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Rend Lake Rest Stop in Illinois

This is everything the last stop was not. After 5 hours on the road we stopped at a rest stop. Looked around at how beautiful it is, lots of trees turning color and grassy areas and it’s on a lake!!! We watched a group of white pelicans on the lake fly off and talked about what a lovely spot this is. Vic talked to the maintenance guy and found out it’s allowed to stay up to 4 days!!! So here we are at Rend Lake, there is a state recreation area nearby but this is all ours and free. We couldn’t be happier. We will stay 2 nights.

Next stop is South 40, a farm in Franklin TN.

This is a distillery. It’s closed now but they have tours and tastings. The best thing about this place is the name. Reviews unanimously said it was great, a little road noise but otherwise great. Those people must have been drunk when they wrote their reviews! We are 50 ft from the interstate, semis roaring by all night. Can’t wait to get out of here. We were going to stop at a Walmart next (our first time) but after this we may actually stay at a campground! Poor Zoe is totally intimidated by the noise.

Safe travels!

After a weekend in the parking lot of Elks Lodge #26 in Kansas City MO we leave in the morning. Next stop a distillery called Wood Hat Spirits in New Florence MO.

Last night I tried to retract the awning only to have it come off the support and end up on the ground. We tried to fix it last night in the dark but realized only one screw was holding it in place. The others came loose and fell off somewhere along the way. This morning one of the Elks members came out and the guy was amazing. He went to the hardware store and got more screws then brought out a step ladder. We have a very nice stepstool but it wasn’t high enough for this project. He and Vic managed to get it retracted completely. We’ll make a nice donation before we leave tomorrow morning.

This lodge supports the vets in a big way. They have 16 apartments they furnish and keep supplied for homeless vets. When the person gets a job and moves on they can take everything including furniture with them. There are plans in the works for more apartments.

Their event today is a back to school thing, they will probably have to reschedule since now it’s raining heavily and thunderstorms are forecast off and on all day.

Uh oh we were in the process of hooking up and having trouble getting one of the slide outs to go back in when it started raining heavily with thunder. We decided the camper batteries that power the slide outs needed to be recharged. We have a charger. It’s supposed to rain hard for a few hours so we are staying in place. Driving in the rain is something we avoid as much as possible. We have a great place to stay. The neighborhood is not the best but this elks lodge is an oasis – huge property with a large grassy area for Zoe. It should stop raining early afternoon. Too late to get on the road but we are safe here. We can rest and leave tomorrow weather permitting.

We are pretty tired, these have been long days of travel. Thunderstorm tonight.

Tomorrow we stop overnight at Righteous Rides, on the western edge outside St Louis. It’s a car dealership.

Still trying to get out of the way of bad weather (especially possible hail) coming to this area on Saturday.

Drake Golf Course, another Harvest Host, is our next stop. Ledbetter, Kentucky. If not there, someplace we can stop and take a break.

This is a Harvest Host – an establishment called Master’s Hand – Every Woman’s Dream Shop. They sell an assortment of stuff for gifts, there is a florist shop, a small-ish restaurant and best of all homemade candy!!! I got some amaretto truffles. Yum! They also have homemade cinnamon buns that are scrumptious. The women running the place couldn’t be nicer. We are parked in a grassy area on the side of the building.

We are about 45 miles from Omaha.

We are still concerned about the bad weather coming through this area on Friday and Saturday.

Today we go to Kansas City MO (252 miles).

People you would be amazed how much antique farm equipment there is here – 7 buildings the size of an airplane hangar worth, yeah! Each item had a paper describing what is was, who owned, where they bought it, etc.

Vic checks the weather every night and discovered we are on the fringe of a huge area of storms predicted for Friday. So now we are dodging that. We go 250 miles today. Tonight we will be in south Sioux City, Missouri.

We decided not to stay at the Wall because of the heat (high 90’s today) and it’s very dusty. Instead we took pictures of it and visited Wall Drug, a full block broken up into small browser friendly shops and all connected under cover and air conditioned. A lot of it touristy but Vic found me a turquoise ring that I love.

Then we went through Tidal Wave Auto Spa and got a car wash for $30 which is a little pricey but they include a ceramic finish at the end that makes it worthwhile. Truck looks like it just rolled off the showroom (almost).

That’s as close as we got to the Badlands. Oh well, there’s always next year. This is a crummy phone picture. In real time it’s spectacular. There are no designated spaces – it’s a free for all and available areas are along the edge a long long ways.

Tomorrow we will go 220 miles and stay in the parking lot of a farm implements museum. In other words a tractor museum haha can’t wait to see that.

In all our travels we have never met or even seen a camper with solar and lithium batteries and a mini split and a Starlink. Plenty of people have solar but usually it’s just enough to recharge their phones and other devices. So far we are one of a kind. Just find that interesting.

We will leave on Monday and head to “the Wall “. It’s a boondocking spot also called little Grand Canyon. Wait til you see the breathtaking views. Wall is also a town, home to Wall Drug. We drove past Wall Drug today during our scouting trip. It’s a huge block long building with everything under the sun for sale.

Meanwhile we had dinner Friday night at the Grille, the restaurant run by the Elks Lodge. We enjoyed outdoor seating and watched the golfers. The special that night was prime rib which of course I had. Yum!! Excellent dinner – tender and delicious meat with Yukon gold mashed and veg. I had to share my prime rib with Zoe, there was no way around it, she was obsessed. 😊

I have to admit I am looking forward to ordering from Panera again, I do love their bowls.

We are staying at Elks Lodge 1187, the nicest Elks we have stayed at. They have a ton of property including a Grille, an RV park with full hook ups and a golf course with a driving range and everything else you’d expect to find. We are in their very roomy parking lot with a huge grassy area next to us. $25 a night for us. $55 for the people at the hook ups. Accommodations in this area are pricey being so close to Mt Rushmore and other attractions. Other RV parks are $125/night.

Today we saw Mt. Rushmore. We did a drive by and avoided the tourist scene near the monument. I’ve been wanting to see this for quite a while and it is very impressive.

Then we stopped at a dog park for Zoe.

Then we went on Needles Highway with narrow tunnels.

We walked around the town of Keystone and had lunch. Not sure if it’s really a town, it was a street of shops and restaurants on both sides of the street.

Here is Zoe and me sitting next to a statue of Lincoln.

Then we went to see Crazy Horse. Again, we did a drive by. This attraction was a real money grab starting with $30 parking fee. So we got a photo, all we really wanted.