A good-sited group of riders prepares to set out for a ride on one of the several trails in the area. Fran notes that some oppose the idea of horses in the forest, and that her groups are very careful to be environmentally friendly.

Fran Land is "back home"—almost. After years of teaching in Chicago, the North Carolina native is owner and operator of Bay Creek Ranch Campground near Robbs, in west-central Pope County.

While it seems strange to suggest she's "home," Fran notes that the southern area of Illinois is very much like the lower reaches of the Great Smokies, where she grew up.

"I came down here with a friend in 1989 to go on the first 'River to River' Ride," she says, "and I thought it was the prettiest country I'd ever seen." After that exposure to the beauty of Southern Illinois, Fran went back to her job at Roosevelt University in Chicago, where she taught undergraduate and graduate courses in marketing and advertising. She'd been there for 17 years, and remarks that some of the joy had gone out of teaching.

"I was tired of what I was doing," she says matter-of-factly, "and I was going through a divorce. I decided to try something new. I came down here looking for a place, and found a bankrupt hog farm. It had the three major things I thought it'd need: electricity, water and access to the riding trails of the Shawnee National Forest.

"I started seeing possibilities the minute I saw it, and I bought it in about 10 minutes on a handshake deal. I had a one-year agreement with the university that I could go back, if this didn't work out.

"And that," she chuckles, "is how I went from being a professor in Chicago to a short-order cook in Southern Illinois, working harder than ever."

She's been rebuilding the place for the last five years. "There was a lot of cleaning up to do, buildings that weren't good for anything," she says, "and there was 40 years of trash in the treeline."

By the time she was ready to go, she'd hired Red Jones to manage the place. He

8 ILLINOIS COUNTRY LIVING OCTOBER 1996

"I came down here with a friend in 1989 to go on the first 'River to River' Ride, and I thought it was the prettiest country I'd ever seen."

Finely decked out in a battered straw hat with lots of character, this rider heads for the trail. Note the improvised canteen and the auto compass on his saddle horn.

had operated a trucking business for many years, and was also ready to try something different.

They cleaned up the best hog barn and turned it into their restaurant. "It took us two full years to get the pig smell out of the place," Fran says, "and it's been replaced by the odor of cooking grease, now."

They started building other facilities, too. The circular concrete slabs that had once been home to a herd of grain bins became pads for camp trailers. "They're real nice," Red says, "because they're level. You can pull your camper on one, set it up, and you're ready to go. There's no headache at all to leveling the camper."

In all, there are 28 camp spaces, and a small group campground separate from the others.

"We have a nice operation here," Fran says, "and we like it small, the way it is. I know there are a lot of operations that are bigger than ours, and I don't worry about that. We want to be the very best small operation. That keeps us plenty busy."

The fact that the campground is adjacent to the Shawnee is, as mentioned earlier, a major plus. Horseback riders seeking to enjoy the forest's trails make up a large part of its clientele. "We have quite a few deer hunters, too," Fran says, "and we have a couple of small rental campers that are especially popular with them.

"It's interesting to see the difference between horseback riders and deer hunters," she continues, "because riders will come here; if they like it, they'll tell all their friends, and they'll come too. Hunters tend to keep the place their own little secret."

Interestingly, Fran is involved in spreading the word—not just about her campground, but about all the campgrounds and lodging places in the area. "And I'm especially interested in promoting tourism in our area," she adds, "because I think the beauty of this part of the state is one of the best-kept secrets around, and it shouldn't be."

To help end the secrecy surrounding the area's attractions, Fran helped design a brochure for mailing to prospective customers from some 15 states. She adds that while about half her business comes from Illinois, a lot comes from Kentucky and Tennessee. "I've had people from some 15 states," she says, "and some from Canada, too. I'm seeing more and more people from Missouri here."

Since there's some controversy over the use of the national forest trails, Fran is involved in the effort to keep them open for use by horseback riders. "The people who want to close them are uninformed," she remarks, "and they think that the area would be restored to its

OCTOBER 1996 ILLINOIS COUNTRY LIVING 9

Fran in a fairly customary role: she cashiers in the restaurant when she's needed and, she adds, "does just about everything else."

Fran and her manager, Red Jones, on horses prior to taking a riding group out. She quit her job as a university professor to open Bay Creek Ranch, while Jones had tired of the trucking business. She notes that she's "working harder than ever."

pristine condition if the trails were closed. That's not true. The area isn't pristine, and it hasn't been for years. If you'll look at a 1917 Quad map of this area, you'll find that there were little farms, sawmills, mines, homes, schools and churches all over the place." At any rate, Congressman Glenn Poshard asked for information on the impact riders have on the economy of the area, and the Equestrian Trail Review Committee did a survey. "They found that the average amount spent by riders came to about $60 a day," she says, "compared to the $12 spent by hikers and $25 a day spent by bicyclists. They also found that 70 percent of the riders fell into the 35-65 age group, and are relatively affluent. "They found that there was about one-half million dollars brought into this area annually from other places," Fran says, "and that's not bad. And it is, I hope, paving the way for some new infrastructure construction that will help build a bigger tourist trade for the future.

"And we're not talking about people who abuse the wilderness. These are conscientious people who care about the condition of the area. In fact, I'm involved in an 'Adopt-a-Trail' program with Shawnee National Forest. We go in and clean out all the old couches and refrigerators and other appliances that people dump out there. I like to think we're pretty environmentally friendly."

If you'd like more information, you can write to Bay Creek Ranch at RR 1 Box 189, Simpson, IL 62985. The phone number is (618)695-2670.

10 ILLINOIS COUNTRY LIVING OCTOBER 1996