Effingham Visit

July 30, 2012

We lived in Effingham, Illinois for 11 years prior to moving to northern Illinois, plus we have a daughter, son in law, and grandson (Sean) that live in this area.  So, this gives us a chance to connect with some old friends and family.

We are staying at Camp Lakewood in Effingham.  The camp ground is located on a small lake, Lake Pauline, and is mostly shaded and all gravel. The shade is good because it offers some relief from the heat, but it is bad because acorns and leaves fall of the slide tops and can cause problems when retracting the slides.  The campground is almost all gravel and that's good when it rains as there is no mud to contend with.  But, it is also bad because it makes the campground look like a large parking lot.

Here's our campsite number 7A.

As you can see from the above photo, we have a view of a fence when looking out of the large window in the back of our 5th wheel, and we can't see the lake from our site.  All of the lake view sites that would accommodate our rig were taken when we arrived.  Later, we would move to another site with a beautiful view of the lake.

I had lunch with some of the people that I worked with at Fedders (Tom, Jill, and Mark).  We discussed the old days and got caught up on what everyone is doing now. 

We also had a nice visit with the first couple we met when we first moved here in 1995, Bob and Vicki.  they have three sons, one is the same age as our son, Kobie, and one is a year younger.  So, we were involved in many sports activities together.  We also got together a few times with Bob and Carol for a walk, meals, and games.

August 6, 2012

Finally a lake view spot opened up and we moved to site 21.  Check out these pictures.

Camper Kallie.

Here's a shot of what we see looking out of our back window now!

Here's another shot of Lake Pauline

Our next stop is probably going to be Lake Carlyle about 60 miles south of Effingham.  More on that later.



Starved Rock and a Party

Friday, July 27, 2012

We arrived at Hickory Hollow Campground, Utica, Illinois, early afternoon.  Hickory Hollow is located just north of I80 about 2 miles from Starved Rock State Park.  This is not our real destination; but, it is the closest good campground we could find near our real destination.  More on that later.  It was a nice campground with 50 amp service so we were very comfortable during our stay.

Here's our site at Hickory Hollow

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Since we are this close to Starved Rock State Park, we decided to visit the park and hike a couple of trails before it got too hot.  We chose a couple of short trails because our time here was limited.  We had to get ready in the early afternoon for the real reason we are in the area . 

The first trail we hiked was to the top of starved rock.  It's only .3mile from the visitor center and has lots of steps to climb.  Starved Rock is 125 foot sandstone butte overlooking the Illinois River.  It derives its name from a Native American legend dating back to the 1760's when the Potawatomi Indians chased the Illiniweck Indians up to the top of this 125 foot butte.  Eventually, the Potawatomi kept them trapped atop the butte until the Illiniweck ran out of food and starved to death.  Hence, the name Starved Rock.

After some huffing and puffing (from Kallie, not me!) we made it to the top of the Rock.  When I was here years ago, there was no observation deck like there is now.  It seemed like somebody was falling off the Rock every year.

Here we are at the overlook on top of Starved Rock.

We had time for one more trail.  So, we walked the French Canyon which is slightly longer than the first trail.  Some of the rock surfaces had a little sand on them making them rather slippery.  We had to watch our footing and actually slid in a few places.  This makes for an interesting walk with Kitty.  There were several other dogs on the trail that held Kallie's interest and made for some interesting close encounters during our walk.

Kitty and Kallie in French Canyon

Now, the real reason we are here is to attend a surprise birthday party for my friend and college room mate, Doug Baker.  His girl friend, Pam, organized the surprise at Doug's house and several college friends attended.  It was really good to see some old friends and have some quality time to chat.  It was equally good to see the look on Doug's face as folks started strolling into the party.  You only turn 65 once!

We leave Utica, Illinois, Monday and will head to Effingham, Illinois, to hook up with some friends and family.  That's coming up next.

Surfs UP!

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Once again our plan to have coffee on the beach was spoiled by the weather.  More rain, but it didn't last long and the rain we had last night was enough to lift the fire burn.  Of course, we just stocked up on food that doesn't need to be grilled.  Oh well, I am sure we'll eat it all anyway.

This morning was cool and there is a nice breeze at the campsite.  But, down on the beach, the wind must be at least 30 mph.

Here's a shot of the surf today.

Kitty's looking for a surf board!

Taking advantage of the cool morning, we took a couple of walks knowing that it was going to get hot this afternoon. 

After lunch, we had to run into town for a few things and the temperature was 98 degrees in Zion. It wasn't much better at the campsite at 94 degrees.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Well, so much for having coffee on the beach.  Once again we woke up to dark clouds and spitting rain.  I got this shot between rain drops early this morning.

Here's a shot later in the day.  The white dot in the center of the picture is a sail boat.



  

We walked the beach trail several times today and drove to the south end of the park.  Not much happening there.

