Living in Southwestern Indiana, surrounded by corn and soybean fields, we see our share of heavy farming equipment. Maybe for that reason or maybe just for the sake of curiosity and learning, Bill has wanted to tour the John Deere plant. Since we were already in the northern part of the State of Illinois, we combined our Chicago field trip with a detour west to the John Deere factory. It was a two and a half hour drive to East Moline, Illinois. We checked into a hotel last night and got up early for an 8:30 AM tour.
This is the John Deere S680 Combine. It retails for $660,000 and we learned that John Deere only builds to order.
The size of it was mindboggling.
We were on a tour with about 75 people in total, many farmers and reps, but also a lot of folks who were just John Deere fans. The tour lasted an hour and a half and included a brief introductory video as well as a guided motorized ride through the factory. We saw the manufacturing lines in action and the whole paint process. These are complex pieces of machinery and they took a lot of pride in the finished project.
After the tour wrapped up, we drove an hour and a half to Starved Rock State Park in Oglesby, Illinois. Bill just recently read an article in a backpacking magazine which highlighted this location in Illinois. The park was on the Illinois River bluff and there were more than 13 miles of trails to explore. The neat thing about this state park was that the surrounding area was all farmlands but once we entered the park, we saw a totally different topography. According to the website, “Starved Rock was formed thousands of years ago by the melting of glaciers releasing torrents of water. As the water rushed downstream it eroded and stripped away everything in its path except the resistant St. Peter sandstone. It is that sandstone that formed the steep rock walls and the cool dark valleys of the eighteen canyons. When conditions are right, cascades of falling water spill down into these gorges, creating the waterfalls so many come here to enjoy.”
Many of the trails were on wooded paths which led to overlooks like this one.
Apparently, Bill looked really approachable because multiple people asked him to take their group photos.
Eventually we jumped off the wooded paths and hiked along more rugged trails. We were rewarded with gorgeous views of the canyons.
I had no cell service but was busy taking selfies. Bill poked fun of me.
After a few hours of hiking, we started our drive home. We covered a lot of ground in Illinois and experienced a breadth of activities. We will have lots of stories to share with the boys when we pick them up from camp tomorrow.
If the John Deere interest persists, we have a huge John Deere plant in Ankeny!
This made me think of Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird.