Saturday June 7, 2025 Annual Meeting and Picnic

On Saturday June 7th,2025, the River to River Trail Society held its annual meeting at the Vienna Illinois city park. We had a gathering of over 20 people, including 2 gents from the U.S. Forest service. The business meeting was held first, with a “first” for the Society…Megan Henderson from Belknap was elected President and Marcus Owens was elected treasurer.  The other 2 officers remained the same, Chris Drone and Gillum Ferguson, remaining as vice-president and secretary, respectively, and Clint Stevens as a new board member.  Bill Gilmour, the president for the past 8-10 years, will be moving to Michigan, and the general consensus was that the office of the president should be fulfilled by someone who lives in the general area of Southern Illinois. 

   The 2 gents (Dennis Wilson & Felipe Cano) from the Forest Service informed us about “goings-on” locally with trails and other issues, but, nothing out of the ordinary or major was happening. 

   Our guest speaker for the day was Dr. Teresa Steckler, Phd, University of Illinois, stationed at Dixon Springs experiment station, who spoke on the increasing problems with the various species of ticks. She had a lot of handouts and brochures, spoke at length on the various problems, not only with humans, but, also with livestock and pets. Recognition, preventative measures and other important information was all very helpful .

   Then, the Dennis Wilson from the Forest Service presented Bill Gilmour with a plaque and also told Bill, and the crowd, that a portion of the River to River trail, in the Dutchman lake area, will be designated the Bill Gilmour section, in recognition of all the work that Bill has done for the River to River Trail, trail mapping and hiking in general, in Southern Illinois over the last 15 years. 

By that time, Fred Scott had gotten his cooking & grilling done and everyone “dove into” the various dishes and delicacies brought by everyone attending. One of the delicacies even included blue “i” trail marker cup cakes.

The plan was to do some biking after the meal, but, the clouds kept threatening possible rain showers and no one seemed to be brave enough to head off on the Tunnel Hill bike trail.

Saturday June 1, 2024 Annual Meeting and Picnic

On a rainy Saturday morning, June 1st, 2024, National Trails day, the River to River Trail Society gathered at Vienna, Illinois city park to have their annual meeting, as required by law, since we are registered with the State of Illinois as a tax exempt organization. About 30 members gathered, bringing food to share, but, first, to listen to President Bill Gilmour conduct the business meeting, reporting on activities of the Society over the last year, such as purchasing supplies for, building and putting out picnic tables along the River to River trail. Bill also talked about re-routes and trail maintenance activities, trash blasts and various other efforts in cooperation with other groups and the U.S. Forest Service.  The Society elected a slate of officers and new board member for the coming year, 2024-2025.  We want to Sincerely and Most Appreciably say a Huge “Thank You” to retiring board members Fred Scott and Lori Lance.  They have both been valuable with their thoughts, ideas and work contributions over the last few years. We do hope to see them on hikes in the future.   New board members Megan Henderson and Glenn Lawrentz Jr. and were elected and welcomed and board member Chris Drone was selected as Vice President to replace Mr. Scott. 

We then had several speakers. The first being Lindsey Godsey Roberts spoke about her various attempts on traversing the River to River Trail. She has done the trail fully twice…first being supported by meeting people who assisted her, then 2nd, completely on her own by stashing supplies in strategic spots along the trail, then her latest try, was to carry all her needed supplies with her.  She made it over 100 miles on the 3rd try, but was unable to successfully complete the whole trail.

Lindsey Roberts

The second being Mr. John Wohlwend from the group “Friends of the Shawnee National Forest”. He spoke about their activities and ideas and accomplishments.

John Wohlwend

Then, We then got to listen to Mr. Dennis Wilson, who has been the in charge of the Shawnee National Forest for exactly 1 year.

Dennis Wilson, District Ranger, Shawnee National Forest

We did have several guests, including a pair of gentlemen from the Champaign, Illinois area who came down Just for this annual meeting. 

Fred Scott

    Mr. Scott had been cooking brats and hot dogs all along, and everyone else had brought something(s) to share for the potluck.  No one went away hungry. (if you were similar to me, you might have “gained” for the day). The rain precluded any thoughts of a bike ride after the meeting, but, it seemed to suppress any cicada problems. 

Until this fall, “See ya’ll On the Trail”. 

Respectfully submitted, 

Chris Drone

Trail Society Annual Meeting / Picnic

On Saturday, June 3, 2023, at the Vienna City park, the River to River Trail Society held its annual meeting. 20 members and guests gathered to hear speakers; listen to the business report and elect officers & board members for 2023-2024. 

Fred Scott was the “chief chef” and everyone else brought something to share as potluck. It was all nutritious and good. President Bill Gilmour had a sheet printed out and distributed copies of the activities over the last year, including the number of hikes, the number of hikers we entertained, the work activities various members participated in at different times, such as trail maintenance, trash blast etc. One of the Societies’ Big achievements was the placement and dedication of the statue of our founder, John O’Dell, at the church at Herod, Illinois along IL Rt. 34. 

We had 3 speakers for the day, 2 were from the U.S. Forest Service. Ellen Bogardus-Szymaniak, the acting Forest Supervisor for Southern Indiana and Southern Illinois. She talked about that she had never been in the area, and that she was highly pleased & surprised with its beauty. Next, the new District Ranger, Dennis Wilson spoke, how he wants to foster cooperation and promotion of the area. Then, last a member of the Society, who hikes with us, Susan Wygant is a geologist. She gave a quick, informative presentation on the basics of the geology of Southern Illinois, and had several charts/maps to go along with her talk. 

    Mart Watson gave the treasurers’ report, we have a positive balance, with no outstanding bills, and Gillum Ferguson updated us on the kerfuffle with Moline, Illinois and their bike way and wanting to also name it the “River to River Trail”. 

    The officers elected are the same as last year, and we do have 1 new board member, Steve Melville, who operates Rim Rock Dogwood Cabins, of Karbers Ridge, Illinois.  Steve replaces Todd Carr.

   We then closed the meeting and adjourned to partake of the delicious food, and enjoyed chatting with each other, and we did take a group picture.  Several had brought their bikes, and rode up to the Tunnel on the Tunnel Hill trail and back, after everything was over. 

Respectfully submitted, 

Chris Drone