Beautiful Rend Lake in January

The Trip Down

We needed to get away for a couple of days. Events of the fairly new year, the bleak weather, and just wanting to be somewhere else for a day or two went into the decision to head south.

Usually when we think about heading south it’s towards Florida or Texas but looking at the current weather map, if we wanted a big weather change, we would have needed to to hit the middle of sunshine state. It seemed like everywhere in the country was cooler, or just plain cold.

So instead of trying to find warm weather, we would simply ignore the weather and go to someplace familiar and just disconnect for a day or two. We decided on Rend Lake in southern Illinois.

We’d visited the Rend Lake area several times before. The lake is pretty good sized so were only able to paddle and explore just a small area. It has a really nice bicycle/hiking trail on the west side of the water. We had no plans to do any cold-weather exercises so we did not pack our bikes or boats.

Our first stop was just off I-57 in Arcola, IL for a coffee and quick bite. Arcola is known for, among other things, it’s Amish population, the Lawn Rangers, and Libman Cleaning Supplies.

The Libman tie-in makes sense after realizing that Arcola was packed with references about broom corn including the claim of being the Broomcorn Capital of the World!

Driving into downtown Arcola, we stopped at the Broomtown Cafe. The cafe is a converted bank complete with sofa seating in the old walk-in safe.

I had the grilled cheese and Mary had the chicken bacon ranch panini. Very tasty. The coffee was a medium roast and kept us going to our next destination.

Mary wanted to get a book or two to read on the trip so we took a slight detour off the interstate into Charleston, Il to Pensees Bookshop on 6th Street in downtown Charleston. This was a classic used bookstore packed floor to ceiling plus the requisite smells of old books-a perfect choice.

We shopped for about a half an hour. I found a baseball trivia book and two very old pages out a Rand-McNally Atlas suitable for framing. Mary found a few books of interest as well.

I’d like to preface this next part of our trip by saying I wasn’t sure I wanted to write about what happened. Paddle, Pedal, and Coffee is all about positive stories, successful excursions, cool tours and places. This next little trip is not any of those. This one was a ‘fail’. Mary thinks it’s still a good story. I’ll list it as a cautionary tale to perform a little due-diligence beforehand.

While still in Charleston, I recalled a very cool tourist idea from my childhood. On a whim, without the requisite research, we thought it would be a good call-back to the “old-days” so we set out to find it.

Backstory: I lived in Decatur, Il, for much of my grade school and junior high days. I often visited this area of Illinois with my family. One such visit, in 1968, was to the new statue of Abraham Lincoln located halfway between Mattoon and Charleston IL. The statue was 62′ high and was set in what was to be a park. I clearly remember visiting the statue and even where it was located.

First, Google Maps said it was in a different location than I remembered. Ok, so my memory is dimming a little. Heading north of Charleston, Google took us down a sloppy, muddy gravel road to a bridge-out sign and a dead end. So instead of giving up, we backtracked and ran at it from the south. Google directed into an industrial road when Mary caught site of the statue in the distance. The problem, the gate across the road was locked. Visiting Old Abe was not going to happen. Then Google started revealing the sad details of the statue. It seems the park was never built, the statue was sold and moved a couple of times before it’s current resort location went bankrupt.

We drove back through town disappointed but a little bit smarter. The one positive I took from the search was that my memory had NOT dimmed, I was right about the initial location I visited. You take the little wins whenever you can.

The biggest downside to the search, other than loosing an hour we can never get back, was a dirty, muddy van that reminded us (almost mockingly) for the rest of the trip that often times, you can’t go back.

You can read more about the Lincoln statue story here.

The only way to come back from such a sad journey is to have a cup of coffee. As it turned out, just across the square from the bookstore was our next stop, Jackson Avenue Coffee. We had the house medium roast, recovered and plotted our comeback.

Rend Lake

We’ve stayed at the Rend Lake Cabins several times before and always had a good stay. The cabins are modern-day built and nestled into a wooded area. The interiors are clean and fully furnished. Ours had a regular coffee maker as well as a Keurig. They have TV’s with a DVD player but be advised: there are very few channels to watch on cable and there is no wireless network. Also the cellular service is spotty through-out the whole area. First-world problems, I guess.

