Moonshine Run

On Saturday, September 4, we decided to bike a trail about an hour and a half south of us in Casey, Illinois. I was particularly proud of myself because I had been very productive throughout the week and we were completely prepared for the trip, so no last minute crazy running around or wanting to tear each others heads off.

The trip to Casey was pretty uneventful except that I was completely exhausted and could not manage to stay awake to save my life... thank God Immanuel was driving! Once we arrived in Casey it took us a bit to find the start of the trail, which really isn't a trail, it's just a series of middle of nowhere country roads. For some reason streets in little towns are rarely marked so it was difficult to figure out where we were even looking at a map. Once we found the park we were supposed to start from, it was difficult to find a parking spot due to the town's "Popcorn Festival". Normally little towns have some type of fruit or vegetable festival, but in this town I guess they like salty snacks. We finally found a parking spot and were on our way.

The trail goes through the country roads out to the tiny "town" of Moonshine, population 2, which has only one building. The building used to be a general store, but then it was bought by a couple who turned it into a restaurant. Our plan was to bike out there (about 13 miles), eat lunch and then bike back for a total of 26 miles. The roads were fairly deserted, I was getting good speed, and with the exception of one obnoxious hill it was completely flat so our timing to the restaurant was very good. As we got closer to the restaurant more and more cars started passing us.

Once we got to the restaurant we saw that EVERY single car that passed us was also going to the restaurant! I have never seen so many cars... well, okay, so that's not true, but it was an awful lot for a town that has only one thing in it. There were people in the streets taking pictures, so I joined them in the craziness. The line was ridiculously long.







At one point, while standing in line, this little boy comes running up to his mom in tears, threw his arms around her and screamed, "We are never going to get to eat here!" I think he even muttered something about the world ending. People were there from all over the country!

While standing in line, completely unstressed because I had done SUCH a good job preparing for this trip, a sudden horrible thought passed through my mind.

"Um... do they take debit or credit?" I practically whispered to Immanuel.
"I'm going to kill you," he grumbled.

So, we found a spot where we could get internet to check their website. I couldn't move from this spot or I would lose my signal and would not be able to find the information. Well, they take cash only. BUMMER. So much for good preparation. It was sort of a blessing though because it was already 11:45 and they close the grills at 12:30 regardless of how long of a line they have left. We had been standing in line for about 15 minutes and had barely moved 5 feet.

We headed back to our bikes and were stopped by a lady admiring them. She said she wanted a bike, but didn't want to have to pedal; she just wanted it to move her. She was a very nice lady and said she liked our bikes. We headed down the rode, but Immanuel got pretty far ahead of me because I was stopped by a guy and his kid so that they could tell me how cool MY bike was. Later he passed me on his super cool motorcycle and I really felt like the fact that he took the time to stop me to tell me my bike was awesome was an even bigger compliment since he had an awesome motorcycle.

Immanuel routed a different way back for us so we wouldn't be bored going back the same way. Considerate and sweet, right? There was a REASON that the book SPECIFICALLY said "GO BACK THE SAME WAY"! Now, recall that I told you we made good time in the beginning, 13 miles in about 1 hour. We did take the time, however, to admire the beautiful sky.



And take a picture of a fuzzy caterpillar.



The way back was harsh. There were so many hills! I wanted to die, but I refused to get off my bike and I managed to make it up each and every hill! We also had to go on gravel for quite some time and I just knew I was going to break my neck. We got to the top of a gravel hill where Immanuel said there should be no more gravel only to find another half mile of gravel. Every time I thought I would not have to go up a bigger hill, we'd round a corner to find one. 2 hour and 25 minutes we made it back to the park. Oh, and we had not eaten anything except for peanut butter crackers. I was starving.

We found a restaurant, Richard's Farm Restaurant that had pretty good food, but REALLY crappy service. There were times our drinks were empty for about 15 minutes. She put so much ice in the glass you'd only get about 3 drinks before you were left dry. We both had a salad bar and Immanuel had a chicken sandwich and I had a pulled pork sandwich.

I was, again, exhausted on the way back and slept the whole way. Not quite as comfortably though, because I was afraid Immanuel would fall asleep. I wanted him to take his sunglasses off, so that I could see his eyes, but he wouldn't. I also discovered on the way back that I had forgotten sunscreen and had a nice sunburn.

I think the trip was rather successful. I mean it does stink that we didn't get to actually eat at the restaurant that we biked 13 miles to get to, but maybe some other time, right?