Southern Illinois

Made reservations at Sam Dale recreation park - had a site reserved that was 59 feet long and we couldn't even get the motorhome in it.  We were in Southern Illinois to visit Craig's first boss from Caterpillar in 1973 who now lives in Geff, Illinois.  Clyde and Helen had a place next to their shed, that even had a sewer hookup.  So we decided to pull in there which worked out great to be so close.

First day we visited Cave in Rock and Garden of the Gods.  Absolutely beautiful day and scenery which we did not expect to see in Illinois.

Cave In Rock:

Garden of the Gods:

The next day we drove to Martinsville to have dinner (which means lunch in the midwest not supper), at the Moonshine Store, who are known for their hamburgers.  This was rated 5 stars by Yelp.  The name came from the reflection of the moon shining in a mud puddle.  The store was founded  in 1889 and then rebuilt in 1912 after a fire.  When we drove into the parking lot, I saw an outhouse and porta potty and figured we were in for quite a treat.  Craig's reaction when we entered was WOW!??

No tables inside, just benches which were full when we
arrived as this place is a popular site visited from people all over the US.  

We took numerous drives, went to an Oktoberfest celebration in Maeystown, enjoyed the local cuisine which was very reasonable and good, went to 3ABN broadcasting facility where Clyde does a lot of volunteer work near Thompsonville, Illinois and in the evenings we played Dominoes.






























On one of the drives we took some time and went through Casey which had the largest wind chimes, golf tee, crochet hook and knitting needles.  They are in the process of building the largest rocking chair.

On Monday, there was a weather system that was predicted to go through the area.  Clyde and Craig went to Mt. Vernon to get the Explorer serviced and Helen and I stayed at the house.  About the time the guys were to be at the Ford dealer, the weather radio started with the tornado alerts, and 55 mph winds hitting Mt. Vernon and predicted to come our way.  The storm system picked up speed to about 70 mph and the radio was quite active and then the alert came for Wayne county.  We got the "girls" out of the motorhome and brought them in the house along with a "bag of essentials" if the weather really hit.  I pulled all the slides in on the motorhome and put the satellite down.  Then called Craig and they were driving ahead of the storm and got home.  Luckily after all that, it skirted by Geff, Illinois and we were able to put everything back to normal.  A little scary, but another adventure.  Then came the rains, thunder and lightening.

We tried leaving on Thursday but as soon as I pulled the motorhome forward from the site the back wheels started to slip.  I immediately got out and let Craig do the driving. After digging, adding rocks and boards, trying a wynch, etc. we finally gave up after about 3 hours and called Coachnet a service that we have for roadside assistance for the motorhome.   They sent a tow truck out and they wynched us out in about 1 1/2 hours.  We stayed an additional night, but stayed on packed gravel.  We knew it rained, but didn't realize the ground was quite that soft.  Another learning adventure and another night of dominoes!!

On Friday we took off and drove to Paducah, Kentucky.