Springfield
Route maps:
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| route Monday the 16th to Springfield |
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| route Tuesday the 17th and Wednesday the 18th |
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| route Thursday the 19th |
The campgrounds:
* Sangchris Lake State Park Campground - A pleasant state park on a lake with several campground areas, only one of which is actually on the lake and has shower facilities. I stayed in one of the others, which may be why it was almost empty. But they charged me only $20/night and, except for a total absence of phone or wifi signals, it was very pleasant.
* Springfield KOA - I moved to this campground to get a wifi signal, and it too was pleasant - except for a terrible outbreak of mosquitoes. I couldn't walk the dogs longer than 10 minutes before I was besieged with them. Because I occasionally get a mild dose of anaphylactic shock from their bites, hearing them whine in my ears is terrifying. But their showers were clean and there wasn't an overload of dogs.
The drive to the area:
As I drove north, I heard on the radio that southeast Texas is being flooded by Hurricane Imelda. It sounds like the worst of it is to the east of Houston, and I hope my friends and relatives in the Houston area are all okay. But it sounds terrifying.
I forget how powerful water can be until I hear an interview with a woman who spent the night sitting on her kitchen counter with her husband, young children and their dogs, watching the water pour in under the door and through the walls and climbing up nearly to the counter level. She said they had frogs and fish swimming around in the kitchen, and later found a snake in one of the cabinets.
I drove through walls of rock, where rocky hills had been blasted to build the road. We have a lot of those outside Austin, but I hadn't expected them in Illinois.
As I passed the highway exit for Benton, where I stayed a couple of nights last week, I saw a sign telling me there's a 1920's jail museum there, which I completely missed. Apparently they've got relics from the gang era during Prohibition, as well as from such luminaries as the actor John Malkovich, who grew up here, and George Harrison (the George Harrison), who visited his sister here in 1963 (before he had groupies).
I passed a billboard asking folks to support fighting California wildfires. (Huh?)
I can tell it's bug season because my windshield is getting plastered with a variety of them. So many that it's getting hard to see clearly as the day goes on.
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| front side with local names |
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| back side with inscription |
I crossed the Kaskaskia River and was surprised to see a nearly dry river bed. With the very full rivers and lakes I've been seeing for months now, I have no idea why this one would be waterless. And then I heard on the news that copperheads were on the move due both to a wet spring and increasing urbanization. Snakebites in South Carolina and several other southern states were up 10%.
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| Vandalia capitol |
I passed through the Village of Ramsey, Home of Tex Williams, they say.
A highway sign tells me a tourist activity is Camp Maranatha. I can look it up and see it's part of the Church of God, which I've always understood was a relatively mainstream church. But the camp's website says it's where boys and girls can learn to live eternally, and for some reason I've always vaguely connected the name Maranatha with one of those weird religious sects, like the Moonies. Maybe I need to rethink that.
I heard on the radio something about The 1619 Project that sounded interesting, so I looked it up. And it sounds fascinating. For a summary, here's the link. https://en.wikipedia.org/The_1619_Project
I've spent much of the month so far on 2-lane state and county roads, and I often pull over to let cars go by me. But these roads have little or no shoulder, and they all have very rough ruts just off the lanes to tell drivers they're veering too far, so I can't pull off the road much, if at all. So in Illinois what I've been doing is putting on my right turn signal and slowing down and moving as far to the right as I can without jarring loose my teeth. I'm always careful to choose places where passing is legal and where I can see quite a way ahead and know it's safe to pass. But I've found throughout the state that people are extremely reluctant to pass me. Many times they won't pass even if I come to a complete stop. I have no idea why this is happening here consistently, when it hasn't been anything like this in other states.
I passed 3 separate correctional facilities on the drive north.
The Farm Network has a weekly Swap Shop for an hour, and I've heard it several times. People call in with cars or farm equipment or washing machines or scrap metal they want to sell or swap. I enjoy listening to what they have to offer and what their accents sound like. These are country folks, with voices to match.
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| Brewer's Blackbird |
One morning I looked out at the surrounding campsites and saw an enormous flock of birds that looked a lot like Grackles, only smaller. The bird book told me they were Brewer's Blackbirds, which pass through here during fall migration. I don't remember ever seeing them before.
What I did during these 5 days:
* Eyeglasses - Somehow, somewhere, I lost my eyeglasses. I came on this trip with 2 pairs of contact lenses, which I wear when I drive, but only 1 pair of glasses, which I wear the rest of the time. And of course, it was the no-substitute glasses I lost. So my first priority after coming to the big city of Springfield was getting new glasses. I had brought my last eye exam with me from Austin, but since that was much more than a year ago, I had to get a new one. So between getting the exam and getting the glasses made up, I spent several hours. The day I did this was a hot sunny day and I hated leaving the critters in the RV, but I had to have those glasses.