Tomorrow, we are heading to Hickory Hollow Campground in Utica, Illinois.  There's a bit of a surprise about to happen there.  Stay tuned.





Heading to Lake Michigan

Monday, July 23,  2012

I called Collier RV in the morning to see if the slide topper we ordered had arrived.  The topper arrived, but the brackets did not.   The topper was promised to arrive last week and we were leaving the area.  So, I told them to cancel the order.

We packed up the 5th wheel in short order.  The weather was getting hotter by the minute and we wanted to head somewhere reasonably close that might provide some relief.  Kitty had some errands to run, so I dumped the holding tanks and Kallie and I headed to Illinois Beach State Park about 70 miles from Rockford, Illinois. Kitty was about 15 minutes behind us in the car.

Our camping spot looks like a converted parking lot.  But, the roads are all paved (no dust) and we are about 100 yards from Lake Michigan.  There is a sand dune and protected area between our site and the shore line.  But, we get a nice breeze from the lake and the temperature at our site is somewhat lower because of the lake effect.  The temperature on the beach feels at least ten to fifteen degrees cooler and provides a nice relief from the heat.

Here,s our site.

We love to walk the beach, feel that cool breeze from the water and listen to the surf.  Here Kallie and I are on the beach trail.

Here's Kitty with the sunset in the background.

Here's another wild animal showing us her backside.  First the turkeys at Rock Cut, then Kallie, now this.  Sheesh!

She wasn't one bit afraid of us.

There was a nice breeze and the water was calm today.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Our plan was to get up early and have our morning coffee on the beach.  But, the weather man had other ideas, and we woke up to rain and thunder.  Even though it spoiled our plans, we were glad for the rain.  This area is so dry the campground has a fire ban.  You can not have a campfire or use a gas grill.  So, we had to change some of our cooking plans.

Here's a shot of the swimming beach area.

We drove a few miles to the far northern end of the park and took this shot at a Marina.

I'll take the one on the left...Kitty, not the boat, silly!

Hopefully, we'll have our coffee on the beach in the morning.  Stay tuned.

Hiking in Rock Cut State Park

July 21, 2012

We extended our stay in Rock Cut State Park waiting for the slide topper we ordered from Collier RV to arrived.  I was assured it would arrive on Monday the 23rd. 

We had some unexpected visitors while we were here.  A rafter of wild turkeys walked through our campsite.  By the time I got the camera and took a picture, all I could get is a shot of their back side.

The hot weather continues and the circuit breaker on the campground electrical box kept popping.  So we notified the campground and they sent someone to our site to have a look.  After reviewing the situation, he decided because the breaker was old and the sun was shinning on the box making it very hot, the fix would be to prop the lid of the box open with a stick.  I love these hi tech solutions when they work.  So far, it's been working fine.

Our friends, Glen and Laura, are also camping at Rock Cut this weekend.  So, we got together with them and decided to walk some of the trails in the park.  Since it is going to be a hot day again, we started early and took a shaded trail from the campground heading east.  The trail went all the way to I90 and then turned south.  We ended up at Lake Peirce.  Here's some pictures.

 L to R: Glen, Tyler, Laura, Kitty, Kallie, Craig

Kallie is impersonating the turkeys showing her back side.

Here's Kitty, Kallie, Craig, and Tyler sitting around the fire after a hard day of hiking!

Collin and Tyler

July 22, 2012

Sunday morning Rich and Jean stopped by for a nice visit.  After solving all of the worlds problems, we had lunch at the RV and said our good-byes until next year.  Later that afternoon, Kitty and I drove to the Dairy Haus to satisfy our ice cream fix, one last time, before leaving the area.

Monday we will find out if the slide topper was delivered to Collier RV and we'll head east to Lake Michigan.  Stay tuned.

Slide Topper and Rock Cut

July 17, 2012

We are out of the RV before six am so Collier RV can start repairing the black water valve and toilet.  Due to the hot weather, the Collier Service Department starts working at six am.  We slept well, but didn't have time to eat breakfast.  So, the first order of business is to figure out where to eat and what we do with Kallie while we are eating.

Well, you'll never guess where we went to eat breakfast.  Who has the best breakfast around?  Cracker Barrel does, and it's only a few blocks away.  Leaving the truck and 5th at Colliers, we took our car and head to Cracker Barrel for breakfast and COFFEE!  We left Kallie in the car with the engine running and the AC on.  Even though it's early, the temperature was climbing fast and we didn't want to risk Kallie getting overheated.

After breakfast, we scouted out possible camp sites at Sugar River campground.  Sugar River is a county owned campground that we enjoyed camping at last year.  But, after checking it out, we found it had new campground hosts and dirty rest rooms.  The dirty rest rooms are not acceptable, so we decided we would camp at Rock Cut State Park when the RV repairs were finished.

