Late afternoon we cross the Ohio River to Santa Claus, IN – Lake Rudolph RV Resort. This (very large and highly-rated) campground is near an amusement park and a water park, but all is quiet now. Before we go to bed, Susie hears a mouse trap snap. Sure enough, it worked. We hope that’s the only mouse, but we set traps again. We have some hard rain and then it rains all night. No TV reception here; also no wi-fi internet access where we are parked (memo to self: when checking in ask for a spot with good wi-fi reception.). I discover that we can get wi-fi at a picnic shelter on higher ground, closer to the office, so we try to watch Dancing With The Stars there via internet. All we get, however, is stuff from the previous night. Somehow couldn’t get set up to stream it live. Camping life on the road is tough.
Wednesday we’re heading for NW IL – Reagan country. About 400 miles to go, Magellan has laid out an interstate route, which is OK with me for the sake of time, but Magellan doesn’t know the on-ramp to I-64 is closed and the alternate route sign can’t be read – due to wind and rain (Oh, the dreadful wind and rain – that’s a line in a folk song about a beautiful young woman who is murdered and her body parts are later used to make a fiddle) which has made the sign unreadable. So we just keep going north and work our way up the SW side of IN before crossing into IL at Terre Haute. This has taken us through really beautiful country and we’re glad for the closed on-ramp that put us on highways instead of interstates. Susie shoots this courthouse on the fly.
One intersection points to French Lick, IN, so that leads to a few minutes of thinking about Larry Bird, as does Terre Haute, home of IN State U, where he played. Also brings Bob King to mind who coached there after coaching at UNM. We find a place for lunch just down the street from this courthouse in T-H.
Illinois’s flatness always impresses me. On this route we see a few hills, slightly rolling country, but not enough to revise my impression. I think there must be a statistical way to measure and compare the flatness of states, but I haven’t pursued that yet. Now we’re on interstates. Incidentally, the weather has turned cool – 60s now mid-day vs. 80s two days earlier in TN. Windy, too.
We go by Bloomington, IL, home of Colonel Henry Blake of MASH. Last year, we were disappointed that Ottumwa, IA didn’t honor Radar O’Reilly, didn’t even acknowledge him(!) except on a wall of an Applebee’s (we were told), so I’m not even going to check for any Col. Blake tribute here. Couldn’t take another shattering disappointment.
With a little bit of difficulty (we're routed off the highway through a residential area with low-hanging branches, but we persist), Magellan gets us to the Yogi Bear campground. However, it’s closed when we get there. Usually late arrivals can just pick a site and pay in the morning. Here there’s a barrier across the entry. There is an emergency number posted, so I call that and a maintenance guy shows up and lets us in and we settle in. There’s been no mouse evidence today and no traps go off overnight, so it looks like we just had a solo traveler.
Yogi Bear campgrounds – we’ve stayed at two now -- are summer resorts: several hundred sites, most of them occupied by year-round mobile homes, “park models” (cottages on a mobile home frame), camping trailers, and a few motor homes. Decks, porches, and landscaping have been added. There’s a lake, swimming pools, game rooms, miniature golf, etc. People spend summer weekends and vacations at their wheeled, but immobile, summer homes at these resorts. Like this one:
The Yogi campground we’re in is near Amboy, Illinois. Susie says as she lay in bed it came to her that town and state rhyme. Fascinating.
Lakeside culture is a big part of Midwest life. Often you see lakes ringed with summer homes and cabins. Yogi Bear resorts are trailerized versions of that. Right now, not many people are here, but there’s lots of work going on getting ready for Memorial Day weekend when I’m sure the crowds will materialize and the busy season will start. Oh, the wi-fi is not strong enough to use at our site. I wonder if I should have parked elsewhere, but the next morning I’m told that a wire got cut or something, so wi-fi is not available. This is delaying our blog-posting and I’m sure many of you have been wondering when will the next post appear. Hope the wait was worth it.
Wednesday we’re heading for NW IL – Reagan country. About 400 miles to go, Magellan has laid out an interstate route, which is OK with me for the sake of time, but Magellan doesn’t know the on-ramp to I-64 is closed and the alternate route sign can’t be read – due to wind and rain (Oh, the dreadful wind and rain – that’s a line in a folk song about a beautiful young woman who is murdered and her body parts are later used to make a fiddle) which has made the sign unreadable. So we just keep going north and work our way up the SW side of IN before crossing into IL at Terre Haute. This has taken us through really beautiful country and we’re glad for the closed on-ramp that put us on highways instead of interstates. Susie shoots this courthouse on the fly.
One intersection points to French Lick, IN, so that leads to a few minutes of thinking about Larry Bird, as does Terre Haute, home of IN State U, where he played. Also brings Bob King to mind who coached there after coaching at UNM. We find a place for lunch just down the street from this courthouse in T-H.
Illinois’s flatness always impresses me. On this route we see a few hills, slightly rolling country, but not enough to revise my impression. I think there must be a statistical way to measure and compare the flatness of states, but I haven’t pursued that yet. Now we’re on interstates. Incidentally, the weather has turned cool – 60s now mid-day vs. 80s two days earlier in TN. Windy, too.
We go by Bloomington, IL, home of Colonel Henry Blake of MASH. Last year, we were disappointed that Ottumwa, IA didn’t honor Radar O’Reilly, didn’t even acknowledge him(!) except on a wall of an Applebee’s (we were told), so I’m not even going to check for any Col. Blake tribute here. Couldn’t take another shattering disappointment.
With a little bit of difficulty (we're routed off the highway through a residential area with low-hanging branches, but we persist), Magellan gets us to the Yogi Bear campground. However, it’s closed when we get there. Usually late arrivals can just pick a site and pay in the morning. Here there’s a barrier across the entry. There is an emergency number posted, so I call that and a maintenance guy shows up and lets us in and we settle in. There’s been no mouse evidence today and no traps go off overnight, so it looks like we just had a solo traveler.
Yogi Bear campgrounds – we’ve stayed at two now -- are summer resorts: several hundred sites, most of them occupied by year-round mobile homes, “park models” (cottages on a mobile home frame), camping trailers, and a few motor homes. Decks, porches, and landscaping have been added. There’s a lake, swimming pools, game rooms, miniature golf, etc. People spend summer weekends and vacations at their wheeled, but immobile, summer homes at these resorts. Like this one:
The Yogi campground we’re in is near Amboy, Illinois. Susie says as she lay in bed it came to her that town and state rhyme. Fascinating.
Lakeside culture is a big part of Midwest life. Often you see lakes ringed with summer homes and cabins. Yogi Bear resorts are trailerized versions of that. Right now, not many people are here, but there’s lots of work going on getting ready for Memorial Day weekend when I’m sure the crowds will materialize and the busy season will start. Oh, the wi-fi is not strong enough to use at our site. I wonder if I should have parked elsewhere, but the next morning I’m told that a wire got cut or something, so wi-fi is not available. This is delaying our blog-posting and I’m sure many of you have been wondering when will the next post appear. Hope the wait was worth it.
Cheers,
Rob and Susie
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