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Culture Club | Wine & Dine | The Twilight Zone | Out & About | Take Me out to the Ballgame EASY RIDERS Snappy suggestions for places you can drive in a day Out & about Mammoth Cave Distance from Chicago: About 380 miles, 6.5 hours or so. How to get there: Take the Dan Ryan (I-90/94) and head into Indiana via either the Chicago Skyway (I-90) or the Bishop Ford (I-80/94). Take I-65 south until you hit Kentucky. Take Exit 53 at Cave City and follow the signs. Money matters: $3.50-$35, depending on the tour. Where to stop: Golgotha Fun Park, “America’s #1 shaded biblical mini-golf,” located at the top of Cavalry Hill off Highway 70. The Old Testament inspires the first nine holes, and, well, Old Testament stories make for cool hazards so get ready to try your luck against recycled lawn ornaments. Don’t miss: Mammoth Cave Wax Museum. Why is this here? To show Winston Churchill in a Rolls Royce, Abraham Lincoln in standing repose and Jesus of Nazareth blessing… somebody. Make sure to visit Huckleberry Hill Village, which has a Scooby Dooesque “Haunted Maze.” Highway 70 west, Cave Kity, Ky., (270)773-3010. You’re always looking for someplace cool to get away from the summer heat, right? Well, it’s a lovely 54 degrees almost year round inside Mammoth Cave, a 10-million-year-old natural wonder and the world’s longest cave system. Thus far, more than 350 miles of cave passage has been mapped, and the nice folks at the National Parks Service say there’s no end in sight. You can camp nearby (check out Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park) or stay at the hotel, fish in nearby rivers, or spelunk to your heart’s content on one of thirteen tours—some are seasonal or require specifics in dress, so check before you go. Note: Mammoth Cave is on Central Time. Cave City, Ky., (270)758-2251, www.nps.gov/maca Cahokia Mounds Distance from Chicago: 280 miles, around 5 hours. How to get there: Take I-55 south until you hit Route 159 and follow the signs into Collinsville. Money matters: Free, suggested donation $2. Where to stop: The world’s largest catsup bottle, which tops the old Brooks Foods Factory in downtown Collinsville, is a giant water reservoir shaped like, yes, a big catsup bottle. There since 1949, the giant bottle is 70-feet tall (atop a pedestal that’s 100 feet) and is hard to miss. 800 S. Morrison, (618)345-5598. Don’t miss: Mound 72, featuring the resting place of a very important personage. Buried in a robe made of 36,000 seashells and 400 arrowheads, he was accompanied into the afterlife by no less than fifty-seven human sacrifices—some of which are missing extremities. An archaeological treasure, the Cahokia Mounds are actually the remains of a pre-Columbian city, which served as bustling metropolis for the Hopewell culture from 700 A.D. to 1400 A.D. Through the site is thought to have housed more than 120 mounds, only 109 remain (the rest were destroyed by some eager beaver railroad engineers), the high point of which is Monk’s Mound. Named for French Trappist monks (they built a monastery on top in the eighteenth century), this mound is huge, standing 100-feet tall and covering 14 acres. What’s inside? Well, there’s the tale of a large stone at the center, but they haven’t excavated the darn thing so we can only guess at what went down in the city it once housed. Collinsville Road, Collinsvislle, Ill., (618)346-5160, www.cahokiamounds.com Indiana Dunes Distance from Chicago: 40 miles, 45 minutes, max. How to get there: Take the Dan Ryan to the Chicago Skyway (I-90) and exit at Portage or Chesterton. Money matters: Dunewood campground, $10 per day; West Beach, $4 per carload, $.50 per person for walk-ins and bicyclists. Where to stop: Yellow Brick Road Gift Shop and Fantasy Museum is the ultimate stop for the “Wizard of Oz” fan, featuring film memorabilia and original editions of the L. Frank Baum book. 109 E. 950 N, Chesterton, (219)926-7048. Don’t miss: Chellberg Farm. Show up at 4pm daily to help the farmer feed the animals—around 1,900 farm animals are on display. Mineral Springs Road between Highway 20 and Oakhill in Porter. Locals will remember this as the place you and your hungover friends spent the day after prom, on the beach, baking out the pollutants. But the Dunes, part of the National Lakeshore, is part of a 15,000-acre park run by the National Parks Service and featuring beach, bog, dunes, wetlands, forest, a circa 1830 French-Canadian homestead and a turn-of-the-century (that’s the last century, folks) farm. Seventh among national parks in native plant diversity, the Dunes features 1,418 vascular plant species, nearly ninety of which are endangered—for an overabundance of information on this stuff, check out the Dunes Environmental