Blackjack Road (Galena to Savanna) - By Vito

Fun and exciting road. While not "The Tail of the Dragon", it is a twisty, curvy road with great scenery and certainly one of the very best roads in Illinois if not the whole Midwest. The road is only moderately well maintained, with no shoulders, a fair amount of debris and gravel on the road, and an almost invisible center stripe. Despite the 55 posted speed limit, I rarely went over 45 on my two-up heavy cruiser, and was passed only once (by a car) and was catching up to a few other motorcycle riders when I reached Galena. For me, this was the highlight of a 212 mile round trip from Rockford. I started by taking Hwy 2 south along the Rock River to Oregon, Hwy 64 west to Savanna, Hwy 84 north to Hanover, and Blackjack Road to Galena, then Hwy 20 all the way back to Rockford. Hwy 20 is a nice road, especially the parts nearer to Galena. Had a nice lunch in Galena at Durty Gurty's for a total riding day of about 6 hours.