Springfield, IL and Brown County State Park in Nashville, IN

Springfield, Illinois

After leaving Iowa we stopped over in Springfield, Illinois.  It was on our route to The Ark Encounter so decided to stop and visit some of the Lincoln things.  Originally, we were going to spend three nights so we had a couple of days to see the sights but due to poor traveling weather, we spent an extra day in Iowa waiting out storms.  We weren’t able to see all we had planned on but that was okay.  We found a very nice campground, the Double J, just south of Springfield and went to see the only home Lincoln ever owned along with all the old homes surrounding his that have all been restored.  We also had time to go through the Lincoln Museum.  These were all fun and interesting to see.  The have done a beautiful job restoring Lincoln’s home back to it’s original status.  They were even able to have the same wallpaper made and figured out the original color or the outside paint.  Many of the furnishings were also original including the stove in the kitchen.  All the beds had pots under them as there was no indoor plumbing.  The outhouse in the back yard had three seats in it!  LOL.  Not sure I can imagine sharing in one of those!  While going through the house I could only imagine how challenging it was to live in those times with all the amenities we have today.   We are definitely a spoiled society!  Springfield is definitely a place to visit.  I would recommend two days to see the sights. 

Brown County State Park

We spent three nights in Brown County State Park in Nashville, IN and just resting.  The drive here was bright and sunny – finally no rain!  For the most part, very uneventful.  All John was going to have to do when we arrived was plug in the power as there was no water or sewer at the sites.  What was supposed to be a quick hookup turned into a much longer ordeal.  After topping off our fresh water holding tank at a water station we backed into our spot which was not level.  Side to side we were good but front to back was WAY off.  John tried to build up blocks for us to back onto with what he had and we got the leveling jacks down.  BUT when we tried to push out one of the long slides it groaned and groaned.  It was the last of three slides to put out.  We finally realized that we had probably gotten the RV twisted and that meant pulling them all in and starting completely over if we wanted to drive off the blocks.  The RV won’t allow you to put it in gear if the slides are out.  UGH!  We were able to lift the back up high enough with the leveling jacks to pull the blocks out and get less of them under there evenly on both sides.  Then we raised the jacks and started over to relevel the until.  We prayed that when we left on Wednesday the slide would come in without problems and it did.  The joys of RVing!

 

This park is 16,000 acres and stunning.  There are several vistas looking out over miles of treed land.  The roads through the park are narrow and heavily treed.  There are miles of trails for bikes as well as hiking trails, a nature center, huge pool, cabins, lodge, restaurant, nature center, camp store and lots and lots of camping sites.  There are also two lakes in the park and one has a pretty waterfall.  Both lakes have a hiking trail all around them.  You could easily spend several days in this location. 

Visiting Maggie's Son in Lansing, Iowa

After leaving Branson we headed toward Lansing, Iowa with a one-night stop over in Canton, Missouri.  We absolutely loved our night in Canton at the City of Canton Mississippi River Park.  This is a tiny city park right at the edge of the river with 23 cement pads and full hookups.  They can all accommodate large rigs.  There are no amenities here but for $20 a night what would you expect?  But there really are amenities.  There is the peacefulness of the river flowing just feet away from your RV and it is located immediately outside Lock and Dam #20.  Some would think this would be very loud but it’s actually very quiet.  Numerous towboats with their barges went through in the few hours we were there.  It seemed to take about an hour for them as they all had to separate half of their barges to work their way through the lock.  It was so quiet you could hear some of the crew talking among themselves on the front of the barges when approaching the lock.  There was an area you could walk to right up by the lock to get a closer look.  The noisy part was the train that was on our back side – we were sandwiched between it and the river.  At least the trains didn’t honk their horns when they came by but I noticed that I woke up a bit each time one came through at night although I went right back to sleep.  We never heard any river traffic at all while sleeping.  We found this stop to be a special treat.

The following day we headed to Lansing and only about 45 minutes into the drive it started to rain and kept raining nearly the entire trip.  Until we got to the edge of the storm, it was just rain and no wind.  As we passed through Oelwein going north the rain let up but both of us noticed that it was quite windy yet we weren’t really feeling it in the motorhome, which seemed odd.  We then turned east and almost immediately we were slammed from the rear with very strong wind that started to unfurl our large awning.  John was able to pull onto the shoulder but when I opened the door to check the awning, the door was nearly whipped out of my hand.  I had all I could do to hang onto it with both hands and get it closed.  The awning seemed to be in but I just held my finger on the “in” button hoping that would work as we continued to get pounded by the wind.  We could see a small town just a quarter mile up the road so John very slowly crawled forward with the motorhome hoping to find a wind break from some of the buildings, which he did.  There was a long area to pull over just into town.  We have a vent on our roof that has a big cover over it to protect it from damage and the wind had somehow sucked that vent wide open as well and yet it didn’t pull that cover off it.  We ordered awning clamps and installed them while we were in Iowa.  They should stop the wind from pulling it out while driving.

