Monday, May 4, 2009
Eagle Creek Campground, Lake Shelbyville, IL: Apr 10-13
We scheduled this stop in order to visit with friends Carole & Delbert Ulmer, whom we met in Port Aransas our first year on the road. We originally planned to stay in one of the COE parks, but Carole let us know they didn't open until May, prompting Delbert to wonder why any seemingly sane person would visit this area so early in the year. We have a lot of relatives & friends in or near Illinois, and visiting them is a delicate balancing act between too early & freezing, or too late & tornados. We erred on the side of too early, and temps did drop below freezing a couple of nights, and also it rained most of the time we were here, but we figured that was acceptable considering the alternative.
This is probably a gorgeous campground when it's not covered in six inches of mud. Setting up turned into a nightmare when we backed into 2 separate spaces only to find the park's circuit breaker flipping as soon as we plugged the trailer in. Another camper (the host ignored us) had the same problem & suggested we try a 50-amp spot. The only one we could find was a low spot in the park and was surrounded by standing water, but we were able to back in & successfully hook up, with about 6 inches of high ground on each side (and a 12-inch deep rut where Doug first missed the narrow pad!). The electric issue seemed to be a product of the rain and/or the GFI system (either in our trailer or in the park's system) -- the 30 amp sites only got about 24 amps of power, and the 50 amp sites got about 44. Apparently 24 was not enough for us! Supposedly this is only a problem during the rainy weather, the host assured us. We would never pick this park over the lovely, well-engineered COE campgrounds if they were open!
We spent an enjoyable 4 days with Carole & Delbert playing bridge & other card games. Then on Easter Sunday at 10pm, Willie was stepping down out of the bedroom, lost her footing, twisted her ankle & fell, striking her head against the edge of the sink counter. The resultant 1 1/2 inch-long gash bled profusely, & we had to dash off to the ER (30 minutes away) after calling Carole & Delbert who agreed to meet up & show us the way. Five stitches (or maybe 6) & a tetanus shot later, we were home safe & not quite so sound. Our last day we filled a prescription (for antibiotics that also cleared up Willie's sinus infection), ate lunch with Carole & Delbert, and Willie was up for another afternoon of bridge.
This is probably a gorgeous campground when it's not covered in six inches of mud. Setting up turned into a nightmare when we backed into 2 separate spaces only to find the park's circuit breaker flipping as soon as we plugged the trailer in. Another camper (the host ignored us) had the same problem & suggested we try a 50-amp spot. The only one we could find was a low spot in the park and was surrounded by standing water, but we were able to back in & successfully hook up, with about 6 inches of high ground on each side (and a 12-inch deep rut where Doug first missed the narrow pad!). The electric issue seemed to be a product of the rain and/or the GFI system (either in our trailer or in the park's system) -- the 30 amp sites only got about 24 amps of power, and the 50 amp sites got about 44. Apparently 24 was not enough for us! Supposedly this is only a problem during the rainy weather, the host assured us. We would never pick this park over the lovely, well-engineered COE campgrounds if they were open!
We spent an enjoyable 4 days with Carole & Delbert playing bridge & other card games. Then on Easter Sunday at 10pm, Willie was stepping down out of the bedroom, lost her footing, twisted her ankle & fell, striking her head against the edge of the sink counter. The resultant 1 1/2 inch-long gash bled profusely, & we had to dash off to the ER (30 minutes away) after calling Carole & Delbert who agreed to meet up & show us the way. Five stitches (or maybe 6) & a tetanus shot later, we were home safe & not quite so sound. Our last day we filled a prescription (for antibiotics that also cleared up Willie's sinus infection), ate lunch with Carole & Delbert, and Willie was up for another afternoon of bridge.
# posted by Doug and Willie @ 10:13 PM 
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