Kickapoo Rail Trail

I live along the old Illinois Central Railroad bed. The Illinois Traction System, the interurban railroad, ran parallel to the I.C., but those tracks are long gone.

In the 70's Georgia and I would harvest wild strawberries in the wide area where these tracks once were. We went to Governor Thomson's state mansion to give him a jar of the jam. Governor Thompson was a great friend of teachers. My brother Joe and his wife Sue took a jar back to Australia with them. I've never seen wild strawberries as fat and juicy as those.

The Illinois Traction System from Urbana to Danville.

Link to Construction of the Interurban RR.

In the 80's I would take Sarah and Suzanne on walks along the I.C. tracks looking for fossils in the track bedding. We had quite a collection.

In the 90's I started collecting scrape metal, spikes, dating nails and bits of old ties to make art work.

In the 00's they removed the I.C. tracks too. As prairie plants began to move into the railroad bed I would keep a half mile path mowed to enjoy the flowers and walk our dog.

A Walk Alone, a link to the path I mowed.

Now in the 10's they are building a bike path on the old railroad bed. I'm really excited.

A water color of our future bike path.

Another link: Kickapoo Rail Trail