Visiting RV Friends in Illinois…

Our next stop on our way to North Carolina was a small diversion south to visit RV friends in Newton Illinois. The drive on the back roads of Illinois was a bit rough but we came through it unscathed and eventually found our way to Mike and BJ’s farm near Newton. Mike was there to greet us and to position us in front of his barn.

After hugs and greetings we hooked up to electricity, water and sewer… That’s right! We had full hookups at their farm. How sweet is that! We plan to stay two days but will keep an eye on the weather as we are in the mid-west and weather can change in an instant.

Mike and BJ built a small cabin adjacent to their farm. Why would they do this? Well there is a pond on the property so they figured building a cabin in the shade of the trees near the water would be a nice place to be in the afternoon and evening. Kind of like a getaway right next door. It is amazing because it does feel like a getaway while sitting on the porch enjoying the breeze  watching the water and sipping an adult beverage .

While we didn’t do a whole lot but relax and eat a lot of great food, it sure was exceptionally nice to sit around and chat with our friends. We built a nice camp fire nightly and one thing I loved about the cabin was sitting on its front porch staring out over the fire to the pond… very serene. Another bonus was the cabin has lots of fishing poles set up and ready to use. This allowed me to partake in one of my passions as I fished everyday we were there and caught a lot of crappie and bluegill as well as a few large mouth bass. What fun!

The day we were supposed to leave it was raining and rain was in the forecast for most of the day all the way to our planned next stop in Indianapolis. So we stayed one more day and called a campground in Indianapolis only to find it booked for the upcoming Indianapolis pre-season football game. We will have to find alternate plans while inside our RV this rainy day which will be perfect for planning our next move.

As luck would have it by us staying one more day we were able to also see more RV friends as they were back from Florida and came over to the cabin for dinner and drinks. It was great catching up with Diane and Steve even though we won’t see them on the road anymore since they recently sold their RV and bought a place in The Villages in Florida. It was interesting to learn about the villages through their experiences. Sharon wants to visit to see what it is like firsthand.

Finally the next morning we had good weather and pushed on to a longer than normal distance as we drove about 260 miles (normally takes us three days to drive this far). We pulled into Rising Star Casino RV Park for a one night stay. We enjoyed their really nice park and the pool/gym/spa facilities accessible to us as guests. We were only there one night then moved over to Cincinnati, Ohio for a three night stay at the FMCA campground.

NOTE: We are now at the FMCA Campground in Cincinnati Ohio. We will stop for one o more night in Ohio before crossing the state of West Virginia…

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…