We had a great visit with Maggie’s son, Chad while in Lansing, IA.  Besides visiting and playing games, we took some road trips to see the area.  Lansing is right on the Mississippi River so we drove along it through La Crosse, WI to head to Rochester, MN – Maggie’s hometown.  Chad was born there but never lived there so we were able to show him all the places his Mom lived and went to schoo

l.  The city has changed a lot since we were last here, especially the Mayo Clinic.  There are so many more large buildings there now that are all part of the Mayo complex.  We wondered what is in all of them. 

We also took a road trip to Wabasha, MN.  This beautiful small town is only 45 miles from Rochester and also right on the Mississippi.  While growing up, Maggie’s family had a houseboat and ski boat that they kept at a marina in Wabash and spent many weekends anchored on sand beaches along the river there.  The town has changed quite a bit.  There are beautiful homes built right along the river and the old downtown has been kept up very nicely.  After checking out the town we headed across the river to the Wisconsin side and followed it down where we could cross back into Winona, MN.  There were several small river towns along the way and the town of Alma was really quaint and kept up.  In Winona we stopped to eat at the Ground Round so Maggie could get some batter fried walleye.  She couldn’t come this far north and not eat walleye.  This is not a fish we can find in Oklahoma.  Then we drove back down to Lansing along the river.  The Mississippi is really beautiful this far north.  It’s expansive with acres and acres of backwater which I’m sure is great for fishing.  John was dreaming of having a airboat to cruise around all those backwaters in.  Back in Lansing John found a veteran’s park on top of a large bluff that overlooks the Mississippi.  You could see for miles.  One thing we noticed while up north was the wonderful, green, soft grass.  Everybody keeps their yards mowed, even in the country where the yards are extremely large.  They mow it all and it is so pretty to look at while driving.  John said he could easily spend summers here. 

Summer Travels Have Begun

We rolled into June and completely skipped Spring here in Oklahoma.  After having the 2^nd coldest April on record and the 2^nd hottest May on record and a feel like temp of 115 deg on June 2nd we looked forward to finally hitting the road and heading north.  We are very excited about being able to travel again.

On June 7^th we headed for Branson, MO to spend time with friends we haven’t seen in over a year.  We met them during our first winter in Rockport, TX.  It was a long day on the road.  We ran into significant storms as we approached Seminole, OK and had to wait them out a bit before heading east on I-40.  Poor April hit the trifecta of terror – storms with wind and very loud thunder, riding in the RV and the windshield wipers were running.  She was a wreck but with some Lorazapam, Zen treats and noise cancelling ear muffs she finally settled down.  Once we were out of the storms life greatly improved for her.  We also encountered about 60 miles of very curvy and hilly driving on highway 412 in Arkansas. 

While we have been in Branson we saw Samson at the Sight and Sound Theater and loved it.  Their special effects are amazing and they presented the gospel.  Then we connected with our friends and enjoyed a dinner cruise on the Branson Belle.  The boat, food and entertainment was lots of fun and we had great seats.  We also checked out the College of the Ozarks.  This is a small 4-year college where the students attend for free.  They work all over the campus to pay for their tuition and in the summer they have the ability to work off their room and board as well.  There is a wonderful museum there that is a must see.  They even have the original car used for the filming of the Beverly Hillbillies.  The campus chapel is like a magnificent cathedral with beautiful stained glass windows.  They also have a restaurant, bakery and creamery but didn’t get to experience them.  There was much more to see then we had time for so we have something to return to on our next visit.  Then we enjoyed a Christian musician leading a gospel singing at the Treasure Lake RV Park on our last evening with our friends.  We spent our last day relaxing and taking in the movie, Solo.  A great visit and we look forward to returning.

 

God has blessed us beyond measure while we’ve had to sit tight in Oklahoma the past 10-11 months.  Everything from providing us with a new doctor that specializes in John’s type of cancer to some new treatments for it as well as getting all the repairs and maintenance done on the RV which included insurance agreeing to pay for a very expensive windshield.  John’s insurance changed and has a very high deductible and yet a company stepped in an agreed to cover our out of pocket expenses for his high-priced injections which nearly eliminated our portion of our total out of pocket expense.  We joined a church and have made some wonderful new friends who are great prayer warriors.  Also, doors were opened to allow us to pay it forward to others in a variety of ways.  It was certainly a time to refresh both physically and spiritually.

At the end of May John underwent a series of scans to see if his injections are doing what they are supposed to and they are.  There are no new carcinoid tumors and the large one in his liver has decreased in size.  Praise the Lord! 

Tomorrow we head to Iowa to see Maggie’s son, Chad and plan to spend a week at the Red Barn Resort in Lansing, IA.  Keep us in your prayers as we travel for the summer and we wish all of you a wonderful and safe summer as well.