Here’s what’s happening with us....

At US$799.99 it was a little to rich for my blood. But it would have made an awesome project to work on while I was on vacation!!

Today we went as close as we ere going to get to Disney this trip. Although its been about 5 years since we last went tot he park, we figured that going to the park for just 1 day was going to be too expensive. A day ticket is worth US$113 – CA$146. You obviously get a much better deal if you go for 4-5 days. Reading some Disney blogs also led me to believe there might be a lot of renovations going on in preparation for the 50th anniversary celebration in 2021. That and Star Wars world only opens in October….We spent a good part of the day here. Lots to see and of course lots to buy. We enjoyed fish tacos for the first time at Paradiso 37. In the evening we ventured out to Old Town.

Stephanie and I decided to stop this restaurant on highway 1A1. As we were being seated, a very nice lady , along with her entourage, invited us to sit closer to their table. She insisted that we checked in to their hotel just before them. They were from Wisconsin, and were staying in Florida for a month. All the way during the meal she discussed their experiences in the area. We had no clue who these people were, but figured that she would recognized her mistake after she didn’t see us at all after tonight! We wish them the best and hope they have fun during their stay!

We continue to head east. We finished packing up in the cold rain….and did we say mud? We headed off to Illinois and specifically Starving Rock State Park – Only 429kms today. Most of the travelling was on the interstate. We usually travel 60mph, but the limit was 70mph. That meant the trucks where whizzing by us quit fast. The wind also picked up.

We made it safely to our site and settled in for the night. There were not a lot of people here. The facilities at this park were also rustic. All the washrooms were pit toilets, although they had a small shower facility in each section.

Today we lucked out on the weather. It started as cold and rainy -9c. By the afternoon it was very sunny and 30c.

We explored the area including the small town to the south. We found the fairgrounds and a small museum on the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and about the POW Camp that was on this site. The museum was closed, but when we went to leave a gentleman pulled up in his truck and asked if he could help. We said we were looking around and found the museum closed. He said with a smile, give me two minutes and I will open it for you. He was one of the volunteers coming in to do some work on the internet. For the next hour, with his help wed had the building to ourselves. The only request he had was that we sign his visitors log. We also left a donation.

Pine Lake State Park, Iowa – Site 106 (actually site 104)

Arrived at this park in the rain…..John had made a small error in the booking. We were not scheduled to arrive here until October 8th.

We decided to put an empty reservation tag on our post explaining that we had already paid online, but not for the two days we were actually staying there. We hoped that the Park Ranger would understand, but in the end did not have to worry about it because we did not see them the entire weekend.

The park here was in a nice area, but the facilities were a little rustic. Our site had a great view of the river.

Because of all  the rain the area has had lately, there is a lot of water pooling in the grass, and along with that MUD. We were very careful putting the camper in place as not to make too many divots.