* Bank - Because not every state has a branch of Chase Bank, which is where my money is, I decided to withdraw some cash while I could be sure of finding one. I use it almost exclusively for buying gasoline and paying for laundry, so one withdrawal can last a long time (depending on the price of gas). But I'm getting low on $100s and figured I'd better do it now.
The elderly woman ahead of me in the bank was wearing a heavy sweatshirt and sweatpants on this very warm, humid day. She made me think of that cartoon titled "Old People In Hell" that shows several old people standing in a bunch of flames saying: "Brr." and "They call this hot?" and "Where's my sweater?" Anyone who's ever lived with a very elderly person knows exactly what this sounds like.
* Recycling - It took some work, but I found some public recycling bins and availed myself of them. Illinois is quite a change from Wisconsin, which proclaims "Wisconsin Recycles!" and proves it with recycling bins everywhere. In Illinois, I've been able to find them only for cans and sometimes plastic water bottles. I had more than 2 weeks of recycling stuff saved up and, in a 24' RV, that gets awkward. But a company in Springfield had bins available.
* Groceries - Illinois has a grocery chain called Schnuck's (pronounced shnooks) that's my new favorite. They're clean and have everything I'm looking for. Which is about all I ask anymore.
* Liquor - I'd managed to find some Teacher's scotch when I first got to the state and keep hoping I can find some more, but the so-called liquor stores in Springfield don't have much in the way of a scotch selection. Here it's mostly bourbon - I guess because we're so close to Kentucky. And I wanted to find some decent champagne to celebrate my birthday. Even at a store called The Corkscrew I had a little trouble. I'm starting to think Illinoisans drink only beer and bourbon.
* Medication - I hadn't realized when I left Austin that I'd have trouble with this. The only drugs I'm taking are for blood pressure and for acid reflux - not exactly in the opioid category, so I figured there'd be no problem getting them renewed. Of course I've already run into road blocks - the endoscopy in Toledo and the lab tests in Indianapolis - and now, even just a few months later, those doctors won't renew the prescriptions.
I went to a clinic here in town where I got a short-term Rx but nothing that would last me for long. I'm starting to believe it's because I've been honest with these doctors and telling them I'm just passing through town, rather than telling them I've just moved here and haven't found a permanent doctor yet. Maybe I'll try that in Kentucky when I'll have to get new prescriptions.
My best friend Paula suggested maybe I'd be able to get them in Canada, which isn't something I've thought about so far. And I started to realize I should be asking some of these other older full-timers I meet in campgrounds what they do for medications, as probably most of us take some kind of pills. A lot to think about. And something to consider for anyone else who's thinking about full-timing it.
* My birthday - I turned 70 this week, which is enough of a milestone that I decided champagne was appropriate. I realized that I've now lived 2/3 of my life, since I plan to live to be 105. That means I've got 35 years left. Of course, it doesn't seem like 70 years, even looking back, because I don't remember all of it. I'd hate to be one of those people who remembered every minute of every day. It's easier doing it like I do - remembering the big things and some of the small ones, remembering the happy and exciting things and some of the sad ones, being able (finally) to see patterns in my life - things I always do or never do, never mind how often I make the same mistakes (slow learner). But even given the bad times, I wouldn't want any other life than the one I've got. And I truly believe the next 35 years will be just as extraordinary as the first 70.
For a present to myself, I decided to board the dogs for a couple of days. It took a surprising amount of time to find one online that didn't just keep the dogs in cages the whole time, and that let them out in small groups instead of 40-50 batches (which Dexter can't handle), and that would let me pick them up on a Saturday afternoon. But I found one and dropped them off and missed them very much. I also slept late and enjoyed the reprieve from responsibility, especially given the mosquito population at the campground.
I bought some frozen salmon that the package said was wild-caught Alaska Keta salmon. I've never heard of "keta" salmon and, as I explained to the woman at the fish counter, I used to live in Alaska and caught salmon for a living and I was certain I knew the 5 species of Alaska salmon and "keta" wasn't one of them. She just kept insisting it was a species of wild-caught Alaska salmon (like wild-caught was a characteristic of the fish, not the harvest) and that it had no color added (which no wild fish has to have because it has natural color, unlike that ghastly farmed junk). I finally decided it must be what we always called dog salmon, aka chum salmon, which are perfectly tasty fish but have generally been considered second class next to other species. Later I looked it up and, sure enough, that's exactly what it is.
I cooked it in a skillet with fresh lemon juice and white wine and dill and salt and pepper and garlic powder, and it was absolutely wonderful. Even having to wash dishes on my birthday (because of the ant problem) was worth having that terrific salmon.
I've heard recently that under the current president, the EPA has withdrawn its objections to a mine that would dump a bunch of tailings in Bristol Bay, one of the world's most productive salmon fisheries. Can we say "short-sighted?" So eat that wild Alaska salmon while it's still available, folks.
* I'll do separate posts on Lincoln's home and tomb, both of which are here in town, and on the capitol and downtown Springfield.
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