Cruising through IL, we started seeing tons of wind turbines, beautiful and good. Flat fields and obviously man-made rectangular lakes by family farms--round silos, red and white barns, big comfy houses, all surrounded by shady trees.
Moraine View State Park
We had to drive a good ways past Le Roy, past the fields, with orange lillies growing everywhere in big clumps among the buzzing, clicking, singing fields. This park was huge, with a somewhat murky but beautiful lake, lots of folks fishing, and about 2000 camping spots, all with electricity, for $20 a night. Beautiful bathrooms, free showers with HOT water for as long as you liked. The only problem was, ironically, lack of water--you had to go to those bathrooms to get it, and when we tried pumping some for the dog to drink the next day, it seemed to make him slightly ill.
Luckily, we had our own water, and in the shimmering heat, we sat down to dinner--a big cold salad--and Scott got to see his first fireflies. They burst in little green swarms.
Nighttime Concert
OK, bug people. What is it in IL that clacks at night, almost like hearing about 20 people all playing the bones. It would come and go in bursts, and it sounded cool.
The really fun concert was a hooting contest between two Barred Owls around 3 a.m. It began like this:
"Hoo!"
"Hoo HOO, hoo HOO! Hoo HOO, hoo HOO!" (This is known as the "who cooks for you" call.)
Check out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fppKGJD3Y6c&feature=player_embedded
We all went back to sleep and awoke at the lazy hour of 9 a.m., dawdling with showers, T-Lou enchanting the kids around us, Scott eating and getting to do his prayers before driving. It gave us a good start for a long day that was coming.
That YouTube video of the owl is great! Thank you.
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