Enjoying a Boat on Lake Shelbyville, IL with New Friends…

With another weekend looming we were fortunate to find a cancelation near Sullivan Illinois at Bo Woods Campground, a COE park. We snagged three days there, filled up with diesel and drove the short distance southeast through the Illinois corn and soybean fields. When we arrived we found our large site with a slight lake view and set up camp. Man, we love the COE parks as the sites are always spacious and very appealing. Not to mention with the “old farts card” (America the Beautiful senior pass) we also can camp at half-priced rates!

Immediately after we set up I received a notification on RVillage. RVillage is kind of like a Facebook for RV’ers for those not familiar with it. Anyhow Rick and Sonya sent us a private message welcoming us to the area. We have received many of these types of private messages in the past from people in or near the campground after checking in on RVillage… but this one was different.

In this message, Rick and Sonya wanted to know if we would like to go on a boat ride with them since they were close by. How could we turn down such a nice and wonderful offer. So we said sure thereby making a plan to do what we always told our children not to do… go somewhere with complete strangers!

Well they came over to our campsite to get acquainted and chatted with us for a bit over an hour before they suggested we go for the boat ride. What super nice people they are. Locals to the area they grew up around here so they shared lots of stories and laughs with us as we meandered around Lake Shelbyville. Their two Shih Tzu dogs were experienced boaters who jumped in the water to cool off along with us. These two added to the fun because we both love dogs.

At sunset we arrived back at their slip and before we headed home they asked if we wanted to do it again the next day. Why, of course we did! Unfortunately the next day I had a bit of a stomach issue so we cancelled but certainly hope we run into Rick and Sonya again someday. Later that day my “issue” finally cleared up so we drove north so Sharon could checkout where I use to live near Rantoul Ill when I was in the Air Force there.

We toured the Champaign-Urbana area and took a long stroll around the University of Illinois. We have mentioned before how we love touring college campuses and the U of I was a very nice campus with lots of green space and interesting architecture. We stopped in at a local watering hole called the Blind Pig where we had happy hour before heading back to camp.

Our time went by fast and it was once again time to head further south and eastward…

NOTE: We are now at a COE park near Sullivan Ill and will stop to see friends of ours in Newton Illinois next before moving on to Indiana…