Scenic Trip on The Great River Road

I went for a short ride up The Great River Road from Alton, IL to Grafton, IL today. It was only short, 60 mile round trip ride, but with a clear blue sky, 70 degree temperature, and no wind at all, I had to ride somewhere today.

The first few pics show the Alton Flour Mill and the Mississippi River in the background. FYI, Alton was also the home of the world's tallest person, Robert Wadlow. The red line on the flour mill shows the height of the river level in the great flood of 1993. The pickup truck in the left corner gives a good scale to the height.


These pics are a few miles north of Alton along the River Road and the bluffs. The infamous "Piasa Bird", and its history.




These last pics are en-route to Grafton, IL and from some of the elevated positions in the small city. There are many wineries and places to grab good fish. These pics really don't do the views any justice at all. This is a must see route for anyone that is going through the area.

That is a nice area down there. My church held a bike camp for the youth at the Pere Marquette State Park every summer. I wish I had my motorcyle when I was down there. I've ridden a lot of those roads on two wheels. Just took a lot more effort. LOL. There is a nice little ice cream shop in Grafton and not to far down the road is Fast Freddies in Alton. Did you stop there?

One of my favorite roads on the NC... though I'm usually riding it a bit further north, more between Hudson, WI and Redwing, MN... (and often times further north along the st. croix up to Taylor falls)

I think this is going to be a major road trip for me next year-spend a few days and ride the whole road from south-north. Looks like a beautiful area...

Normally, I would say "I hate you and your great weather right now". But, this weekend we had the same great weather in the south!

I was struck by how quiet my ride is with the Puig screen and visor and NO side winds.

Great pics! I would like to come that way one day as davidc83 said. I've never done a north/south trip.

SergeantChuck said:

That is a nice area down there. My church held a bike camp for the youth at the Pere Marquette State Park every summer. I wish I had my motorcyle when I was down there. I've ridden a lot of those roads on two wheels. Just took a lot more effort. LOL. There is a nice little ice cream shop in Grafton and not to far down the road is Fast Freddies in Alton. Did you stop there?

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It's actually Fast Eddies. I've been there may times, but I did not stop there yesterday. Great food and good selections of drinks. I have been there in the evenings on weekends and it's not uncommon for them to have over 1800 food orders for one day!

xrlke said:

It's actually Fast Eddies. I've been there may times, but I did not stop there yesterday. Great food and good selections of drinks. I have been there in the evenings on weekends and it's not uncommon for them to have over 1800 food orders for one day!

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I knew it was somehting like that. I have not been there since 2011. It is wierd seeing the water stains on the side of the buildings in that area where the flood waters settled until they withdrew. I used to ride my bike from the campgrounds to the gas station/store every morning to go get a cup of coffee. If I remember right there is a small prison there too.

Anyway, thansk for the memories. I had a lot of good times there.

SergeantChuck said:

I knew it was somehting like that. I have not been there since 2011. It is wierd seeing the water stains on the side of the buildings in that area where the flood waters settled until they withdrew. I used to ride my bike from the campgrounds to the gas station/store every morning to go get a cup of coffee. If I remember right there is a small prison there too.

Anyway, thansk for the memories. I had a lot of good times there.

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Yep. Lots of history in and around this area. I am always talking to someone new and hear stories about where this tunnel is or what happened there in ....

xrlke,

I grew up in this area so it's nice to see the pics! I am sure you probably already know about the Finn Inn restaurant in Grafton. Sometime you should ride just north of Grafton, and take the Brussels Ferry across the river, ride those back roads to the Golden Eagle ferry to O'fallon Mo. The roads are great riding roads. One of the Ferries is free, and the other you can buy a round trip ticket so you can turn around and ride these nice roads again. There is also a country General store in the area between the two ferries that is a nice place to stop.

netizen said:

xrlke,

Sometime you should ride just north of Grafton, and take the Brussels Ferry across the river, ride those back roads to the Golden Eagle ferry to O'fallon Mo. The roads are great riding roads. One of the Ferries is free, and the other you can buy a round trip ticket so you can turn around and ride these nice roads again. There is also a country General store in the area between the two ferries that is a nice place to stop.

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We took this ferry across when I went there for the bike camps. First time I had ever been on one like that. The boat protions just rotates around 180 on the side of it to change direction. I'd never seen that before. The roads on the other side would be awesome for motorcycle riding. They were tough on a bicycle. Some pretty big hills.

netizen said:

xrlke,

I grew up in this area so it's nice to see the pics! I am sure you probably already know about the Finn Inn restaurant in Grafton. Sometime you should ride just north of Grafton, and take the Brussels Ferry across the river, ride those back roads to the Golden Eagle ferry to O'fallon Mo. The roads are great riding roads. One of the Ferries is free, and the other you can buy a round trip ticket so you can turn around and ride these nice roads again. There is also a country General store in the area between the two ferries that is a nice place to stop.

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Yep, I'm quite familiar with this area. I grew up only about 10 minutes from Alton and have been on many of the roads and areas you describe. Great roads to ride on!