It was cooler and raining intermittently when we left Fern Clyffe State Park yesterday, but the rain was light and winds were fair. We decided that it was a good day to get caught up on laundry, but when we Googled for the nearest laundromat, there were none to be found anywhere close to our route. The closest was in Harrisburg, about 25 miles to our north. So we rendezvoused where our bike route crossed the Tunnel Hill Trail, where I piled my bike into the van and we took a detour to Harrisburg for a few hours.
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| Steve arrives at our rendezvous point along the Tunnel Hill Trail. |
While Alea was at the laundry, I spent some time in the local history section of the town library. They happened to have some transcriptions of early records of Livingston County, Kentucky. Livingston County, Kentucky is of interest because James Davis of Jackson County, Illinois was living near two other early residents of Jackson County who had moved there from Livingston County (Hezekiah and Nathan). Also living in Livingston County was Mathis Davis, who sold his land there in early 1820. It looks as though he shows up in Jackson County in the 1820 Census (as 'Matthias' Davis), living next door to James' brother, Aaron. So this was a quick chance to see if I could uncover any new interesting facts that might tie these men together (I did uncover a few things, but it would take a novel to explain all the real and possible interconnections). My sense is that Mathis was the father of James, Aaron and Amos Davis (Amos is not known to have ever lived in Jackson County, IL), but there are currently too few facts to piece that together with any degree of certainty.
After doing the chores in Harrisburg, we returned to the Tunnel Hill Trail, where I continued on to Oak Point Campground, where we spent the night. We got there a bit late and were somewhat surprised to find that all the electrical sites were taken. Then we learned that it was a four day weekend for the area schools, so it will likely be more challenging than usual to find campsites this weekend. But there were plenty of very private primitive sites to be had ($12, showers) and we found that it stayed warm enough that we didn't need the power.
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| Lana, our camp sentry. |
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| The local wildlife (some sort of fuzzy caterpillar) attacks Lana's chew bone. |
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| Alea cleans up after chow. |
It was cool this morning, but sunny, so between the sun and the roller coaster hills Alea had no trouble staying warm early in the day. But it was a challenging 38 mile ride, with a few too many steep climbs.
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| Alea crosses a box girder bridge along Eddyville Road. |
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| Jenkins Bicycle Rest Stop, along Tower Rock Road, west of Cave in Rock, IL. |
She made it to Cave in Rock, IL early in the afternoon, so we are staying there at the State Park ($20, power and showers). After she had a chance to get cleaned up we ate lunch at the restaurant in the park (very reasonable, but the service was slow) and then explored the cave:
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