Planes, Train's and Motorcycles. A short camping trip.

[ChiTown]

Here's a few pics from a one night two-up camping trip I took.


The Sunday morning I went camping on actually started at a gig in Hollywood, then like this at LAX. Sleeping in the baggage claim for 4 hours, then flying at 7AM.

http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/5039/img03852gu0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)









I landed in Chicago at 1PM, jumped on a CTA train, packed and was on the road by 3PM.
It was a beautiful day 80ºF and sunny, though it was windy as hell with 25-35MPH winds. I was glad I wasn't going too far, only 90 miles since I was heading directly into the wind.
We set out to camp at Lake Shabbona State Park, a lake close to where I grew up, and known for good fishing.

http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/9370/img0429vx6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)






There was some fishing involved, but I was unsuccessful.
Hey, trying to baitcast from shore with 30MPH winds and plenty of obstacles sucks, that my story and I'm sticking to it...

http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/2672/img0440wl9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)





Apparently, Canadian Geese here can walk on water.

http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/569/img0433oh7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)





Garlic pesto fry bread, hmmmmm
Since there was no fish we had to resort to some Mountain House Spaghetti, still quite tasty.

http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/1112/img0465lv6.jpg






As promised, a storm front came through at about 9PM, raining hard for about two hours. Good thing I gave everything of mine a fresh coat of Minwax, so we stayed dry.

http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/7841/img0467rs6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)




It was a nice, brisk 55ºF sunrise. It was still windy, but our campsite had some decent protection from the tree's.

http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/5604/img0472hz1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)




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Packed and ready to go with the predictable thumbs up.

http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/3199/img0483qh7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)


Lake Shabbona State Park

http://img406.imageshack.us/img406/8382/img0486dm2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)



http://img406.imageshack.us/img406/5516/img0488wd6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)






It's nice to see more of these being built here in Illinois.

http://img409.imageshack.us/img409/6516/img0492ia8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/3862/img0493bj1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)





After having some breakfast at a diner, I headed down to Starved Rock State Park, located on the Illinois River.

http://img48.imageshack.us/img48/3084/img0495wm6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)


http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/963/img0497ap9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)


http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/5690/img0502nh2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)






I headed back into the city and finished out the day at the Hot Dog Meet with the Chicago Region BMW owners association.

http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/5271/img0507xv1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)


Short and sweet.
:D


-Joe

[fparisi]

Joe, that's a hell of a day. A picture is worth a thousand words.

Maybe it's a Mid-west thing, I am from the Northest, but what the hell is Mountain House Spaghetti.

[ChiTown]

Joe, that's a hell of a day. A picture is worth a thousand words.

Maybe it's a Mid-west thing, I am from the Northest, but what the hell is Mountain House Spaghetti.

It's a freeze dried backpacker meal, good stuff. Available at REI, or most outdoor stores.

[SNC1923]

Cool report and nice pictures, too. That's a sweet R you've got there. Thanks for having us along.

[dancogan]

Cool report and nice pictures, too. That's a sweet R you've got there. Thanks for having us along.

Ditto. Great ride report and love the bike! Thanks. ;)

[fparisi]

Hey Joe, I am curious, how many mega bytes is that camera? It took some really good photos.

[john1691]

Thanks for the great pics. Looks like a good time, minus the rain.

[Rasbutan]

Thats what passes for a lake down in Illinois, huh???

:stick :stick :stick