Since our next stop involved visiting family we decided LizzieBelle needed a good bath before leaving Berea. Ronnie set up a table and used the outdoor shower to wash the stink off her.
I can truly say she did not enjoy it in the least. She does look forward to her treat when all is said and done but she’s never cared for water unless she’s drinking it. Poor baby. At least her hair is soft and she smells better now!
After leaving Berea we headed northwest to CharlaRose Lake & Campground in Waynetown, a small town in Indiana about an hour from Indianapolis. We stopped there to visit with Ronnie’s brother and his wife who lived in another town nearby.
CharlaRose is privately owned and was really nice. Our camp site backed up to the lake which gave us a nice view whether we were sitting in the camper or outside under the awning. It was also convenient for Ronnie walk to the lake to do some fishing. One day he caught three nice size catfish. Another day his brother came by to fish but they didn’t have the same luck. They did, however, enjoy shooting the breeze and spending time together. Isn’t that what it’s all about?!
During all the fishing excursions and down time I wielded my hooks and needles and crocheted some dish cloths and a baby blanket (I chose the pink and green from the specks of color in the white yarn) and knitted some dish scrubbies from my yarn stash…
My goal is to use up most of my stash before buying any more yarn so that I don’t have to find somewhere to store it in the camper. I had stuffed it under the dining seats but it wasn’t convenient to get to so one day I pulled all the cotton yarn out. It’s now in various bags (according to yarn type for various projects) and sitting on the floor by my side of the bed. The other yarns are still under the bench seat but if I can use up a good bit of my cotton yarns I will have made a huge dent in my yarn stash. And, it gives me something to do.
Traveling to the campground and to his brother’s house we passed field after field of corn and soy.
There’s lots of farm land in this area. I would’ve liked to have seen some other crops though. It makes me wonder where in the world our food is grown since all we typically see throughout our travels is field corn and soy.
On Sunday the campground was hosting their annual antique car show. It started at eight o’clock so after our coffee we started to walk over to check out all the cars. The owner was driving by on his golf cart and asked if we had eaten breakfast. Since we hadn’t he invited us to head over to the pavilion at the back of the campground for a pancake and sausage breakfast. He even flagged someone down and we were given a ride over there in a golf cart. When we finished eating we were given another ride over to the car show. What service!
There was a good turnout of cars and trucks…
Ronnie even found a couple cars he wouldn’t mind having…
Another day Ronnie’s brother drove us around and we checked out a few of the covered bridges nearby. Parke County has 31 covered bridges. We drove to three of them…
… and enjoyed some cold ice cream on a hot day at Bridgeton.
Every year Parke County hosts a covered bridge festival in October that lasts ten days. We’re told that you’d better head out early in the day if you want to avoid traffic jams.
We enjoyed the campground and visiting with family and all too soon it was time to move on.
.
We drove across the entire state of Illinois and, again, saw field after field of crops. And again, mostly corn and soy. Scattered amongst the fields in several locations were lots of windmills…
Watching them slowly rotate was mesmerizing.
We were headed to Clark’s Ferry campground in Montpelier, Iowa. It took us a little over six hours and was an easy trip.
The campground was nice and on the Mississippi River.
Here’s the view from the couch…
There was a small pier to fish from but an Iowa fishing license was needed so there was no fishing for Ronnie.
We drove through the quad cities (a region of cities in the U.S. states of Iowa and Illinois: Davenport and Bettendorf in southeastern Iowa, and Rock Island, Moline and East Moline in northwestern Illinois) crossing over the Mississippi River several times.
All the downtowns were alive with restaurants, shops and businesses. Another day we drove around Muscatine and found another lively downtown along the river. We stopped at Avenue Subs for a bite before heading back to the campground.
On the other side of the campground was a train track. A very busy train track I might add. We booked three nights here but wound up leaving after two because of the sleepless nights from being woken up seven times one night and five the next by the train whistle. Not to mention the couple of times I’m already getting up during the night to take LizzieBelle out. A third night was out of the question so we up and left right after coffee on what was to be our last day there. Don’t get me wrong, I love trains but not when they wake you up all throughout the night. Toodles noisy trains.
Dates at CharlaRose Lake & Campground: August 5 – 12
Dates at Clark’s Ferry: August 12 – 15 14
eattravelchill.wordpress.com 