Kentucky trip, day 3

April 18,2007 At Gillespie Lake, Gillespie, Illinois.

This morning we were slow getting started. We've been pushing too hard. I am really feeling stressed. I have decided to x out the agenda. We'll just have to take it slower and get there when we get there.

We had lunch at a little town, a German town. It wasn't the greatest place, but we took a short walk after lunch and then went on our way.

On our way today, we stopped at a Ferry crossing to see if it would be a way for us to get across the river. It turned out that the ramp to the ferry was too steep; our overhang would have scraped badly or hung up completely. It was interesting to watch. The tug boat that pushed the ferry was on a hinge so that going one way it would be on one side of the flatbed ferry and to come back it would swing around to the other side.

About 4 PM Robert spotted a sign to "Beaver Dam Lake St. Park." We turned around and headed for the park. Sadly, without an Illinois map there was no way to find it because there were no more signs. I had maps for Arkansas and Oklahoma which we probably won't need and no maps for Illinois and Indiana which we do need. We wandered around on back roads for a while and finally came out where we had left the highway, near Gillespie. I spotted a sign for Gillespie Lake and we were off again. At the lake the campground, somehow was really depressing. Perhaps, the port-a-potty in lieu of a "shower house" had something to do with that. It did seem to have electricity. There were no campers. Lots of trees both standing and fallen. Not a pretty sight. We went to the office and asked if we could park in the parking lot over looking the lake. It was light and bright and no trees to fall on us and a view of the lake. The folks in the office said we couldn't camp there; it was against the law.. They also said that we shouldn't go down the "Old Lake" road which we had spotted. They were so adamant about that it made Robert feel obligated to test it out. We left the RV and walked to the "Old Lake" and discovered there were plenty of turn around places. We decided to park there and spend the night. And that is where we are.

A few signs of spring coming along today.. Occasionally a tree had green showing. Many have signs that the leaves had come out only to have been nipped by frost and had to start over again.