On November 1st, I spontaneously visited the Homer Lake Forest Preserve. It was a very nice drive there, only approx 22 mins from Urbana side of campus.
View from the boating launch
First, I stopped at this boating area. These were the most "red" trees/Fall colors I had ever seen. I didn't do a good job with the phone camera to capture just how vibrant the red was.
View from the Natural Playscape - the clouds looked very majestic
Afterwards, I drove around the lake on some very nice roads, until I reached this Homer Lake Natural Playscape. There are many nice trails around the Forest Preserve and many places to sit and enjoy the view. The picture above was captured from a bench right next to the water after a short walk on a hiking trail behind the playscape.
Finally, on my drive home, I drove through the "village" of Ogden, IL. Wikipedia claims the population of Ogden, IL is ~730 in 2020. I drove around for a while until I found "Billy Bob's". I stopped there to grab a snack.
Local bar at Ogden, IL
It was a... "flavorful" bar. The drink selection was very interesting. The conversations were also very interesting with a very energetic character celebrating his games at the slot machines.
The servers were very hospitable and served me some mac and cheese.