Learning Center. And, yes, if you want, there are miles upon miles of beach where you can just lie back and soak up the sun. 1100 N. Mineral Springs Road, Porter, Ind., (219)926-7561, ext. 225, www.nps.gov/indu Starved Rock State Park Distance: About 90 miles, or 1.5 hours. How to get there: Take I-55 south to I-80. Go west on I-80, 45 miles to Exit 81 (Route 178, Utica). Go south (left) 3 miles on Route 178 and follow the signs into the Park. Money Matters: No park entrance fee or parking fee. Camping is $11 per night/site. Accommodations at the lodge, which dates from the 1930s and is made of Douglas fir logs, can be had for $90-$100 (double occupancy rooms) or $80-$100 (double occupancy cabins). Starved Rock lodge: (815)667-4211. Where to stop: Joliet, the home to many a floating casino. Here’s a couple to get you started: Empress Casino Joliet (888)436-7737; Harrah’s Joliet Casino (800)427-7247. Don’t miss: In an hour’s drive from Starved Rock, you can get yourself to Dixon and become misty (or disgusted) by visiting the Ronald Reagan Boyhood Home, 816 S. Hennepin Ave., (815)288-3404. Bordering the Illinois River, Starved Rock State Park offers plenty of activities—some nature-based, some entirely unnatural—to keep even the most citified of folks happily sated. The Starved Rock, a name taken from a Native American legend, counts amongst its attractions thirteen miles of hiking trails, eighteen canyons, fishing and boating (you don’t have to have your own—you can rent motor boats or canoes Memorial Day through Labor Day), camping and horseback riding. Stepping off the grounds and into other territory, the thrill-seeking traveler can jet ski, or take part in colder weather activities like snowmobiling, skiing or even skydiving. Meramec Caverns Distance from Chicago: 350 miles, around 6.5 hours. How to get there: Take the Stevenson (I-55) south to St. Louis, catch I-44 west toward Tulsa and follow the signs. Money matters: Tours $6-$12. Where to stop: The Jesse James Museum is an odd little homage to the great thief who insisted, though all evidence says it ain't so, that the old man who turned up in Stanton circa 1948 was he. Located off I-44 at exit 230 in Stanton. Don't miss: The cheese-o-rama at the Meramec Mining Company, where, for $4 per bag of "mine rough", you can, in an "18th century setting" sluice, or pan for gold. There's also an inflatable dinosaur for kids to jump on! Stalwart of the old Route 66, Meramec Caverns is fairly easy to find, thanks to the numerous signs still dotting the highways, advertising the interior's cool temperatures by painting the logo to look a bit frosty. And gilding the lily is nothing new for these caverns-inside the national stalactites are sometimes done up with mini lights, to give them a bit more oomph. But it's not entirely necessary as the caverns, featuring seven upper levels and amazingly beautiful limestone formations, sells all on its own. One of the big stories of the caverns is its entertaining history, from its use as an Underground Railroad hideout, to the fact that Jesse James and his gang used it as a hideout during their bank robbing days. Stanton, Mo., (800)676-6105, www.americascave.com. SpringRise at Westover Distance from Chicago: 385 miles, 6.5 hours. How to get there: I-55 to St. Louis, catch I-44 toward Tulsa, exit onto Missouri Highway 19, take a left. Highway 19 becomes, Highway 8, when you hit Steelville, it's eight miles east. Money matters: $30 per day for catch and release, or $3.95 per pound with a $30 minimum for catch and keep. Where to stop: Ted Drewes Frozen Custard. Stop off I-64 at Chippewa, and head down to another Route 66 mainstay. Try the concrete, a frozen treat made with your choice of ingredients and Ted Drewes' amazing custard. It's so solid it won't spill if you turn it over and so tasty you'll be much refreshed for the rest of your journey. 6726 Chippewa, St. Louis, (314)481-2562. Don't miss: The exceptional wildlife-SpringRise features everything from wild turkeys to unique water birds, all running about in protected wetlands and other areas surrounding the fishing sites. Though trails are still under construction, keep your eyes open and you might catch a bald eagle. In 1999, these folks took over the old Fisherman's Dude Ranch and turned it into SpringRise, part exclusive lots for building mega houses in the middle of nowhere, part fishing mecca. SpringRise offers so much fishing it's almost obscene. Bordered on three sides by the Mark Twain National Forest, you can fish Rainbow or Brown Trout in the springs, the angler's paradise in the garden and trout stream, or the small confines of the restored dry creek. Eight miles east of Steelville, Mo., (573)743-6284, www.springrise.com.
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