For supper we headed to Sesser, Il to the Anchor Grille. We’d had breakfast there in the past and decided to try it our for supper. Fried Chicken and Meat Loaf were the Wednesday special along with a very nice salad bar. The food and the service was very good. We got there around 5:30 to an almost empty restaurant, but by the time we finished our tasty meal, the place was full-mostly locals.

Day 2 Exploring the Area

Our first stop of the day was Buzz Cafe in Benton, IL. We’ve been to the cafe several times in the past. It’s right on the town square with easy parking.

We had breakfast along with a large cup of their house blend. We finished up around 10:00 and decided to walk to the County Seat Antique Mall. I’ve visited the store before but I didn’t spend much time. Ok, I’ve been outed. I like antique shopping. Don’t judge me. Actually, I have a narrow interest in old stuff, mostly automotive, music, and tools.

This time, I convinced Mary that it would be worth a look. She reluctantly agreed. This store was much bigger than when I visited previously. It took up more adjacent buildings and had two second floor areas. We spent over an hour in the store but could find nothing that really ‘tripped out trigger’. In this day and age of Ebay and the Internet, most everyone knows the value of what they have so it’s getting harder to ‘score’ that one special find.

Next, we were off to West Frankfort, IL. Time for another cup of coffee, this time at the Gambit Coffee Bar. Mary had a lavender lemonade and I had the small house blend.

We relaxed for quite a while then decided to head back north to finally answer the question: what does the post feature photo, the fellas watching us in the store, and a dedicated plaque all have to do with Benton IL.

It seems that George Harrison of the yet-to-be-famous-in-America Beatles had a sister that lived in the Benton area. He came to visit her in 1963 thereby becoming the first Beatle to visit the US. I’ve linked to a story that covers the visit in detail.

Just around mile marker 70, this mural can be seen along I-57. To get to it takes a little travel but it’s better than stopping on the interstate.

You can read more about the mural here. There was lots of parking along the frontage road and we managed to get a close-up look. I think the mural will need some restoration and repair in the future. The weather is taking its’ toll on the wood structure. One of the teeny-bopper has lost part of her dress and couple of fingers. But overall, it was fun to visit.

North of Benton about 10 miles is Mt Vernon, IL. We visited the Farmhouse Bakery and Cafe for a sweet treat then managed to find another antique store, Finders Pickers.

This store had some antiques mixed with a lot of “antiquee” stuff. Things that are made to look old but are not. I did manage to find an old rusty Craftsman tool box. A little sandpaper and can of paint and it will look good as new. (Mary’s editor note: there’s no way that toolbox will be good as new with just sandpaper and paint – it needs a hammer for all the dents!) I always say you can’t have too many tool boxes.

For supper we thought we’d try The Harbor Lite Restaurant in Whittington, IL. I had a perfectly cooked sirloin steak, Mary had the surf and turf kabobs with vegetable skewers. Both were very good.

Day 3, the Quick Trip Home

We woke up Friday morning to fog. It was time to check out so we packed up our van and headed west towards Sesser, IL-slowly. We didn’t want to surprise any of the deer along the way. We stopped at Brewed on Broadway in downtown Sesser. We had their house blend dark roast and shared a fresh cinnamon roll, then were on our way home.

An hour and a half later, we pulled into one of our favorite coffee shops, Joe Sippers in Effingham, IL. We’ve written about Joe’s a number of times. We’re always happy with the food and the coffee. We had their house roast coffee along with a breakfast sandwich and a breakfast burrito.

In less than two hours, we were home. Reflecting on the trip, we agreed that we drank way too much coffee, enjoyed being unplugged without cell service, got a little nervous without cell service, loved seeing the wildlife when driving, until it was dark and we became cautious about the wildlife while driving.

Seriously, while Rend Lake and the surrounding communities have limited activities in the winter time, it’s still worth a visit. We may even head back yet this year.