We will be riding from central Indiana to Moline, Illinois. The idea is to ride over on Friday, ride the river road on Saturday, and ride home on Sunday.

I need some ideas about sites to see, any areas to avoid? I have not ridden that part of Illinois before so any help is appreciated.

Oh yeah, we will be going next weekend (Oct. 5, 6,7).

 

Would love to have you join RidingTogether.com and post this ride. I'm trying to build this site from the ground up and could use some live beta-testers. Hopefully it'll grow into something much bigger and provide a means for meeting other riders with similar interests. Thanks.

Chris

 

Well you have to see the John Deere Pavillion in Moline.

 

After some research, I found the Great River Road Ride. It starts in Gallena and follows the Mississippi down to Quincy. The ride organizers have hotel rooms blocked at a good rate. Prizes, music, etc.
It will be about 900 miles round trip over a 3 day weekend. Hoping for good weather.

 

I'm not sure where exactly you will be coming across IL, much of central IL is kind of flat and boring. However, if you are far enough north to follow the IL River across, there are some nice back roads between the Joliet, IL area and Peru, IL, including passing through Starved Rock State Park.

There is also a nice stretch along the IL river just north of Peoria, IL. You take either Route 29 or Route 26 north of Peoria (or south towards Peoria) along the river.

In fact, my recommendation would be to combine both on your way back from Quincy, if you can go that far north on your way back. Head towards Peoria from Quincy, maybe along Route 24. It's been years since I've been that way, so the start of the route may not be anything but cornfields. But once you hit the Havana area you can parallel the IL River. Take 24 towards Peoria (nice HD dealer there if you want to stop), then follow 29 north of Peoria to I-180. Jump on that for a second to Route 71. Take that up to Starved Rock State Park. At Route 23 in Ottawa, IL you can either jump north and take Route 6 as far east as you like (it's a pretty nice ride all the way to just before I-55), or you can jump on the backroads in Ottawa (Gentleman-Trumbo Road, 2553rd Road, DuPont Road, Route 47 south to Route 113 east, Route 113 is nice between Wilmington and Kankakee).

That's most likely the route I'd take back from Quincy, then shoot off from Kankakee to wherever you need to be in IN.

 

Thanks Reacher.
I am in the northen part of IN (South Bend area). I will likely take US 3 over to Joliet and then work my way up to Galena. I don't do Interstates if I can avoid them and I think I can. I will check out the routes you suggested.
I lived in IL for 8 years so I know how boring central IL can be.

 

If you are going from Quincy back to South Bend I would definitely take the route I suggested, and take the back roads I mentioned from Ottawa to Kankakee. The first part of the ride is going to be boring no matter what I think. But that route will give you a nice long scenic ride up the IL River, and the only interstate is a tiny stretch (maybe 5 miles?) of I-180 that is almost always empty anyway.