Archive for

Change of Plan — Geneseo, IL

One of the Main Street Geneseo Pigs

We tried — really tried — to camp at the site we had reserved at Johnson-Sauk Recreation Area, but after a good hour of trying to jockey our motorhome into our site, it was no dice.

Our site (and many others) was not level and there were culverts on either side of the site.

At one point Jan suggested that we just drive across the entire grass campground to get into our site.

I think that’s when we knew it was time to get another campground.

We lucked out. We were able to find a campground where we could stay over through the upcoming Labor Day weekend.

We celebrated by dining out at a local restaurant . . .

What’s with the pigs?

Starved Rock State Park — Oglesby, IL

After we got back on the road after our road debris encounter, we arrived at Starved Rock State Park on Tuesday afternoon.

However, when we arrived, we couldn’t start our Honda CRV. Dead battery? We even thought we might have towed it with the park brake on. Did we destroy the transmission? We were in a panic. But we were able to get it together and schedule the car to be towed to a local Honda dealer.

So Tuesday ended on a sour note . . . first an RV problem, now the car. Oy veh.

Wednesday I (Tom) spent the morning at the local Honda dealership in Ottawa, but found out that the only thing wrong with our car was a dead battery. So it cost $95 for a charge. Much better than installing a rebuilt transmission. Whew!

But the best Wednesday moment was watching wild turkeys walk next to our RV and through the park.

On Thursday there were no issues with any of our vehicles, but it did rain all morning.

However, after we ate lunch, we were finally able to get out and about . . .

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

NEXT STOP: Johnson-Sauk State Recreation Area

Breakdown on I-80! Film at 10! — South Chicago

And now this . . .

What is this thing?

On our trip to Starved Rock State Park near Oglesby, IL, we hit a massive traffic jam on westbound I-80 south of Chicago.

We made about 5 miles in an hour. Turns out that two semis were involved in an accident ahead of us.

So after an hour or so we passed the accident site and started getting up to freeway speed again. As luck would have it, we ended up behind a wrecker that was hauling away one of the semis.

As we hit freeway speed, a big semi part fell off the wrecker and underneath our RV, and as soon as the part hit us, our Newmar began handling badly. It felt like a flat tire so we pulled over on the side of I-80 — no mean task.

Before & After

After checking underneath, the tires looked fine, but there was a rod hanging down between the rear tires, and the back of our motorhome was low — very low.

The adjusting rod that controls the rear air suspension broke. We had to get it fixed ASAP. Next stop — a local K-Mart parking lot.

We called CoachNet, our road service company, and within an hour a field service tech arrived and had us up and running in half an hour for a “whopping” charge of $121. Whew!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Covert KOA — Covert, MI

Hot Towels

We’ve had to forfeit some creature comforts (space, king bed, enclosed yard for dogs) in order to RV, but we’re discovering others while traveling.

Hot towels after a shower is one of the newest.

Because our tiny Splendide washer/dryer is near the shower, we now throw our towel in the Splendide before showering. The towel is dry when we put it in so it really heats up.

Hot towel after a shower. Nirvana.

NEXT STOP: Starved Rock State Park.

Silver Creek RV Resort — Mears, MI

We didn’t know what to expect from this campground. We knew the coastal area in Michigan was very nice, but didn’t know much about our new campground.

However, when we arrived, we noticed a lot of vehicles with tall flags in the campground . . .

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Dune buggies.

A couple in our previous campground told us to rent one and race all over the nearby sand dunes. So we did.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

DUNE, THE MOVIE

Finally, Jan recorded a movie as we drove up a sand dune. The video is awful, but the audio . . . well, give a listen . . .