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From Blanding Landing Back Home Trip 4


Getting home is usually on your own, but not this time. This area and t
he way back to Rockford has so much to explore we made it into two trips.

We left off at the Blanding Landing Tavern and Campground which really needs to be described more. The walls are covered either with money or tools of mass destruction. Many bars in the Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin patrons sign or put a message on a dollar bill and tack it to the wall. The first time we saw this was in Monroe, Wisconsin. I have yet to find out how this tradition got started.

The tools on the wall, the particle wood walls, the remoteness, the campground, rusty toilets without water, the owner's statement that "the girls sure love that shower," and the clients of the tavern could make the more timid a bit concerned about a late night visit. I'm sure it's fine.


We start out at Blanding Landing and head south to the Lost Mound Unit National Wildlife and Fish Refuge. In a car take West Blanding Road from the Tavern and Campground to West Noble Road which becomes Whitton Road (all gravel). On a bike head east to IL84, then south on IL84 to Army Depot Road.

Only on the gravel roads can you get an idea of the vastness of the Sav
anna Army Depot. At 13,000 acres along the Mississippi River, it is 14 miles long and three miles wide. Deteriorating buildings give it the eerie, ghostlike feeling of a nuclear war aftermath. Little or no activity is seen through the buildings and trees.

Lost Mound Unit Map

Building started in 1917 as a proving ground for cannon balls made at the Rock Island Arsenal, in 1921 it became a weapons depot, and was closed in March, 2000. It is shrouded in secrecy and rumor. Unmarked trucks are seen coming and going. You can almost see Scully and Mulder in a nondescript sedan parked parallel to one of the railroad tracks. For a complete conspiracy view of this place read John Weeks Version.

In 2003, about 9400 acres were turned over to the Illinois DNR who designa
ted it the Lost Mound Unit Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge. A very small part of it can be accessed from the south off of IL84 onto Army Depot Road - the paved motorcycle route. An observation deck is at the northern most accessible limit. Don't climb fences and wander around - unexploded bombs are supposed to be all over the place. Or is that just to keep people away from what they are really doing there?

I can understand a wildlife refuge - a protected environment where non migrating animals can stay, live and breed without too much human intrusion.

I can understand a bird sanctuary - a protected area where birds, migrating or not, can rest and feed without being hunted.

But what is a fish refuge?

According to John Weeks: " The most recent proposal has come from the Sac and Fox Nation of Oklahoma. They used to live in this area prior to losing the Black Hawk war and being forced into exile. They have been attempting to buy the Savanna site and turn it into a reservation for tribe members who want to move back to Illinois. As part of their proposal, they want to build a casino and bingo hall, a call center, a fuel blending facility, a biodiesel plant, and an ethanol plant."

I guess the biodiesel plant and the ethanol plant would help pay back the totems for degradng the land with a casino.

If you're hungry at this point head out of the Army Depot to IL84 south to Savanna to see if Jack Fosdick is cooking any his barbecue in town. If he isn't around, you might find Jim Evilsizer's bright yellow trailer and smokehouse on a corner in town. " Hickory Pit Smoked and Slow Cooked" - good ribs and pulled pork sandwiches.

Otherwise, go north on IL84 to Hanover. Some key events in the history of Hanover according to their web site (www.hanover-il.com):

  • In 1827 Daniel Fowler and Charles Eams paddled their canoe up the Apple River where they came upon the Indian village at the present-day site of Hanover. They laid claim to the land and returned the following spring to engage in farming.

  • On April 24, 1856, some 60 women, led by Delinda Craig, a granddaughter of Daniel Boone, marched up to 301 Jefferson St. to rid Hanover of its drinking and gambling parlor. The women tore the building down brick by brick until the walls came tumbling down.

  • In 1861, Ulysses S. Grant gave the first speech of his life in the Hanover Town Hall calling for troops to volunteer for the Civil War. It was reported that he was so nervous that he didn't say much of anything [had nothing to do with the fact that he couldn't get a drink in town, I'm sure.]

  • The Hanover Woolen Mill was organized in 1864 by James W. White. The woolen mill became the largest woolen mill west of Chicago after the construction of the current building in 1921 at a cost of $250,000.

  • On November 12, 1966, Adlai Stevenson III was presented the key to the city by Hanover Mayor T.J. Van Dyke. Former U.S. Senator Stevenson and his family live in rural Hanover.
The Viking Inn is a bar and grill made from a former bank. Whitey, the owner said it took three weeks to break through the back wall of the vault to the get to the building next door, which he uses. Whitey has some strong political views, so keep the talk about sports.

Some interesting sounding places to stay in Hanover are the Artful Lodger and Schatzi's Rooms For Rent, where you can get a four room apartment for the price of a motel room.

Another bar and grill is called the Bootlegger Saloon, but they have another place called Bootlegger Too in Galena. That makes it one of those evil franchises, or multi-national corporation as the current Illinois governor like to vilify.

You can get to Elizabeth from Hanover by heading south on IL84 (Jefferson Street) until it starts to curve. Don't take the curve, but head left and zigzag until you're out of town. Once you're out of town turn left on South Steele Road. Just after South Steel Road takes a 90 degree turn to the right, turn left on South Elizabeth Hanover Road. Take that to US20 and turn right toward Elizabeth.

There is one restaurant in Elizabeth that has a sign outside the door that reads "Bad Food and Poor Service." Believe it and move on.

On the other hand there is a welcoming place called the Quarter Moon that is well worth a couple of visits. They have a Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich that many pharmaceutical companies along with a few heart surgeons highly recommend. It's the best sandwich west of the Delaware River. We stopped in after a long trip and were surprised to see folks playing bluegrass music.

One of the guitar players walked up to us, welcomed us, and said they have an open invitation to anybody to come and play bluegrass music on the second and last Sundays of every month. One of the groups who plays there consistently is The Garden Hose. Trying to shock me the rather masculine lady enthusiastically announced, "We're all lesbians, you know." A quick look around dispelled that statement - I think.

Not one to be out-shocked, I said, imitating her enthusiasm, "That's OK. We're Republicans." I think I won.

A little later a lady came up to us and said we had won the Grand Prize - one dozen organic eggs, laid by free range chickens. The eggs were green, brown and off white in a variety of sizes. "Don't hard boil these - the membrane will stick and you will have a mess."

"Yeah, don't hard boil those eggs," another piped up. "- the eggs you buy in the store are three weeks old and you can hard boil them - not these. These eggs are fresh today."

These people were so nice to us, I will just let this opportunity to say a few things drop. My nature and drive to be sarcastic and satirical can be overwhelming at times, but the kindness we were met with at the Quarter Moon keeps me from commenting. This is hard ... really, really hard.

That's it. I didn't get you all the way back, but you can always come back, but you can't come back all the way.

This ends the day trip back from Blanding Landing. Information on the major parks, businesses, and attractions here is abundant and mainstream, and therefore, not covered here. We hope you enjoyed the account and its sarcasm, offensive opinion, and satire and take the trip. Please write me at the email in the introduction with comments and suggestions. No criticism will be accepted though, because it would certainly not be valid. Thank you for reading about this trip. I hope you enjoyed this one and will read another one.