Cycle 365

The bicycle in daily life

Happy Thanksgiving From The Illinois of the North

Posted: November 26, 2020 Under: Uncategorized By 11 Comments

Up to this point in my series, I’ve only shown some of the international neighborhoods of MY Town. There are, however, several officially-recognized United Statesian areas. Today I’ll be touring one of them, and I hope you’ll join me.

There is a vast area on the outskirts of MY Town that looks almost exactly like the beautiful state of Illinois — specifically the part of Illinois known as “Greater Hoopeston.” That’s the best part of Illinois, of course.

My words can’t possibly do justice to the loveliness and majesty that is known as “The Illinois of the North” or, sometimes, “Colder Illinois,” so let’s just move on to the the pictures.

I bet you can’t NOT love this scenery. I can’t not love this scenery. I also can’t not love double negatives.

From there, I moved on to another one of my favorite scenic areas of Cold Illinois. Check it out!

You can have your big mountains and your canyons and your forests. For my money you can’t beat this gorgeous landscape.


Yet, if somehow you don’t like one area of Cold Illinois, you only have to ride a couple miles until you arrive at another area that looks entirely different. The next picture shows another uniquely spectacular vista.

Breathtaking!


Not only does the view constantly change from place to place, but it also changes from season to season. In the summertime, this particular spot is completely covered in the greenness of corn. It’s as beautiful then as it is now.


I got very lucky today. As I continued riding from one awesome view to another, I caught a glimpse of some wildlife. Sure enough, it was a fox — just like in the actual east-central Illinois.

If you look closely, you might be able to see the fox to the far right of this photo.


Like the Greater Hoopeston area, The Illinois of the North Country sometimes gets winds that blow debris into fences. In this case, I don’t think the debris has been blown back off in decades.


Here’s another fine location. See that little rise in the distance? That’s a glacial moraine. Talk about DIVERSE!


No tour of Cold Illinois could be complete without a picture from the bridge that crosses the Vermillion River. The Reckless Mr. Bing Bong seems to agree.


I could continue to show literally hundreds of pictures of the various areas of Cold Illinois, but I didn’t want to hurt the tourism industry. I encourage you to visit Illinois and The Illinois of the North for yourself.

As always, thanks for reading and hopefully I haven’t offended anybody — like Rich, for instance. See you next time when I plan to ride in Minnesota’s version of the Pacific Northwest.

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Hi. My name is Greg and I ride my bike a lot. That is to say, I ride my bike almost every day. I go on long rides and short rides. Sunny rides, cloudy rides, and rainy rides. I like commuting, errand-running, day-tripping, overnighting, and touring on my bike. I ride on city streets, highways, gravel, single track, and snow with equal enthusiasm. Sometimes I ride fast and sometimes I ride slow. I try to keep my feet on the pedals at stop lights and I do not dismount when I hop up on a curb. I have a roadie bike, a mountain bike and a touring bike. I try to accept any challenge a bike ride can throw at me without complaint. But I don't like bugs.

11 response to "Happy Thanksgiving From The Illinois of the North"

  1. By: Bill Stone Posted: November 26, 2020

    Wow! Looks just like beautiful Blue Mound Township, which is a mere hop, skip, and pedal from beautiful Hoopeston.

    • By: gregblood Posted: November 27, 2020

      Blue Mound Township sounds like such a sublime place to live. Alas, I looked it up and found only 848 people have discovered its sublimity. What’s up with that?

      • By: Bill Stone Posted: November 27, 2020

        Of those 848 souls in Blue Mound Township, I think about half are blood relatives of my ace support crew, and the other half are married to those relatives.

  2. By: NancyG Posted: November 26, 2020

    It’s all a matter of perspective. And yours seems to lead us to the most landscape.

  3. By: Scooter Posted: November 26, 2020

    Breathtaking is right, alright. The vista seems endless. I think I see Russia out there.

    • By: gregblood Posted: November 27, 2020

      “I think I see Russia out there.”

      I think you saw the same thing as Sarah Palin saw from her back porch.

  4. By: Lednar De Nalloh Posted: November 27, 2020

    Amazing how the rock placement in the forefront of the photos was the same. Wouldn’t mind some of that nice chocolate soil for my garden.

  6. By: Rich-Illinois Posted: November 27, 2020

    Excellent photo essay! Could not have done better my own self.
    Ah yes, the beauty of glacial plains and harvested fields . . . . eat your hearts out you other guys . . . . such is reserved for us special few.
    The fox and the fence simply complement the otherwise astonishing beauty of eastern Illinois.
    Yes, Yes, Yes, as a former advertising slogan once stated: ” ILLINOIS: You put me in a happy state”
    And just so you know, it ain’t all Chicago . . . . . from FIB-less downstate. 😉
    Notsepooh sionillI — Native American for “What a Wonderful Place”

    PS: A certain M Twain, if fact, sailed the Vermilion long before transferring to that other stream on the western side of the state.

    • By: gregblood Posted: November 27, 2020

      I’m sure glad you appreciate the same beauty that I do. I truly does put me in a “happy state” and I’m glad there is no FIB out here or there.

      Interesting trivia about Mark Twain.

  7. By: Suzanne Posted: November 28, 2020

    Almost Eden I’d say. Shall we rename this beautiful place Illisota, or maybe Minnenois?

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