Kaskaskia Spring

I was working in southern Illinois, and looking for a shady spot to eat my packed lunch, when we stumbled across a little park (lat/long 39.130566, -88.973151). I had driven by before, since it is near one of the few bridges over the Kaskaskia River, but I had not stopped. Down the little deadend gravel road was a road-side spring. They had it coming out of a pipe and a sign indicating that was good for drinking. I paused and pondered for a moment before taking a good drink. It made me think in a deeper way about how lucky/blessed we are with good drinking water. Most likely, there would be nothing wrong with the spring water, but we rarely drink anything that doesn't have government approval. I am sure that the spring water would have been considered the best water around only a few generations ago. I never did get sick from it, and I guess I am still using the same water bottle that I had filled at the spring.

Near the spring was a plaque marking the location of an old bridge across the Kaskaskia. We saw first-hand this spring how powerful the floods can be along the river.