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The heavens were pouring down on us the morning we broke camp at Mark Twain Cave. At 7:00 all weather apps said it would clear at 9. I did everything I could do in the rig without getting wet, but it looked like it was not going to stop at 9. I put on my raincoat and crocs and went and disconnected the landlines, including sewer. Not a fun thing to do anytime, and certainly not in the pouring rain. So, what happened next? Of course, the rain stopped. I left when I was ready to get gas; it was about $.15 cheaper/gallon in MO than in IL, $80 filled me up. The rain was moving east and so were we. I72 was a great road, nice pavement, no potholes or big cracks. And is Illinois flat?!! Not many fields were turned in yet or planted, but they seemed to be corn. Occasionally we passed a moderate sized grain elevator and large silos. After 80 miles we arrived at Buena Vista Farm campground in Clinton, IL, about 40 miles west of Springfield. Not many campgrounds in this area, and the ones in Springfield got bad reviews. Consensus was stay at this
campground and just drive the 40 miles for the Lincoln experience and grin and bear it. We took a short ride to Jacksonville, a very small kind of depressed town, just to get gas in Ginnie’s towed car. We did not even a place that we would stop for dinner.
This campground is also filled with construction workers. About 100 sites, water, electric, sewer and maybe 20 long timers. There seems to be some full timers in another area. About 30 air antenna channels. Wifi hotspots to far away to use, but the biggest pain was no Verizon, I showed 1 bar at Extended network. I could make phone calls out with difficulty, but no phone calls or txt msgs reached me. Google maps did not work. Facebook opened to yesterday’s postings. Ugh. Tough being away from technology. These construction workers seem a younger group than those we saw at Cahokia. They drive nice trucks and their rigs are mostly nice, but small, 5
th wheels. ON THE OTHER HAND, they have been here a while and the weeds are starting to invade. One rig in particular has a bottle of car wash and a bucket sitting outside, with weeds
Street view in front of house
Kind of reminds me of Williamsburg growing up around it, and the empty cardboard box their new sewer hose came in a month ago that has suffered thru a few rainstorms and dissolved into the gravel. the rig directly across from me has an old RV refrigerator sitting on its gravel driveway. That is so wrong, as Kim says. The owner has a big truck, he certainly could move it himself to the dump or recycle. All this stuff should be picked up. The price of this campground is $35/night. The rate we booked here as listed in one of our discount books was $28/night; we were told they don’t honor that discount any more, and the rate was $35 for Thursday night and $46 for Friday night. I think very high for where we are and what we get. Something about supply and demand, I guess. There is nothing else to choose from, so you pay the going price. Ginnie negotiated us down to $325 for each night. Still, very expensive for what we got. One gentleman came over to see my rig, he had never seen a Winnebago Vista before. He’s 73 years old. He retired from nursing at age 60, bought his RV
and started to live the life. Then he met a travelling nurse, and he decided to try it out and has been working at it for 12 years now. He stays 6-12 months in one place, all in the middle and southwestern states. When he tires of a location he calls his agency and moves on. I did not ask him what type of nurse he is…..73 and working almost full time. As a nurse. Whew.
Out at 9 for our ride to Springfield and the Lincoln Experience. $2/h to pay to park at the National Park Visitor Center, even for handicap. The worker with disabilities told me he even has to pay for handicap parking, but if you have the Senior pass, it’s half price. I couldn’t be bothered going back to the car to retrieve the receipt I had to leave on the dashboard. The tour and walking the grounds was free. 4 stamps. We signed up for the 10:30 tour, visited the gift shop and bought the $4 sticker for the side of Moya and off for the tour. Our ranger was a delight, retired military, worked at teaching, then got this job. Very knowledgeable about
the house, the furniture, and Lincoln in general. In my words……..The state of Illinois was managing the Lincoln homestead, but not well, (Illinois has not had a state budget in 783 days now.) Traffic was ruining the roadways, the house and surrounding houses were decaying. The National Park Service came in, restored the buildings and created the National Park during the Nixon era. It looks very much like Williamsburg, except a different time period. They did an excellent job of hiding the businesses outside of the historical area. There were lots of school groups present, but they really didn’t bother us. The tours are kept separate very nicely. The 23 minute movie in the visitors center was a great overview of Lincoln’s time in Springfield as lawyer, Congressman, almost Senator, and his election to President.
We tried to at least say we saw the Lincoln Library, but somehow, we kept going around the wrong block and missed it.
Kim knew of a Frank Lloyd Wright architected house right around the corner; that was our next stop. The Dana-Thomas house is an Illinois State Historic Site showcasing his praire style of architecture reflecting the owners personality and the flat
prairie of the area. Free to get in, (Groupon not offered, laugh) but donations happily accepted. The 8 minute movie gave us a brief overview of what we would be touring. I am not a FLW fan by a long shot. Too much brown – in the floors, the molding, the furniture, and gold and orange on the walls and ceilings, too many steps, too much repeating the same theme. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable, and made us use our imagination to see what the owner saw when she looked out the windows onto the prairie rather than the office buildings currently in view. The art glass was amazing, each piece reflecting the theme, sumac. The glass looked colored differently when looking from the outside in versus looking from the inside out. 12,000+ square feet of house on a lot 100x300. Railroad tracks go right on the property line and were busy while we were there. This house is believed to contain one of the most intact FLW architectural interiors in the US.
On to view the Lincoln tomb, and we didn’t even get out of the car at the cemetery. Took a picture though.
I have
been craving real cold cuts; all I’ve seen is thick precut slices in plastic tubs in the deli case. When we saw a store called Country Market, I had high hopes, but, no, same thing. Ugh. We bought premade sandwiches, ate in the car, then headed back to the campground.
Ticks. More ticks. My poor Winston. I pulled four off him recently. They weren’t really embedded yet, but hanging on. I had a long talk with my veterinarian. She told me to keep an eye on him. If he was home she would choose an antibiotic and just give him a course of it. She is licensed to practice in Ohio and if I can find a veterinarian clinic there she will call in a prescription for him; otherwise if seemingly healthy, she will give us some antibiotics when we get home. He seems fine, but he is being watched like a hawk. None of the other dogs have gotten any ticks. It is kind of skeevy, as he does sleep on my bed some nights.
Tomorrow is a travel day to a one night stay at a Thousand Trails campground in Indiana. (Thousand Trails is the campground
membership we all use, we all have different degrees of memberships. I pay an annual fee that gives me 30 free nights of camping. I think we will use 8 of those nights within the next 2 weeks.)
Two weeks until the end of our trip! Wow. Went by fast…….
Kat out
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