Paula and I made our latest trip a riverboat cruise down the Illinois River from Peoria to Starved Rock State Park.

We saw dozens of bald eagles among the zillions of trees along both sides of the river, which is a mile wide at times.

And hundreds of white pelicans, which herd fish, much like wolves do on land, till they are packed together so tightly that the pelicans fill their 5-gallon capacity bills easily.

On the boat were musicians playing banjo, ukulele, guitar and calliope.

And 5 meals a day (3 before noon).

Since there are no staterooms, we stayed on shore in excellent hotels each night.

As usual, my WV clothing drew the attention of other Mountaineers, or relatives of WVU graduates, or people who knew someone from Morgantown or other Mountain State towns.

Starved Rock is where legend has it that one Native America tribe trapped another one atop the rock, which had only one way out, and arrowed or starved them to death. Except for one that they left live to tell others about the "victory."

Major drawback: 13 hours on the bus each way between Ohio and Illinois because Indiana Turnpike traffic was stop and go A LOT.