Last week (Feb.16), Jan and I visited a couple more properties in Southern Illinois with idea of setting (re-setting) a foothold there, closer to Daughter Ellie, Granddaughter Zee, and Son-in law Jason as well as many of my oldest and best friends. I have been looking at land and houses for almost a year without any jumping out at me. This trip, I had 3 candidates to check out. The first was a couple acres outside of Carbondale: somewhat scenic, but problematic drainage. The next was 20 acres outside of Goreville. It was nice. Mostly open rolling pasture with woods and creek at the back. Really quite nice and very buildable, but the road in was in bad shape over a railroad track and while quite beautiful, didn't really grab me. The third parcel was as different as it could be. Nice road access, city water and power, all woods, within the boundary of the Shawnee National Forest, a hikeable distance from Giant City State Park, and pretty much nothing close to flat. When I hear "Southern Illinois" this land is what I picture. I was hoping for some rock bluffs, but there are some shelves and lots of rocks in the runs. By the road there seems to be an old house site. There is no trace of a building, but there is a depression that was probably a cellar, a pile of hundreds of old bottles and jars, and literally thousands of daffodils.
The next day, Ellie, Jason, and Zee walked the land with us. They gave us the thumbs up. We made an offer on Thursday, Feb.23. Waiting to hear.
