TRAVEL DAY: GOREVILLE, ILLINOIS TO WILLIAMSVILLE, MISSOURI.
Day 40 – Today we’re driving to Lake Wappapello State Park in Missouri. This will be our fourth visit to this Park and the wonderful Mingo National Wildlife Refuge. The other three times we were here, it was in March or April; we’ve never been here in the fall.
It was 44 degrees when we left Goreville, Illinois, partly cloudy & breezy. I shut my eyes as we drove through the campground on the way out – the Campground Host had warned us that the hunters had hung their deer from the trees by their campsites. Rob of course had to drive with his eyes open, LOL, but I was the passenger and didn’t have to look. He said there were indeed several deer. It was a good campground and a convenient place to stay, but unpleasant for us nonetheless. We checked before leaving the hunting schedule at our next campground and we won’t have this problem there.
We drove south and west through the remainder of Illinois and entered Missouri after crossing the mighty Mississippi River which separates the two states. It was muddy; it usually is. Pictures of the River didn’t turn out due to the glare on the windows. In Missouri, we noticed lots of trash by the sides of the road; it was actually cotton that had blown off the fields. Cotton fields! Pretty, and something we certainly don’t see every day! Most of the drive was flat – no hills – until we got closer to the campground. This area is in the Mark Twain National Forest with narrow, winding roads, up and down hills, through heavily-wooded land. We are quite familiar with this kind of drive!
We stopped for gas in the RV and lunch for all of us before arriving at Wappapello at 1:20 p.m. We drove through the campground, filled the RV tank with fresh water, and picked a campsite. We chose our favorite site from previous visits, #41, on a hill with a view of the Lake through the trees. There was only one other camping site in use in the whole park. Off-season rates, with senior discount, came to $10 per night for a premium, 50-amp electric site. Awesome! We left our fee and registration paperwork in the envelope provided at the kiosk. Four nights. We will add more nights depending on the weather and how the National Wildlife Refuge is this time of year.
We don’t know if it’s possible that the girls recognize places they’ve been before, but they settled in instantly as if they were home. Such good babies. The high today was 54 degrees and it was mostly cloudy.