Glamping Days

Couldn't resist taking one more pic of the beautiful Thomson Causeway Campground on my way out this morning; a couple of trailers are just visible on the left side of the pic. Drove about 250 miles through Illinois, Indiana, & Michigan to Warren Dunes State Park. The drive around Chicago is always a hair-raising experience, even driving on the periphery, but all's well that ends well. Warren Dunes is more forested than I'd imagined, & there are lots of birds flitting around through the trees.  

Rally stats: There were 36 campsites holding 35 trailers & 2 tents; one tent shared a site with a trailer, & those in the other tent were here to look at Escape trailers - they loved what they saw. Most of the trailers were Escapes, 1 was a rare vintage Burro, & at least 1 was a Casita. There were 70 peeps total. At least 11 of them are  folks I've seen at other rallies.  The weather has been great every day here - felt like summer during the day but cooled off nicely at night.   About half the folks left today, so it was a quiet day of visiting around with the ones left, & having campfires in the evening. Here are couple of pics of the campsites near me.     

So, what do we do at a fiberglass trailer rally? First we gather for morning coffee & breakfast treats.    Then we begin the "Blue Tarp Event"; a blue tarp is put out on the ground for the day, & anyone who has anything they don't want goes on the tarp. If you see something on the tarp you want, you take it. Many of the items are camping related, but today there were a bunch of lilies from someone's garden potted up. (No pics of the blue tarp.)  Next up is the dog parade - costumes optional.          During the afternoon, anyone willing to let folks look inside their trailer puts a balloon out on their site  post. I had a steady stream of folks in my trailer as it is the most extensively modified one most have seen.  This evening, we went to a local brewery for dinner.  Afterward, there was a movie in the amphitheater & several campfires to choose from, but some of us turned in early. 

Today & tomorrow are the main rally days. One couple hosted a coffee this morning, & there was a picnic-style dinner this evening. I'm taking care of registration, which ensures that I've met all of the 70+ folks attending.  Here are a few pics from around the campground. In the second pic, the bird has caught a fish, & in the third pic, 3 turtles are having on confab on a rock.      T his quote was on an info board at the arboretum; though I wouldn't say it's the "true meaning of life", it does seem like one useful way to measure a life well lived.                                         

Okay, Fulton is mostly a classic midwestern town, but it does have a couple of fun funky items.   After the Mississippi River flooded the town multiple times, dikes were built along the river. The town fathers decided that a dike needed a windmill. This beauty was built for the town in the Netherlands, disassembled, brought here, & reassembled. When the wind speed hits 15+mph, the volunteer millers go to work milling various grains.                  Even better than the windmill is the Windmill Cultural Center. It contains a collection of 22 model windmills based on actual windmills found throughout Europe & beyond. One couple designed & built them all & donated them to this museum. Many of them even have interior working parts which can be seen though cutaway sections - fantastic!                                        ...

I've come here for a rally of Escape trailers this Fri-Sun. With only a few of us here now, I spend part of today noodling around the town of Clinton across the river from the campground. It's a cute town with obvious civic pride.  There's a small but lovely arboretum in town which I mostly had to myself.       

Today, I drove about 300 miles to Thomson Causeway Recreation Area, a lovely spot on the upper Mississippi River by the town of Thomson, IL, where I'll camp for the next 6 nights.  Since I'd come across I-80 in Iowa a couple of times last year, today's route took me on a more southerly road, US-34. This picnic shelter is a bit funky.     This is the view out the back window of my trailer here. It's a beautiful marsh with lots of large birds like egrets & cranes. On the left side of the pic, the marsh opens up to the Mississippi River. 

Drove a bit over 300 miles from McPherson in south central Kansas, through the northwest corner of Missouri, to Davis City in Iowa south central Iowa. The Flint Hills in KS boast some real bison, but I only saw cows & this bison statue. These fellas were outside an Amish shop in Iowa.

Today was family time with my daughter, son-in-law, his father, & his grandparents. I'm blessed to have this family. Pics below are of my daughter, son-in-law, & their 3 cats.         

Went to the zoo in Wichita today with my daughter, her husband, & his mom. I haven't been to a zoo in years & had forgotten how much fun it is. For a small city, it is a large & lovely zoo.