Raspberry Picking Again

Got up early and out of the house before 6:30, picked up Renee and we went a couple places we had not been yet.  The berries are everywhere and no one has picked them so a lot are drying up on the vines.  My arms have well over 100 scratches and pokes from the thorns but I just keep on making a path to get to them.  I said we needed leathers like the motorcycle riders wear so we would be protected.  I was in such a hurry this morning to get going that I forgot my hat.  The hat is my buddy, protects me from the sun and keeps the ticks out of my head.  Renee and I might go again tomorrow morning.  I just hate to think of all those good berries going to waste.  The majority of the berries we picked today were a lot bigger that we have found so far.  I have my berries in the colander in the sink of water waiting for me to clean them and put them in the freezer until next week when I will can some quarts of raspberry pie filling.
We almost had a "Grandma in Canada" moment but it was Renee and the car keys.  Thank goodness she remembered where she took a pit stop and laid the keys on the ground or we would have been calling Ron to come to our aid.  A "Grandma in Canada" moment has something to do with no facilities for 100 miles and needing to use them so the side of the road would work.  That would have been OK but she took off her glasses and laid them beside where she made a deposit and then remembered it after we got back on the road.  We went back but no one was ever able to find the glasses.
I have decided that we need to find someone who can identify trees and brush of Illinois to go picking with us.  We have seen several kinds of berries and trees that we wish we new what they were.  I tried 3 different kinds of berries today and if any were poisonous they didn't work.  I know what blackberries look like and they will be ripe in several weeks, I think one of the berries I tried were ground berries and the other 2 were small round purple berries.  Both of them tasted good, not bitter.  I'm sure there are so many wonderful plants out there that we could use for something.  Need a botanist ASAP.  :)

Update:  I got 18 cups from today's picking.
Also I forgot to mention, if you go picking with Renee and want all the berries to yourself just spot a snake and mention you saw it and that's all it takes.  Today was the first time I have seen one while picking.  It was a black snake on a bush and it slithered away when I said "Renee, oh never mind".