson Co. (1991)

Freeport. Large town  that I always bypass. West of here the influence of Chicago fades and the Great Lakes plains give way to the increasingly rolling hills. Eleroy. Farms nestled in hills.

JoDaviess Co. (1991)

A beautiful gem of a place that I've mostly seen in the winter. Stockton. Woodbine. Elizabeth. One of the most beautiful and real towns of the Midwest. I always remind myself that my teaching certificate is good here while I drive through. Hills surround the town giving panoramic views of the surrounding farmland and forests of the Apple River. Just west of town is a tower open to the public that sits atop one of the hills offering a great view. Such views are not easy to find in the prairie state. Near the highest point in Illinois, a whopping 1235 feet, 600 feet above Chicago. (By the way, that was a sarcastic use of the word whopping.) Galena. Once a major lead mining area, connected to Chicago via railroad, now a tourist hot spot partially because it has the best skiing in the state. The town is situated on several terraces overlooking the small stream of the Galena River. Visiting Galena is like visiting the 19th century. The old frontier buildings are in pristine condition and the gated town is quite picturesque. I like the view from the railroad tracks across the river. I remember seeing the town from this angle as a kid when we visited the area with Aunt Peg and saw a Christmas parade. U.S. Grant's home is located here. Chestnut Mountain. A ski resort full of yuppies south of Galena surrounded by the Mississippi bluffs. Blackjack Road leading to the area is quite dangerous in the fog that often blankets everything in winter. There is a partially paved road that I was driving down in winter of '06 and got my car stuck on the banks of the river in about 2 feet of wet snow and frozen mud. Very fun day. Hanover. West of this town are forests and bluffs. East Dubuque. 

Carroll Co. (2002)

Savanna. An oasis for sure. This town saved my life on more than one road trip. I tend to underestimate the Mississippi bluff country. The town sits on a wash plain of the great river that seems to be half wet every time I see it. On the other side is a huge bluff that is capped by Mississippi Palisades SP. The bridge to Iowa is odd in that it turns many corners on its way through the muck of the river. Mount Carroll. Eastward is an endless sea of farmland.

Ogle Co. (1990)

Never stayed here long, passed through twice in my life, both in the dark. Brookville. Mount Morris. Car dealers and gas stations. Leaf River. Byron. Davis Jct. Nice small town. Monroe Center.

DeKalb Co. (1990)

DeKalb. Home of NIU and not much else for me. Sycamore. Fairdale. Kirkland. Kingston. Genoa. Sandwich.

Whiteside Co. (1990)

The farmers from around here are always calling into WGN. When I think of this place, I think of driving through farmland in the middle of the night. Peace and stars... East Clinton. Unionville. Morrison.

Lee Co. (1990)

Dixon. Drove by the boyhood home of Ronald Reagan not too long after his death. A small white house with a statue out front. Decent-sized town, close to John Deere country.

Rock Island Co. (1990)

Rock Island. Moline. Teice passed through the Quad Cities.

Henry Co. (1990)

Passed through the northwest corner on the way home from Kansas City.

Kendall Co. (1990)

People here consider themselves to be Chicagoans. Well, not on this page! Oswego. Plano. Yorkville.

Grundy Co. (1990)

Goose Lake Prairie. Small section of flat tallgrass prairie and glens that once was the bed of a lake. Prairie wildlife that once occupied the whole state makes its home here at the head of the Illinois River. The nuclear power plant and its massive cooling lake nearby do not help the view or the imagination. Morris. 

LaSalle Co. (2000)

Marseilles. Once drove through and saw a wildfire on the hills of the Illinois River valely. Ottawa. Old city square with monument to Lincoln-Douglas debates. Comfortable river town at confluence of the Fox and Illinois. Starved Rock SP. A stop along the Illinois River made by French explorers through the years. A rocky bluff was the site of a legendary Indian battle in which several warriors starved to death while under siege. The hills and healthy, unspoiled woods of the valley are filled with deer and waterfalls. A rarity in a state once of flat prairie and now of flat corn and wheat farms. Visited a few times for some solitude and eagle hunting. Utica. Small town destroyed recently by a tornado.

---- all other Illinois areas are under contruction----

I-55 Corridor

I-57 Corridor

Mississippi Country

Southernmost Illinois

Alexander Co. (2003)

Cairo. Dickens once described this place as "a grave uncheered by any gleam of promise." Cairo is a rough, sad town of boarded up, moldy buildings. This may be because it has been washed away so many times by the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi. Future City. Most expensive gas outside Canada.

Pulaski Co. (2003)

Cairo. Dickens once described this place as "a grave uncheered by any gleam of promise." Cairo is a rough, sad town of boarded up, moldy buildings. This may be because it has been washed away so many times by the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi. Future City.

THIS SITE IS STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION as of 2/25/06

A great harbor view of the northern Chicago skyline during the summer. (2008)

Nothing is more Illinois than big sky and prairie grass accentuated by an oak here and there. This shot was taken at the Chicago Portage. (2004)

Relaxing in my canoe at the Skokie Lagoons near Wilmette. (2005)

Once the capital, Kaskaskia has been flooded so many times that it now houses only 18 residents and switched sides of the river. (2003)

Cypress and tupelo stands in the swamps of the Cache River. (2003)

The interior of the Capitol Rotunda in Springfield. (2008)

I am pretty sure that this was not the Metropolis from the Superman comic books. (2008)

An autumn lake scene from the Shawnee National Forest. (2008)