Day 114: Springfield, IL

We had a little bit of a problem this morning while trying to leave Hickory Lane Campground.  Our site was grass covered, with no graveled pad for the van and camper.  And of course it rained pretty good yesterday and a bit more overnight.  With all the weight of the van and the camper being downhill, the front wheel drive was slipping on the grass and we were going nowhere.  So we got out the two mats that do double duty as Lana's campground mats and as separators to keep our camp chairs from rattling when they are strapped down in the van.  We placed them behind the front wheels, backed up on to them (Alea had to give a push), then we carefully rolled forward, barely keeping enough traction to get back to the gravel access road.

Alea picking up our campground mats.

The heat index here is high and forecast to go higher.  It was 81 degrees and quite humid at 7 am when I started riding, so it was no surprise that we encountered some severe weather about 8 miles down the road in Lincoln, IL.  That storm cleared out faster than the one yesterday, as it wasn't as large, though we seemed to be in the most severe part of it.  But no hail - just rain, high winds and lots of lightning.  We parked under the canopy of an abandoned gas station and waited for it to pass.

The route today was less interesting than the section Alea rode on yesterday.  There are fewer reminders that we are on "The Mother Road," but then it was only a 42 mile day and we are now in the outskirts of the state capital. 

We are camped at the city-owned Riverside Campground ($15 [they charged us the tent rate] for power, water and showers).  It is certainly nice enough for the price, and there is plenty of shade to help cut down on the heat.

We made a small modification to one of the brackets that holds the table for our refrigerator against the side of the camper.  I removed the topmost screw of the forwardmost bracket and replaced it with a 2" long bolt.  I would have liked to have done the same with the rearmost bracket, but there is too much electrical stuff going on inside behind where it is mounted to be able to see where the bolt would come through.  With our new table bracket (which was designed to keep Lana from getting her leash wrapped around the table leg and sending our refrigerator crashing to the ground) there is an increased load trying to pull the bracket screws out from the side of the camper.  The extra bolt helps to minimize the additional stress put on the brackets by the new configuration.  Since there are more than a few other Camp Inn owners who have dogs that have caused various calamities with the current side table design, Camp Inn wants us to road test this for a while before offering it as a solution to others.

Instead of the table leg extending down to the ground, it now rests on an angle
iron bracket that is bolted to the trailer frame.