In the spring of 1832, a band of Sauk Indians led by one Black Hawk terrorized the pioneer settlers of northwestern Illinois for a period of several months. The government – such as it was at the time – orchestrated a defense and response that culminated in Black Hawk‘s defeat. Although many years have passed, this incident still lingers in contemporary life with place names and historical markers along the roadside (not to mention sports teams, restaurants and etc. ad nauseum). And the cast of characters involved from start-to-finish is a who‘s-who of mid 19th century American history.

On July 11, we will conduct a "ONE TANK TOUR" to follow the route (as much as is feasible) of Federal forces attempting to chase down Black Hawk and his band.

We will depart at 9:00 am from the main parking lot West Branch DuPage County Forest Preserve District, south side of Army Trail Road at Gerber Rd in Bartlett.

During the day, we will visit several sites and memorials associated with the Black Hawk War incident. We will learn a little history and ponder such questions as: what were the Hochunks up to before getting into the casino business? What exactly is the relationship between the Winnebagos and the Potawatomi? When did Abe Lincoln first meet Jeff Davis? And who was this guy Black Hawk, anyhow?

Our tour will terminate late in the afternoon in northwestern Illinois. One tank will get you there but you may need a refill on the way home.

More details coming next month. For info, call Jim Evans at (630) 858-8192.

Spring Chicken Tour Recap May 23, 2010

Over the past several years we have had cool days for the tour. We even had one that was downright cold. So cold in fact that we had a fire going and coffee was being served. This year however was a different story. With the temperature on the tad warm side (85-90°) the tour participants were happy to finally hit the shade in Lake Geneva.
We ran the tour in a little different format this year. Dave Peterson put together a wonderful route from the St. Charles / Wasco area all the way up to my summer place in Lake Geneva. In past years we have had people meet at my place, drive the tour then head on back to my place for lunch. By all accounts this new format seemed to work really well.
This year was a record number for the Lake Geneva Chicken Tour. The numbers are "unofficial" (it is very hard to count people when they are moving all around). The numbers were 61 people and 29 MG's, one silver domestic car and a Harley. We also had many first time participants. We hope they enjoyed themselves and will join us again next year.
The Vintage Club happened to be in the area again this year for their Spring Weekend Getaway. It was a pleasure to once again have them join us for a "Spring Chicken Lunch". My thanks go out to Ric Maitzen of the Vintage Club for passing the word to his members and handling the coordination of things.
Jan, Lauren and I had a wonderful time hosting everyone again this year and we have started making plans for next year‘s event. We are thinking it will be a "Spring Chicken Fiesta Tour" (all MG driver will be required to wear sombreros on the tour...just kidding).

Thanks to all the participants for joining us this year and a bid thank you to Dave Peterson for doing a wonderful job on the route north.

Bill and Jan Reece