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.