Illinois – July 1-3, 2012

We hit Illinois fast and furiously – and it fought back. The evening of the 1^st of July, the temp was in the high 90’s at Fisherman’s Corner Recreation Area on the Mississippi River at Hampton, IL. The 2^nd of July saw 106 at 3 PM, when we arrived at the Gun Creek Recreation Area Campground. These two nights are the first time we were wishing we had gone for the second A/C on our RV.

Nice location at Gun Creek - lots of sites on the river, too.

I’ve tried to work on my laptop while we are traveling but the cursor just hangs up and doesn’t move – or if it does, it only moves a few centimeters.  I finally found that if I attached Rich’s mouse to the laptop, I could get it to work, but that’s just too much of a pain while we’re driving down the road.

Diesel is now, way more than regular - $3.63 and $3.19. I liked the UP better (it was lots cooler as well!).

One of several groups of windmills - none moving

The haze here in Illinois surprises me since it is predominately farmland – is it because of the oppressive heat? None of the windmills are moving and it is 87 degrees at 9:30 AM. There are lots of corn fields; in fact, in the country when we drive with the windows down, we can smell the corn plants.

We’re pushing harder than we have been, since we need to get back to Gainesville for our appointment at the RV dealership to get our fresh water tank problem solved before we go to the Smoky’s with Charley and Lizzie later this month. I have to admit – we really enjoyed the laidback travel we had prior to this. 

Rend Lake in southern Illinois

Just passed a sign saying that in Illinois it is a $10,000 fine and 14 years in jail for hitting a road worker. Michigan and Wisconsin had similar punishments as well. Hope it makes folks more careful.

Tomorrow we’ll be traveling through Kentucky and stopping in the Cedar Creek Campground outside Nashville – same place we stopped on our way up. Maybe it will be cooler there!