We picked up the 5th wheel shortly after noon and decided to order a slide topper for the curb side slide.  A slide topper is like an awning that rolls in and out with the slide.  It keeps debris from trees and water from collecting on top of the slide.  We had some trouble with this slide leaking and a slide topper should correct those issues, and Collier's said they could have the slide topper parts delivered the next day.  So, we said "Let's do it!"

July 18, 2012
We checked with Collier RV and found out the slide topper did not arrive as planned.  We had already booked our stay at Rock Cut for three nights figuring something would probably go wrong.  We weren't too happy about the fact that we guessed right.

Here's our site at Rock Cut State Park.

July 19, 2012

With high hopes of getting the slide topper installed today, I called Collier RV late morning.  "We are sorry Mr. Simmons, the slide topper did not come in.  We are checking on it".

July 20, 2012

Another call to Collier RV, and the same answer.  This time I told them if the topper does not ship today, please cancel the order.  We didn't plan on hanging around here this long and need to get on our way.  We have places to go, people to see, and things to do!

The next blog will cover a hike we took in Rock Cut with some friends and we'll tell you about the out come of the slide topper.

Returning Sean and RV Repairs

July 2, 2012

Sean was such a great traveler and excellent helper, we debated whether or not to take him home.  We could tell Kristi, "Oh...gee, we just forgot.  Maybe we'll get him home some time next week, or month, or year".  But, after careful consideration, we decided to return him to his home.  He was a great help and has been trained by the best (Kitty and Craig) and will be a great RV'er!

Leaving the 5th wheel at Pine Country (dust bowl), we headed out late morning, stopped at a car wash near Rockford  to get the dust off of the car, then headed south on I39.  After driving for a couple of hours, it suddenly struck Kitty that we forgot Kallie's dog food.  Oops... she requires special dog food and we can not use just any old dog food.  After all, she's not just any old dog either.  So, while I am driving, Kitty is frantically searching the Internet for Kallie's dog food.  She found a store in Mattoon (on the way) and called them to be sure they had it and would be open by the time we got there.  They confirmed they had the dog food and would be open long enough for us to get there.  Whew! Kallie breathed a sigh of relief!

We finally got Sean home.  Kristi and Scott were glad to see him again.  For Sean, it was going to be a short time at home.  He was leaving in two days for Florida.  This kid is logging some serious miles this summer!

July 4, 2012
We are still in central Illinois and it's another scorcher outside!  Not only is it triple digit hot, but it is very dry.  That's a bad combination for fireworks.  In fact, many towns cancelled their fireworks.  We stayed in Kristi & Scott's house and watched the fireworks on TV.

July 5, 2012 through July 15, 2012
We are leaving central Illinois and returning back to the dust bowl in Belvidere, Illinois.  Yep, it's still dusty here.  We really need some rain.  It makes you want to do a rain dance! 

We had a lot of errands to run and folks to visit.  Most of the time it was too hot to plan much outside.  So, we used this time to get some inside stuff done.  The 5th wheel has a leaky black water valve (not good), and the toilet won't hold water. Fixing a black water (sewage) valve and leaky toilets are not in my job description.  So, we made an appointment to have the repairs made on Monday, the 16th, since our reservation were up and we had to leave Pine Country anyway. 

July 16, 2012
We are up early getting the 5th wheel ready to take to Collier RV Center in Rockford about 15 miles away.  Our appointment was 10:30 am.  We actually arrived at 10 am.  We packed some chairs and a cooler of drinks and drove our car to Rock Cut State park while the 5th wheel repairs were being made... or so we thought.

It's a hot day and we are sitting beside Pierce Lake at Rock Cut State Park, reading and enjoying the water.  Even though we had a nice breeze, today was going to be another hot one.  By mid afternoon, we were worn out from the heat.  The breeze was still blowing, but by now it was a hot breeze with no cooling effect.  We called Collier RV to find out if the repairs were done, we needed to get out of this stinking heat!  "Oh, Sorry Mr. Simmons, your repairs won't be done until the morning".  Now where do we stay.  The 5th wheel is our only home.

Well, Collier RV, like most large RV service centers, has spots in their parking lot with electrical hook ups just for such occasions.  So, we would spend the night in the Collier RV parking lot.  Hey, this ain't too bad.  Number one, it's free!  Number one again, they have  50 amp electric boxes so we can run both AC units.  Boy, I am feeling cooler already.  They also had a security guy patrol the parking lot all night long. Did I mention the parking lot is paved... there's no dust!  Running both AC's, no dust and it's free, where can you beat that!  Ah, Mr. Collier, can we stay here for a week or two?

On the down side, we had to be out of the RV by 6 am.  Due to the extreme heat, the service department starts work at 6 am.

Here we are all set up in the Collier RV parking lot.

The next blog will let you know how this worked out and what we did next.