Winter Excursion 5, Day 178

Well the forecast was correct. Rain started early this morning and was very heavy at times. It lasted all day. We were able to get Kaylee out between the raindrops. Here's a pic of her paw print in the mud right outside our front door. 

Our campsite has it's own lake now!

The rain did stop in the late afternoon, but we were pretty much camper-bound all day.

Winter Excursion 5, Day 177

We drove to two other State Parks in the area today. First stop was Whitewater Memorial State Park.

It's a very nice park. We would stay there, but some of the sites are very unlevel. We were also surprised that they charged us $7 to get in to look around. Normally the parks will let you in to look without paying if you are not going to use any facilities. Also, we were a little surprised that as a Memorial Park they charged a veteran to get in!

Here's the chainsaw carving at the main office:

From there we drove to Mounds State Recreation Area.

This is also a very nice State Park and we liked the campground better than our first stop. If we ever stay here we will have to be careful as many of the sites are very small and unlevel.

Back at camp we buttoned the hatches down as we are forecast for thunderstorms and heavy rain for the next 36 hours.

Winter Excursion 5, Day 176

We did some camp maintenance this morning and got everything setup for the week. The campground is full on the Full Hookup side, but empty on our side.

We took a drive to explore the park. This is a big state park on Acton Lake. The park surrounds the entire lake with a 10 mile road. The day use beach/boat launch area is huge and was a little crowded today as temps got into the 80s!

Here's a pic of the dam that causes the lake.

And here's a pic of the Park Lodge. It was newly renovated and has a restaurant and a bar!

We spent the rest  of the day in camp enjoying the weather behind our sun screen, although we both got a little sun (tan).

Winter Excursion 5, Day 175

We were up and on the road by 0830. We will lose an hour on this trip as we will be back in EST. For the most part we took the backroads through Illinois and Indiana, RT 40 for the majority of the trip. It started out as a narrow, windy road, but improved. In Indiana we went through a few small cities that are county seats. The buildings we really something to see. Keep in mind this is rural, farmland America! Here's a few pics.

We arrived at Hueston Woods State Park, OH around 1500. It is just over the border from Indiana. It's a nice park, not crowded except for the full hookup area. We are in the Electric Only area. Here's some pics.

Here's the view looking up and down our campsite road.

We got everything set up, had a few toddies, made dinner, and relaxed. We will do some exploring tomorrow.

After dinner I got this shot of the "Pink Moon" we are having tonight. The pic doesn't really do it justice, it looked HUGE as it rose.

We will sleep good tonight as we lost an hour today. 

Winter Excursion 5, Day 174

After checking the info on our new campground tomorrow, we discovered that there is no laundromat at the park. We decided to run in to Shelbyville, IL and do our laundry. The laundromat was not crowded and nice and clean. I ran a few errands and Cath had all the wash done in less than two hours.

Back at camp we spent the afternoon packing up for the move tomorrow. We had one last fire and our usual pizza for dinner the night before a move.

We will never forget this campground as we were the only campers on our loop for the entire week we were here.

Winter Excursion 5, Day 173

We spent the day in camp as the forecast is for rain all day. We watched a couple of movies, played cards, and just relaxed. My knee is a little better, but if I use it much it starts in again.

Around noon we looked out the window and this is what we saw! He stopped by and we talked for a few minutes. This is a Father & Son Team, the owner was just exercising them. 

We are still the only campers on this loop and there are still only about a dozen campers total in the park.

The rain never really happened, but it was a gray, overcast day, with a little drizzle.

Winter Excursion 5, Day 172

Started the BGE this morning at 1000 to smoke another Corned Beef Brisket. We liked the last one so much that we just had to do another.

Since we hung out at camp all day, Kaylee got multiple walks. She loves this campground because there are no neighbors and that means "off-leash". I checked around 1700, there is still only a total of 14 campers in the entire park and this is a Friday when the weekenders usually arrive!

The brisket turned out excellent again.

A movie after dinner, then off to bed. Rain is forecast for tonight and tomorrow.

Winter Excursion 5, Day 171

We left camp this morning with the intent of checking every Federal and State Campground on Lake Shelbyville, IL.

First stop was just outside of our campground. This is a goat tower on private property. It is called The Tower of Baa, it's the only one in the US. It is 31 ft high, has 5000 bricks, and 276 spiral steps. We have seen the goats on it!

Next up was Forrest W. "Bo" Wood Campground. It is a large COE campground. It really nice, but a little crowded. We would stay here.

We stopped at Eagle Creek State Park next. It's an older park, sites are very unlevel and small.

Lone Point COE will be a very nice COE campground. It is closed for renovations now.

Coon Creek COE campground was the largest we visited. It has 215 sites and is also closed for renovations.

Opossum Creek COE campground was not yet open for the season.

We visited the Lake Shelbyville Dam and visitor center. There are three really large recreation areas, Dam East, Dam West, and Spillway.

Here's the lake side of the dam.

And here's the spillway. There were lots of fisherman here angling for Walleye.

