Fox River ride, the first of (I hope) many

Too pretty a day to stay inside. Headed west to one of my  favorite rides, the Fox River Trail.

As usual, I started from downtown Aurora, just east of The Casino That Will Save The City and of course Did Not. Nice huge empty parking lots for us bike riders, anyway.

You could not have ordered a nicer day for a bicycle ride. Upper 60s rising into the lower 70s, low humidity, light wind from the west-northwest.

Lilacs in bloom, trees just beginning to leaf out, brilliant blue sky, I mean, seriously, heartbreakingly, beautiful.

It's pollen in my eye, swear to god. Pollen.

This little lighthouse was built by industrialist George Fabyan on his estate around 1905.

Fabyan supported the Baconian theory, popular at the time, that Shakespeare's plays were written by Francis Bacon.

Rich people: they're just like us, only dumber.

In 1914 the Fabyan purchased and had moved a Dutch-style windmill built c. 1870 from its original farm site in York Center, Illinois, to his estate.

Known as the Fabyan Windmill, this five-story grist mill was restored to working order in 2004. It is known by Shakespeare scholars as "Idiot's Windmill."

I was surprised and delighted by a short train popping up along the east side of the river on the way home. I am a male person, so trains make me happy for some reason.

Then the dappled path back to the car, and (sigh) home. Total was 19.88 miles, according to Cyclemeter. 

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