2005 DUQUOIN MILE AND SWAMP THINGS

Illinois is not famous for scenery. So, when some beautiful spots are found, it is extra nice.

Pam and I have ridden down to the DuQuoin Mile a few times, and usually ridden through the rolling hills and forests of Southern Illinois before or after the race. But I never realized that there was an almost secret beauty in the area: the swamps.

Much of the land between the Ohio and the Mississippi was swampland, but it has been drained and turned into farmland, or planted with national forest since whites settled the area. There are still small areas of the original cypress swamps around southern Illinois. We stumbled on them by accident, while on a trip to the DuQuoin Mile and the Great River Road in Southern Illinois.

We took I-55 south to St. Louis, and bummed around the downtown area for a few hours. We enjoyed looking at the buildings and took some pictures.

Then we crossed the river into Illinois again and made a quick stop at Cahokia Mounds. We looked around the area, skipping the information center, since we had toured it a few years ago. We looked around Woodhenge and walked among the mounds. Cahokia Mounds was the center of a large North American civilization, known as the mound-builders. One of the largest cities at Cahokia, but mounds and evidence of the civilization remain along the Mississippi and the Ohio Rivers.

From Cahokia, we jumped on the River Road south, making one more Detour into Missouri at Cap Girardeau. The Mississippi River bridge at Cape Girardeau is one of the new style bridges that are becoming common across the river.

As we headed south on the River Road, Illinois Route 3, we saw a sign for the Randolph County State Conservation area, and gave it a whirl. I thought there might be some birds hanging out there, but was surprised to find a cypress swamp.

Now curious, I looked for more areas of old swampland. We headed east, ending up at US 45 near Vienna, late in the day, and saw this old neon truck-stop sign.

The next morning we did more exploring, and found another little State Conservation area at Mermet Lake. This was basically a road around a small lake, but there was quite a bit to see.

We spotted a Bald Eagle.

Then a Blue Heron.

Turtles were climbing the Cypress knees to warm themselves in the sun.

I don’t know what kind of bird (kingfisher?) this is, but he had a very cool haircut.

Some of the cypress knees were getting a little crowded.

The eagle posed for a couple more pictures.

We scared a heron into flight.

A signboard at the lake suggested that the Cache River area was a large swamp, so we headed back north toward it. We found the area, and hiked to a record-sized tree. It was not a redwood, but pretty big nonetheless. The woods were pretty, but the little patches of greenery and fungus were beautiful. We found the tree, complete with an official document from the State of Illinois, and went searching for the swampy part of the area.

It was nice, with a raised boardwalk through the swamp.

We headed back to civilization, and did some road exploring. We headed back to the River Road and cruised south, through the site of Fort Kaskaskia…

…through Chester, somehow the home of Popeye the Sailor Man…

down Illinois 3, across IL 149, then north on US 51 into DuQuoin.

The DuQuoin fairgrounds is the other Illinois State Fairgrounds, with a nice Art Deco style grandstands and various Art Deco outbuildings. I’m not sure why Illinois has two State Fairgrounds, but it probably has to do with some kind of political shenanigans.

We wandered around the pits; saw Atherton working on his 450,

Bigelow’s pits,

And went inside to enjoy the races. Here’s Atherton on Beatty’s 750.

Bigelow blasting around one of the corners.

Nichole Cheza twisting the grip off her 450.

Hacker making a draft pass on Wiles (17),

Then leading him out of a turn.

Willie McCoy getting’ down and dirty.

Atherton sliding sideways.

Coolbeth looking through the turn.

Toungett getting so far into the paint he almost has to look under the handlebars.

Kopp, sliding and looking. His toe almost touching.

Springsteen talks with Coolbeth on the starting grid.

Nichole Cheza sizes up the competition lining up with her for the start.

Geo Roeder might be thinking about hay bales and high speeds.

An AMA official goes over some fine points with Steve Beatty.

Roeder chases Coolbeth through a corner.

Springsteen leads Beatty and Cheza thru a corner.

Kopp gets sideways chasing Poovey.

Varnes, on the Suzuki, leads Hart thru a turn.

Hacker leads ‘em through three and four.

King gets the factory Harley sideways.

Dan Stanley on the Aprillia leads the Harleys into turn four.

Sam Halbert chasing Charlie Italia.

That’s a lot of Aprillia tucked into a flat track frame!

A sad picture…empty grandstands…when the Magic Mile moved from summer to fall on the schedule, most fans lost track of the race.

Jess Roeder shows his corner style…elbow below his knee.

Jake Johnson flying on the Suzuki.

Kopp (3) and Smith (42) at speed on the 450s.

Heartbreak.

Mees describes something to Murphree on the cool-down lap.

The 450 podium. Kopp and Atherton wait as JB Norris interviews Smith.

A mile track is huge. Duquoin has a lake with an island in the middle. There are a couple of racehorses buried on the island, at least there are a couple of tombstones!

JB Norris interviews Scott Stump, who has just clinched the 883 championship.

Bruce Bober presents the #1 plate to Stump.

The GNC riders leave the line in the main event. You can see the green light of the starting tree reflected in their gas tanks.

The lead pack flies down the front straight.

The race is red flagged for a crash. The riders hold up their left hands to warn the riders behind that the race is stopped.

With the race re-started, the front pack gets tighter.

The starter holds the ‘five lap’ sign, letting the riders know that they only have five miles left to win this thing.

Bryan Smith interviewed after his third place finish.

Rich King cools down after a hot night racing for second place.

King’s daughter joins him on the podium.

And Smith’s daughter joins her father for the celebration.

Chris Carr, hot and tired, holds his first-place trophy…winner of the Magic Mile for 2005.

We went to Marion to find a room, and the next morning continued our tour of Southern Illinois. The Rootbeer Saloon in Alto Pass has some great root beer.

IL 146 runs across Little Egypt from the River Road (IL 3) to Golcanda on the Ohio River. It is a nice road, but has a few sad memories. It is part of the Trail Of Tears National Trail, which follows the path of the Cherokee from Georgia that were forced to move to Oklahoma. Many hundreds of them died of hunger, illness, and cold along this route.

The main towns along the route were also once ‘sundown towns’ in Southern Illinois. Only white people were legally allowed in the towns after sundown.

The Stinson Library is along 146 in Anna.

A nice Prairie style building, it was designed by Walter Burley Griffin.

Pam relaxes in the shade, the Road King tries to rest in the hot sun in the library parking lot.

Illinois 146.

We turned south on the Ohio River Road in Golcanda.

I rode south, thinking about gas stations and pushing heavy bikes.

We made it to US 45, but there were no open gas stations on the Illinois side of the Ohio, so we took the infamous US 45 bridge across the river to Paducah for some gas and some cheap Kentucky cigarettes.

The US 45 bridge has a steel mesh deck, with the mesh laid perpendicular to it’s usual orientation. It is therefore very, very squirrelly, along with being a very long bridge. I think it has at least eight spans. You are teased with a view of the modern I-24 bridge a couple of miles down river, as the bike tries to wiggle out from under you.

The bridge was so much fun that we re-crossed into Illinois the same way, headed into Metropolis to get a room, and blasted back to Chicago the next morning.