Glamping Days

This was another uneventful drive day. Arriving home with a trailer means dumping the tanks, putting the trailer into storage, & bringing home the contents of the fridge, etc - all mundane stuff. The weather every day on this trip was sunny & quite warm for late September. I'm so very grateful to be able to travel like this. My next trip will be toward the end of October.    fading sunset from my front door

My drive today took me through Illinois (west & southwest of Chicago), Indiana (I-80 along the border with Michigan), & into Ohio (the very northwestern corner). Except for the pretty views of midwestern farms in the fall, the trip was dead boring; this is good, as adventures on drive days can be the bad sort of adventure.  This section of road between Chicago & the Mississippi River was especially pretty. 

Waking up to a sunrise over the marsh is magical. The rally ended this morning, & about 2/3 of the folks headed toward home. Those of us who remained spent the morning saying goodbye as folks left. This afternoon, a group of us went to a winery, & I had a half dozen folks over for pizza & wine this evening. I capped the evening off watching the moon rise over the river & wondering as the stars filled the sky.

Saturday is the busiest day at the rally. After a morning coffee/social hour, we all gather for a dog parade; it's a short but very fun event. During the late morning & early afternoon, we tour each other's trailers to see how everyone uses their space, decorates their trailer, & solves maintenance & repair issues. Throughout the day, a blue tarp is out & people put out anything camping related that they don't want, & anyone who wants an item takes it. In the early evening, we dined at a brewery, which was followed by breakout campfires. The final count was 47 trailers & 88 people.  

The second day of the rally is a bit busier than the first. One couple hosts a coffee social hour from 7:30-9:00am. In the early evening, we had a casual dinner in a big picnic shelter overlooking the river, & then folks scattered into smaller groups for campfires.  There is still time to enjoy the beautiful location. This shot is across the marsh with a few trailers visible in the background.  The other end of the marsh looks different. Parts of the campground look out directly onto the Mississippi River.  And, the egrets, blue heron, & sand hill cranes join the more common water birds  right behind my campsite. 

This morning was spent running a few errands. I volunteered to take care of registering folks for the rally, so that kept me busy from around 2:00 until dusk. Then, I visited a couple of campfires.  These pics of the town of Fulton were taken yesterday.  One comes to a rally to meet & visit with fellow fiberglass trailer owners. A side benefit of this rally is the beautiful sunsets over the river. 

Many people come early to this rally to spend more time with old friends before the activities begin. After a beautiful sunrise over the marsh behind my campsite... ...several of us went in to nearby Fulton (Illinois) to visit the windmill & the windmill museum, I saw both of these last year & will see them again next year - love this place. The windmill was built in the Netherlands by engineers there, dismantled, shipped over in cargo containers, & rebuilt here. The paddles had to be shortened by 2.5' to fit into the shipping container. Volunteers furl & unfurl the canvas on the paddles & actually grind various grains, which are then sold in the museum.     The windmills in the museum were made by a husband, who built the structures, & the wife, who decorated them. After working on them for several decades, they wanted to donate them someplace where they could be displayed. Across the street from the windmill seemed like an excellent spot, & t...

My drive today went from northeastern Indiana into Illinois. Rolling farmland is just beautiful in the fall, & corn harvesting was in full swing.   

Today, I drove to the northeastern corner of Indiana. Seven cows welcomed me to the farm where I'm camping tonight.