Historic Illinois River Road Tour to Starved Rock and Beyond

By Gary Osborne

Saturday October 13, the day of our River Road Tour began with clouds, fog, and temps in the 30’s. However the forecast was for a sunny day in the 50’s. Ten hearty people showed up to make the journey. They were: John Emmering and Pat Maroney in John’s 1951 Ford Custom Fordor, John and Barb Slobodnik, and their son John in their 1954 Crestline Fordor, Ron and Arlene Blum in a modern, Gary and Dawn Osborne in a modern, and Ron Steck in his 1940 Ford Pickup. Member Tom Buscaglia met us at the starting point of Pheasant Run Resort in his 1951 Ford Custom Tudor just to see us off and drive a few miles with us.

The Illinois River Road is part of the National Scenic Byway and would take us through Starved Rock State Park and then through the Illinois River Valley area. The plan was to take Rt 47 to Rt. 71 right into the Park.  As we drove the fog began to lift, and it turned out to be sunny just as forecast.

Entering Ottawa, we made a stop in Allen Park right along the Illinois River for a photo opportunity. The three Ford V8s were parked so that we could get the background of the river for a great shot.

The next stop was Starved Rock State Park over a hilly and winding road that sometimes required the older cars to downshift, which doesn’t happen too often in our neck of the woods.

We had lunch reservations at the beautiful Main Dining Room of the lodge. For lunch that day we had a choice of food from the menu or a buffet. All of us chose the buffet because it was a very reasonable price for a great food selection. I believe that everyone had an enjoyable lunch experience and were ready to move on to the next part of the driving tour.

After viewing a 1930 Model “A” Ford out in the lodge parking lot we discussed several options for the next phase of the tour. Options were, going to the Visitors Center, driving to the locks along the Illinois River, or taking either one of the additional routes that I had planned to see some great fall views. One route would have taken us around Goose Lake to the town of Henry, cross the Illinois River and drive past Sawmill Lake, Senachwine Lake, and back to Starved Rock.

The shorter route would take us through the towns of LaSalle, Peru, Spring Valley, and DePue. Then around DePue Lake, Spring Lake, Lake Rawson, and cross The Illinois River to head back to Starved Rock.

The group decided to take the shorter route, so off we went to see some fall colors. Once you get past the towns the countryside is all about farms and wooded areas. The trees were just at the beginning of making their color change, so some were green while others had many beautiful shades of red, yellow, and browns. There wasn’t a lot of traffic on the roads which in my opinion makes the drive quite relaxing so that you can enjoy the view.

We all made it back safely to the Starved Rock area, at which point we all took different routes to get back to our homes. This Tour was designed to help us city dwellers to get out into the Illinois countryside to see some of the beauty that our state offers us.  Sometimes we forget that there really are some great views of nature right in our own backyard. This was also an Historic Illinois Pavement Tour which took us not to famous highways like Route 66, or the Lincoln Highway, but one that’s historic in the sense that it takes us through some areas that have been formed by glaciers from the Ice Age. If you ever get a chance to take this drive it would be well worth your time to cruise this scenic area.