Sangchris State Park near Springfield,IL

Thursday October 24th we loaded her up and headed toward our next stop on our way south. It was really windy and cold brrrr. We got on the road around 10:30. We called Sangchris State Park to make sure they had a spot for us and to get any special instructions. We had never been to this park before. She suggested the Deer Run loop. We had a bit of a problem when we arrived at the park. By the sign we took a right and as soon as we committed to the turn we knew it was wrong. There was a turn around not to far. Lucky cause we were kinda in the sticks. We made it to Deer Run loop saw the host and asked about water, sites, paying etc. We filled up with water cause no spigot on sites. As we were pulling around to our picked out site we kept hearing a funny noise. Backed her in and Jeff looked under the camper to see if he could see anything and he did. Houston we have a problem. It looks like the Morryde suspension has broken. Jeff took some  pictures and called the company. Morryde was more than helpful, Jeff emailed them a picture so they knew what part we needed. They said they would ship the part right out. That was kinda a problem cause there wasn't any office at this park to ship to. Lucky for us we had a friend here in Springfield so we had it shipped there. We had only planned to stay til Monday at the latest but I could tell that was gonna change. We talked with the hosts for some suggestions on where to take it to be repaired. There is the next problem... Seems that everyone wants there campers winterized, I don't think people do that themselves anymore. We called a number of places and all replied with the same answer...2 week wait at least. We still had a few ideas and the more places we called the more options we had. Finally found a truck & trailer place that was super helpful. It was close, not really out of the way, friendly and reasonable. So thankful for that. Our part was suppose to be here on Tuesday and it was. Called Arrow Trailer and they got us in on Wednesday to get it fixed.

Friday I had an important mission today that was to go visit those friends I mentioned earlier, they have a brand new baby we need to meet. It was nice to get our minds off our problem for a bit. Sam is 3 weeks old and so tiny, I just had to hold him for a long time. Getting my baby fix...love them!!! On our drive over I spotted a Smash Burger restaurant so on our way home we stopped there for supper. Yummy, never ate there before and I can tell you we will be stopping at more of those. The burger so good and the smash fries delicious!

Saturday it warmed up a bit. We found out our neighbor owns a camping store so we went to talk to them ...he's really busy too but told Jeff if he couldn't find anyone he could work on it after hours. We stuck around the campground still trying to figure out this repair thing. This loop had a Bon fire tonight and invited us.  Some people decorated there campers for Halloween. We visited with  lots of fine folk there. Went home and watched the St Louis cardinals win!

Sunday was a do nothing day, it did warm up a bit. The Cardinals lost tonight.

Monday we both needed to do something, we left the campground and drove to the repair shop to show them the pictures of our camper problem to give them an idea of what needs to be done. They said it shouldn't be a problem , yeah that's a load off our shoulders. Now let's go do some sight seeing. First stopped at the Springfield visitor center to ask about the Lincoln sites. Good thing to do, they gave us $5.00 off coupons for the museum and a pass to get free parking. We visited Lincolns home and some old homes in his neighborhood.  We also walked to see the new and old Capitol buildings. On the way home stopped at a quilt store...really nice lots of pretty fabric. 





Lincolns Home

Illinois State Capital

Lincolns Tomb

Tuesday Jeff went back into town to do more Lincoln stuff. He went to the tomb, and the museum... He said it was awesome experience...must see for historians. I stayed back and quilted the day away. While Jeff was away my friend called to say out part arrived. Jeff stopped and picked it up on the way home. We packed up everything we could cause we are suppose to be at the repair place by 7:45a.m.





I don't think either of us slept well, we aren't used to getting up and going that early. We got up plenty early but it was really dark, hard to hook up in the dark that's for sure. We got it done but we also had to dump in the dark, another tricky task. We got on our way and just to make things interesting we had really dense fog to drive in. Good news was it was really easy to get to. We went over to Starbucks to get coffee and just looked around the area. They had our HOW all fixed up and ready for the road by noon. The people there were so nice and very reasonable and we are very pleased with the service.

Happy Halloween! We couldn't move today cause it rained all day long. Not just a little rain but it poured....The day was really long so we are ready to move for sure!!

November 1st we had a terrible scare to start our day. Our schnauzer Belle woke up this morning and spit up and after that she went down and had a massive seizure. Both Jeff and I was trying to help but nothing we could really do. While calming her she bit Jeff's finger which started bleeding all over the place. After we got her calmed down and within a half hour she was back to normal. Got packed up and on the road. Rend lake here we come.