An Illinois Road Trip - The Spoon River

With the pandemic ongoing, it appears that the annual Spoon River Drive, a scenic tour of the Spoon River area during what should be the peak of fall colors, is in jeaporday. Susan and I decided to take a drive through the area to see what we could see on our own Spoon River Drive. We visited a couple of key elements of the drive, Cuba and Ellisville Illinois. Both towns are typical of small town USA. Peaceful and laid back are 2 terms that come to mind when you see the pics. We had the good fortune of speaking with a gentleman in Ellisville, and he gave us a little info about the village that I will share on the pics involved. I hope you enjoy the images I have posted, and I hope you can be inspired to use on of your Sunday afternoons to take a Spoon River Road Trip

Like I mentioned on the main page of the Aviation gallery, flying is a big part of our family. Our son got his private pilot's license and was working on getting the ratings he needed to become a commercial pilot. His timing was not the best, 9/11 happened and the airline industry took a big hit. He still flies today, and when the time comes, I am sure he will at least upgrade his ratings, just to improve his skills (I personally think he should become a certified flight instructor, watching him when I have gone flying with him, and explaining and demonstrating each step in prep and the actual flight, i am convinced that he would be an excellent instructor).

Eric had a friend (Craig Reichert) who bought an airplane in California. He wanted somebody to go with him to pick it up so he could split the flying time up, so they could get back sooner, and just to relieve the tedium of such a long flight.

This is the aircraft that his friend bought, I think it took them 3 days to fly back, and it was probably the best experience Eric has had in his flying care