Ural Camping

[cheesy]

Finally did it. Mrs. C and I went on a two night trip to a somewhat nearby Illannoy state park near Rockford. Mrs. C requires more (a lot more) stuff than I do, hence the load.


I was told by fear mongers that the load would cause the bike to handle badly. Liars. The bike handles badly no matter what. This just took more effort to keep straight. Getting there was a tad over an hour because Mrs. C has a narrow comfort zone and will only try things in small bites. I'm surprised that she agreed to try sleeping on a cot.

We scored a quiet and remote campsite for $12US a night. It also wasn't level. This ain't trick photography. This is the campsite.


Not so bad from this angle, but still...


We had to laugh when we'd wake up during the evening and found we'd slid a few inches downhill on our cots. Mrs. C has given the cots a thumbs up. Too bad she claimed my very nice and very expensive Thermarest Ultralight cot and left me with the 'meh' cot. I still slept better on that than I do on the ground with a pad.

The ride there was uneventful with the exception of catching every possible red light along the route.

I did learn that I need to spend some more time with the MSR stove. The first meal I cooked with it was perfect. Diced potatoes and ham with sweet corn. Breakfast the next day was a lesson in cremation. Crunchy potatoes good. Black crunchy potatoes bad. Dinner that evening was ground beef with Spanish rice and came off without a hitch.

As far as entertaining ourselves, we rode around the park grounds, which are pretty nice and then rode to Beloit, WI, just to say we'd been there. When we got back from Beloit, the campground host flagged us down. She wanted to take our picture on the Ural for the IL State Park Guide for next year. Maybe we'll be famous.

As boat rentals are available, we'd been itching to get out on the lake. I wanted to rent a double kayak but Mrs. C is very afraid of tipping over. She also wasn't keen on a canoe, for the same reason. We ended up with, and God help me, a pedal boat. It was okay, and it necessitated an 8:30 bed time, but from an ex bicycle racers' view, it could have been much better.

After last nights dinner, the guy who set up across from us, wandered over to check out the Ural. After some small talk, I asked him if he wanted to go for a short ride. He was in the sidecar before I finished talking. So, a short ride in the dark with ALL the lights on. He offered us breakfast the next day, but I had decline the offer. We had to get home early today to catch our grandsons' football game.

We skipped cooking breakfast and opted for a small town diner on the way home. We can heartily recommend the Boone County Family Restaurant in Poplar Grove, IL. The ride home was rough with some killer headwinds. I had all I could do to make 50 mph on some stretches of road. But, other than the wind and some UDF at the diner and at a fill up, the ride home was uneventful. That's how it should be.

This, though, is what makes all the little problems go away.