Last stop was Lithia Springs COE campground. This was the nicest place we visited and if we are ever in this area again we will stay here. I can't believe that I didn't see it when we were making our trip reservations for this year. It has many sites that have lake views. Some sites are full hookups and would cost us only $14.50/night!

Back at camp we are still the only campers on our loop. I think we scare folks off! We will see what the weekend brings. We spent the late afternoon by the fire having a few toddies!

Winter Excursion 5, Day 170

We drove into Shelbyville, IL this morning and picked up a few things at Walmart. Back at camp I got all the wood we cut on Monday split.

So of course we had to have a fire this afternoon.

Weather was OK, but a little cool, temps in the high 40s.

Kaylee says she has to stay in her cave, it's warm!

One more camper came into the campground today, that's makes five of us now, but we are still the only ones on this loop. We are starting to think no one likes us...LOL.

Exploring is on the agenda for tomorrow. It's been a good day!

Winter Excursion 5, Day 169

We are still the only campers on this loop! We drove around the park this morning and there is still only three other campers here.

This is a pic from the boat ramp. You can see how low the lake is by the bank on the island. The campground is on the point to the left of the island.

Starting around 1000 and lasting all day and into the evening we had snow and rain mixed. The snow did not stick to the ground as the ground is still warm from the past few days, but did stick to the bins and the grill. Temps stayed in the 30s all day and we have freeze warnings for tonight.

After our morning drive around the park we just hunkered down, watched some TV, and relaxed.

Winter Excursion 5, Day 168

We left Kendall COE campground, KY around 0900. The dump station was still a mess from the 100+ campers that left yesterday.

The drive to Wolf Creek State Park, IL was nice. We were on some good roads and the terrain was flat and level. Quite a change from the hills and skinny roads of Tennessee and Kentucky!

We arrived at our campsite around 1430 and got all set up. The site is really nice, electric only, but water is nearby and my hose reaches, so we could fill the tank without moving the camper. The entire park has been renovated. The roads are newly paved, smooth and level. All the campsites have been dressed with new crush stone and new fire pits.

There are 141 sites on three loops in this park. As we came in we counted only three other campers! We are the only camper on our entire loop. Kaylee loves it as she is off leash all the time! Here's the view from our camper up the loop road on each side.

After we got setup I took a ride and confirmed there are only three other camper in the entire park!

We found a down and dead log near our site. As there is no one around we bucked it up with the electric chainsaw. I'll split it tomorrow.

We are totally impressed with this park and our campsite. I checked the reservation website and it looks like will will have the entire loop to ourselves for the whole week!

Here's the view with the sunset of our site.

Tomorrow is 20 Apr and we are forecast for snow and freezing temps! If that happens I'll post some snow pics!

Winter Excursion 5, Day 167

Today we watched the mass exodus of weekenders from the campground. The dump station had a line of campers almost the entire day. From our campsite we had a bird's eye view. In the evening I biked over to the dump station and it was a mess! I hope it's dried up by tomorrow morning when we leave.

Cath took Kaylee for a nice off-leash walk. Kaylee thoroughly enjoyed herself.

It's been a fun Birthday. We are off to Wolf Creek State Park, IL in the morning.

Winter Excursion 5, Day 166

We spent the whole day in camp. The campground is full and people watching is in full swing. We met most of the neighbors, many of them are veterans, so there was lots to talk about. Our next door neighbor was born in Augsburg, Germany where Cath and I were married (small world). His father worked at the same place I did only different years.

We got out our propane fireplace and all the neighbors came over to check it out. A few of them said they are ordering one as soon as they get home.

We smoked a pot roast for dinner, low and slow. It came out really tender, but I put a little too much rub on it. 

There was lots of activity in the campground all day. Tons of Kiddos and lots of traffic. I think the traffic was just locals checking the place out. We see more and more E-bikes and E-scooters all the time, they are really popular.

Winter Excursion 5, Day 165

We headed back to Fort Knox again today to pick up a few things. On the way we stopped at a BBQ joint called Hawgs Ass Sammiches. The pulled pork and brisket was very good. Here's a pic of their T-shirt (I didn't buy one...LOL).

Before we got to Ft Knox we stopped at Otter Creek Outdoor Recreation Area.

It is very close to Ft Knox. It has a large campground, but is very old and all sites are gravel and most unlevel. If we are in this area again we will stay at the Ft Knox campground or Axtel where we are now.

Back at camp we watched all the weekenders arrive at the campground. We've lost some of our lake view, but it's fun watching all the other campers.

One family came in with a very long (probably 35 ft) travel trailer. After stopping at the gate to pickup their pass he didn't swing wide enough and took out the gate control box! It made a loud crunch sound and tore up the back corner of the camper.

Worst part of all this is that a repairman, Ranger, and the Camp Host have been working on the gate all week! Guess they will have to start over!

Here's few pics of the campground at night. These folks love their lights! These are the same views as above, but at night.

Another fun day and we are off to bed.