Elizabeth is a small village in the north-west corner of Illinois, and it sits in country that the last ice sheet missed. This is the Driftless Area, a patch of the Upper Midwest that the glaciers flowed around, which is why it is hilly, wooded and cut by steep valleys, while most of Illinois is as flat as a table. The roads here rise and fall like a ship in a swell, and the farms are laid out along ridges and valleys in contour-following strips, with red barns, limestone outcrops and woodland on every slope.
The village has a quiet history, and one dramatic episode. In 1832, during the Black Hawk War, a party of Sauk warriors attacked a small fort on the Apple River here, and the defenders, mostly local settlers and miners, held them off. The fort has been rebuilt as a state historic site, and it is worth a short stop for the story of how people lived on this frontier. The reason they were here at all was lead, which was mined in huge quantities in this district in the early nineteenth century and shipped down the Mississippi from the river port at Galena.
For a rider, this is among the best country in the Midwest. The state highways and county roads twist through the hills in long, flowing bends, with good surfaces, light traffic and views across wooded valleys that, in October, are red, orange and gold. The Mississippi is a short ride to the west, with bluffs, backwaters and the great river itself, and the Great River Road follows it for much of its length. Wind and weather can be sharp in winter, but from May to October the riding is superb. Watch for deer at dawn and dusk, and for farm traffic, particularly in the harvest.
Galena, about twenty kilometres away, is the town to visit, with its beautifully preserved nineteenth-century streets and a past as the home of Ulysses Grant. Elizabeth itself has a handful of places to eat and a small shop, and fuel is available in the larger villages nearby, though you should not push your luck on Sunday evenings. Bring a layer for the morning and check the weather in the autumn, when the first frosts arrive.