2019-9 Illinois and Indiana

2019-9

Indiana

Scales Lake Park

campground: Scales Lake Park, Booneville Indiana. A county park. Saturday: $28 full-hookup. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday: $21.00. Most campsites are very close together. New paved road in campground. Site 1, which I got is the only campsite with plenty of space and no other campers next to it.

Earl Park, Indiana

Campground: Earl Park. Earl Indiana. A City park, $15 for RV’s. Electric and water. Power is on telephone poles, 110 amp, 30 amp, and 50 amp but you have to check out each box to see if it has 30 or 50 amp, most are 110. Grassy open sites, not really designated sites, just pull up onto the grass near a power pole and water. Nice park, lots of sites available no limit on stay.

Weak Verizon signal, 4-5 over the air TV stations. Town is pretty empty except for an American Legion Post (open at 4pm) can get in as a guest.

Campground: Minit Mart, Menona IL. $20 full-hook ups. Restaurant, fuel, campsite, what more could you ask for.

Gas Station, Burger King, Mini Mart and Rv sites

Distance Traveled: 210 miles
Indiana, checkerboard farmland for endless miles

I put on a few more miles than normal, as I will be driving through relatively flat farm country on US-41/150 and Indiana 63 merging back onto US 41. Pretty much a straight road heading north, much of it 4 lane divided highway with grassy median and easy access to small local gas stations along the way, which I use for a coffee break and restroom as I have a large fuel tank and don’t really need to stop for fuel with my new truck Big Blue.

The closer I got to Earl Indiana, the more I saw large electric windmills generating free power, well until the utilities charge for it of course. So apparently this is a fairly windy area. The community next door to the windmills (Kentland) has been deneighed the ability to put up those big windmills due to there being a small airstrip used by crop dusters mainly. The added income from having those windmills on farmland is a huge loss to the farmer and that added backup funds for when the crops don’t make it. I suggested they move the airport, he said they tried, but it didn’t work out.

small hamlet of Earl Park

American Legion, Earl Park

Earl park city park, campsite for a couple nights

Enjoyed leaving the heavily forested southern part of the state and getting into wide open farm land. Interesting that so many farm fields were empty. Is it already a second growing season up here? Not being a farmer, I haven’t a clue. Well you know I had to ask a local proprietor about this. He told me the farmers were unable to plant their crops this spring due to excessive rain. They are just now planting and trying to catch up. I can see some of the farmland with small shoots coming up just in the last couple of day. Late for planting.

Evansville Indiana
Angel Mounds State Historic Site.

Angel Mounds the Museum artifacts found onsight

trade items between Indians throughout the Americas 

the three major mound building areas

only one mound has been completely excavated

Before I left the Booneville area, I drove over to Evansville to pick up my new eye drop prescriptions and visit another Native Indian Mound site. This is about the 5^th or 6^th Indian Mound site I’ve visited and each one provides me with a little more information on the unique culture of the Mound builders.

This site is one of the best preserved mound sites since it wasn’t destroyed by farmers bulldozing the sites for farming. The main mound is quite large and I hope some of the pictures are able to show that. The overall site is quite large and they recreated a section of the stockade that the Indians built to surround the mound area for protection. Building it with tree logs, woven branches and then covered with clay, it would have made quite an imposing settlement to visitors and traders.

Only one of the mounds was excavated the largest one has not been dug up by the archaeologists. What a great way to learn about our countries history by visiting sites like this.

Angel Mounds surrounding lands making up the complex

largest of the mounds

recreation of the stockade

a stockade similar to this recreated one would
have completely surround the mound complex

Distance Traveled: 109 miles
Illinois

The straight as an arrow country roads are a bit rough driving as I pass through mile after mile of farmland. To the point that my entertainment unit almost came crashing down while being bounced around. Fortunately I was able to fix the problem after going to a good Ace-hardware store and getting a bunch of screws to fasten it back onto the wall. I also had previously installed a couple of braces between the entertainment unit and fireplace, which helped it from completely falling off the wall.

That’s life in a trailer that has to be designed to travel under earthquake and wind conditions the average house only has to deal with maybe a couple times. An RV encounters that type of stress every day it’s on the road. 65 mph winds, and bouncing around on rough roads like it’s going through earthquake country.

I arrived in Illinois the same time-frame as my sister Dorothy and Kelly and family arrived as well to visit with daughter K…. I’m not allowed to use her name as I hurt her feelings a couple years ago and I’ve been disowned. We all make mistakes and I made a big boo boo of one. But on with my adventures and I’m sure Dorothy and Kim/family are enjoying themselves as much as I am.

Lock 14 and Wodospad Falls

boat tour, I missed going on it

History, a lock, a canal and President Lincoln. There is so much history to encounter as I travel around the country. Today I drove over to Lasalle Illinois to visit a water falls and lock 14 on the canal. Lincoln, his wife Mary and Robert Todd and Edward all took a ride from Chicago to LaSalle on a canal packet. They transferred to a steamboat bound for Peoria and then a stagecoach for Springfield. So during my brief stay, viewing the old lock 14, I was standing on ground that Lincoln probably walked on before transferring to that steamboat. You can’t get much closer to history than that.

My next stop was to Wodospad Falls. I chose to go down a narrow road, past a golf course and homes, becoming a dirt lane ending above the falls and bridge. I think I could have gone into The Mathiessen State Park/Fort to access it as well. But my route was to stay the least the most adventuresome from my point of view. The parking area was congested and full up, but I backed into the trail leading to the restrooms. Ok, I might have made it a bit difficult for folks to get to them, but I carved out the spot long enough to visit the falls.

By the way, LaVon, there are at least three water falls close by for exploring. Oglesby Il.

Of course I was wearing a new pair of sneakers rather than my old grungy ones. Not knowing the only way to view the falls completely is to walk along the river bed up to the falls. I was up for the challenge and it was an easy one overall. Took my socks and shoes off and walked bare foot through the shallow rushing water. The river bed is solid smooth rock and was not slippery. Of course I was cautious as I was carrying my Canon Camera and my Moto Z3 phone, both worth a considerable amount of money. Though I hardly gave that much thought as I splashed my way up stream to the best viewing spots for taking pictures. Had a nice chat with a fellow photographer as I took gobs of photos.

Sure wish my good friend LaVon could have been here with me as she enjoys waterfalls even more than I do. Though this one was like being full immersed in the experience. And some kids actually went right under the waterfalls with the water crashing down on them as they laughed and got their pictures taken.

the only way to view the fall fully is to walk
along the river bed up to the falls

off with the shoes, it's time to walk the river bed
a solid rock bottom quiet smooth, but not slippery

one of my favorite shots of the falls

Well I guess this post is getting a bit long so I’ll end it here with the next stop being Wisconsin and Northern Michigan to visit with my sister Ann and some of her children, now all adults of course.

More Photos:

Newburg, Boonevilleand angel Mounds Indiana

Earl Park Indiana

Wodospad Falls andLock 14 Illinois