Must Ride Roads

[Gixxerdale]

I need your help. My wife and I need to be in Peoria, Illinois in August. We live in LA. Rather than fly and see nothing, we are thinking this needs to be an extended touring trip. So here is what I'm looking for.

Any "Must Ride" Sportbike or Touring roads you may know of along the way. Must see places.
Cool places to stay at.
Any ideas or suggestions at all.

No route has been established yet. North, South, even East or West, doesn't mattter. It would be nice to link all the suggestions into a tour!

So help me out here, please! Thanks!

Oh, Ispiron and Stevie C, I don't have pontoons yet for the Gixxer, So I won't be crossing the pond this trip!

[fireblade1]

Well, since I'm from that area I can honestly tell you that it's quite flat and the roads are quite straight. If you don't mind the trip, cut up through Kewanee about an hour north of Peoria and head up to Davenport/Bettendorf, Iowa. This will put you smack on the Mississippi River.
You can pick up the interstate if you continue north through K-town to Annawan, old Indian named towns. This will take you past Johnson's Sauk Trail Park. There's lots to see and plenty to do in Iowa. If you don't feel like slipping through K-town, you can take the interstate straight up. I could even suggest a very nice day-spa, called William Wesley's, for your other half that's owned by a good friend of the family. Another option to the north would be to visit Moline/East Moline.
Another option would be to pop up to Galesburg, which I think is about a 30 minute drive from Peoria, but I'm not sure of that. There won't be as much to do in Galesburg, but there's some railroad and Civil War history there. If you go to G-burg and want a suggestion on a nice place to eat (provided it's still open), I would suggest The Packing House. It's been a long time since I've been there, so there's no telling if it's open or not.
Southerly options would be Springfield, Ill or St. Louis, but those will be 2 to 4 hours respectively. Both will offer plenty of options and plenty of traffic to deal with. Mapquest should give you some excellent maps to any of these destinations. If you should need the phone number to the spa in Iowa, just pm me and I'll get it to you. Have a wonderful trip!

http://cityguides.local.yahoo.com/?l...ation_state=IL for Kewanee, Ill

http://www.the-campground-network.co...ate_parks.html State Parks of Ill

http://travel.yahoo.com/p-travelguid...rt_vacations-i Davenport, Iowa

http://cityguides.local.yahoo.com/?l...ation_state=IA Bettendorf, Iowa

http://www.wwgrandsalonandspa.com/ William Wesley's Spa. PM me for important info about this.

http://www.museum.state.il.us/ismsit...n/homepage.htm This is a good one for Indian heritage and history.

[inspiron]

Dale, I would recommend that you get out on Route 66. That'll take you from LA to Chicago, and is basically the dream ride for every European. It's mostly cruiser territory, but I'm sure that you'll find some twisties along the way.

Once you're in Illinois, I can't help you ... I've never been anywhere except O'hare Airport.

And if you do finish those mods with the pontoons, let me know - I'll be doing a tour next summer around Switzerland, Austria and Italy...

[fireblade1]

Dale, Have to agree with Inspiron on the Route 66. That should take you through some of Missouri's twisties, where I'm located now. Drop me a PM if you get this way and I can suggest some locals in my area too!

Here's some links to Route 66 sites....

http://www.historic66.com/

http://www.route66.com/

[Gixxerdale]

Do'h ! Where was my head at last night? I never thought about Route 66! Thanks

[Hyper]

I'm in central MO, and I agree with Fireblade1. Make your way through Arkansas via HWY 7. Into Mo, and hit any of the roads surounding the lake of the Ozarks. Hwy 94, or 100 follow the Missouri river into STL. After that I can't help. Good luck.

[LayinLo]

Europeans dream of 66 like we dream of the Autobahn