This year's fall tour took club members to Nauvoo, Illinois and surrounding parts including Iowa and Missouri.  The tour was officially titled Y2Nauvoo but it also came to be known as the "Fog Tour Enduro".  Most woke in the early hours to make it through heavy fog Belvidere Oasis just outside Rockford for the 8:00am start.  As we arrived we were greeted by our well organized tour masters John Cox and Tom Brown.  We checked in, signed releases, and received our instructions.  It became clear that this was going to be a long day of touring.  If we kept a brisk pace we would arrive in Nauvoo about 5:00pm.  No formal lunch was planed but we did receive a great bag of munchies to fortify us for the trip ahead.  After everyone was briefed we set off into the fog.

Following the detailed instructions we made our way towards our first major stop, the Byron nuclear power station, we made note of several road side attractions as we attempted to earn points along the way by properly answering some tough questions.  The fog was so thick that it was difficult to see what we were looking for.  Eventually we felt our way into gates of the ComEd facility.  I would say visibility was about 15 to 20 feet, at best.  Fortunately everyone made it and we began our tour of the facility.  We saw a video and got a brief overview of how a nuclear reactor generates electricity.  The tour included a visit to the control room used for training.  Here we got to see first hand how the technicians monitor and control a nuclear facility.  We got the opportunity to flip the switches and shut down the facility.  Unfortunately the pre-programmed safety measures stopped us short.  As we exited the training facility we were greeted by the sun.  The fog had finally begun to burn off.  As we left Byron we detoured past a local festival celebrating the testicular fortitude of male turkeys - no kidding.  As the women laughed and the men winced we continued our journey towards White Pines State Park.  Our path took us along the scenic Rock river.

We arrived at the park and made our way to the back where we were meet with a surprise.  We had to make a river crossing in our cars to get an answer to one of the questions.  This made for some fun water sports.  Fortunately this would be the only time the cars would get wet as the the temperature rose to the high seventies and clouds in the sky disappeared.  The fall colors were in their peak and we were treated to brilliant red maples and golden oaks.

We now entered the long haul portion of the trip as we took to the highways towards Moline and then dropped south towards our next stop to visit the Toolesboro Indian Mound site.  We passed immense stretches of farm land where the combines were busy harvesting corn.  We arrived at the site in time for a much needed stretch.  We learned from our eager guides that these sites were about 2200 years old.  After taking in a bit of history made our last leg of the journey to Nauvoo.

As we made our way towards Nauvoo we entered the Mississippi river valley. The farmland transformed into rolling hills and lots of fall foliage.  We hit the river just before Keokuk Iowa and turned north for a beautiful trip along the river. When we entered Nauvoo we passed the old Mormon settlement on the river bank. We turned into town and made our way to the hotel.  By this time it was about 5:30.  We turned in our questionnaires and took it easy before the nights festivities.

That evening we gathered at the Hotel Nauvoo for dinner.  Old and new friends gathered at large tables and shared the experiences of the day while dining on heart stopping mid western fare.  After dinner John and Tom shared the results of the tour.  This year the team of Laura Ness and her parents Lloyd and Marylin took top honors and got to select from a wide array of tempting gifts.  Lloyd went for the BMW golf balls. Most everyone got to take home some kind of valuable prize for the day's efforts.  After the ceremony most made their way back to the hotel for some much needed rest.  We had another day of touring ahead of us.

The next morning we meet at the Nauvoo Cafe. The restaurant was a converted lobby from an movie theater built in the fifties as television became very popular.  The theater never made it so the restaurant took its place.  Oddly the theater is still there in the back in pristine condition.  After loading up on bacon, sausage, eggs and pancakes we were ready to begin the second half of our fall tour.  After breakfast we had a free hour so we went and visited the old temple site and the old settlement. Unfortunately the settlement did not open until noon so we drove around and took in the sights.  Shortly there after we made our way south to catch the 11:00am ferry across the river.  This trek led us through some of the flattest and richest farm land in the country.

We made it to the ferry to catch the first ride and enjoyed the view from the river.  He had a spectacular drive through Missouri while Tom rode point on his motorcycle.  Our next destination was Lock 19.  We arrived just in time to see a huge river barge full of soy beans and corn heading south on the river.  It was amazing to see this huge thing fit into the lock only a few feet to spare.  We watched the lock close and lower the boat at least 30 feet to the river below.  The locks are truly an engineering marvel.

Our next and last destination was to Fort Madison.  This old fort from the turn of the century was the northern most army post of its time on the river.  The fort has been faithfully reconstructed.  Life at the fort was tough on two fronts.  When the local Indians weren't raiding the fort the despotic Captain would routinely apply corporal punishment with wan ten abandon.  He once flogged a soldier with a cat of nine tails whip for prematurely removing a cucumber from one of the garden patches.  The Captain had been put on this duty as punishment for dueling with civilian at his previous post.  Do you think he had some misplaced anger?

By now it was 2:30 and time to head home to Chicago.  We drove over 400 touring miles, over 600 if you add in the trip up to Belvidere and the trip home from Fort Madison to Chicago.

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