Day 6 – A few more campers have come into our loop but it’s not at all full (the weekend hasn’t quite begun yet). When we were driving out, at the dump site near the entrance, that loop (by the Lake) was completely full. We got up at 6:15 a.m. because we wanted to get an earlier start. We’d been warned that there was a big football game in Iowa at 2:30 which could effect traffic on I-80W. Before leaving Illinois, we added the State to our travel map. We left Illini State Park at 8:30 a.m., 69 degrees, clear & sunny.
Illini State Park, 2660 E. 2350th Rd., Marseilles, IL 61341, (815) 795-2448, check-in 3 p.m., check-out 2:59 p.m., https://www.dnr.illinois.gov/Parks/Pages/Illini.aspx. Large campground with two loops: Great Falls contains a section with no hook-ups, nice sites in the woods; and a section with full hook-ups, sites located by or near the Illinois River, sites fairly close to each other & open (trash & dumping station are located here). Whitetail contains a section with no hook-ups, most sites not level & close together; and a section with electric hook-ups only which was where we camped at site #074. This is the best area, although the no-hook-ups sites at Great Falls were also good. Best sites at Whitetail electric only hook-ups were 074 & 062 which had the most shade, followed by 063, 064, & 078. This is a nice, clean campground, at this time of year not crowded anywhere except the Great Falls sites near the Lake. Many roads within the campground to ride bikes on, trails, boating, etc. And there’s the Marseilles Lock. We would stay here again. Not far from I-80W near cute & picturesque town of Marseilles.
We said that we’d never seen so much corn in our lives. We take that back. Today we saw lots more corn (and some soybeans, too), all day in Illinois & Iowa. We did find out that the corn we’re seeing is not the sweet corn for eating; it’s corn for feed & for high fructose corn syrup & for ethanol. Learn something new every day!
Travel on I-80W, all the way to our campground, was much lighter today. Illinois was flatter than Iowa. In IL several very large trucks transporting wind turbine blades passed by going in the other direction. The individual blades are HUGE! We crossed into IA on a bridge which went over the mighty Mississippi River. Soon after crossing into Iowa there were beautiful farmlands situated on rolling hills. The soybean fields were brilliant yellow, looked like flowers at first but then we realized it was the leaves that were so yellow.
Wind turbine blade being transported along I-80 in Illinois. BIG!!
We stopped at a rest stop for lunch and break time; it was quite warm out. The traffic we’d worried about in Iowa for the football game did not materialize. Got off I-80W at exit 225 heading north on IA-151N. The short drive to the campground was very nice. It was located in the middle of a group of seven villages called the Amana Colonies. We’d been seeing the signs along I-80W advertising the Amana Colonies but had no idea what they were.
We were fascinated as our drive took us through small towns with very old buildings, cute shops, bakeries, craft stores, art galleries, & lots of tourists. Very quaint. Oh my goodness, where have we ended up?
(from the 2017 Amana Colonies Visitor’s Guide) “The history of the Amana Colonies, a National Historic Landmark and one of America’s longest-lived communal societies, begins in 1714 in the villages of Germany and continues today on the Iowa prairie….A religious group began meeting in 1714 and became known as the Community of True Inspiration. Though the Inspirationists sought to avoid conflict, they were persecuted for their beliefs…..Persecution and an economic depression in Germany forced the community to begin searching for a new home. Led by Christian Metz, they hoped to find religious freedom in America and left Germany in 1843-44. Community leaders pooled their resources and purchased 5,000 acres near Buffalo, NY. By working cooperatively and sharing their property, the community, then numbering some 1,200 people, was able to carve out a relatively comfortable living. They called their community the Ebenezer Society and adopted a constitution that formalized their communal way of life. When more farmland was needed for the growing community, the Inspirationists looked to Iowa where attractively priced land was available. One valley on the Iowa River seemed particularly promising. Here was fertile soil, stone, wood and water enough to build the community of their dreams. In 1855 they arrived in Iowa. Six villages were established, a mile or two apart, across a river valley tract of some 26,000 acres – Amana, East Amana, West Amana, South Amana, High Amana, and Middle Amana. The village of Homestead was added in 1861, giving the Colonies access to the railroad. Amana means to “remain true”. Farming and the production of wool and calico supported the community, but village enterprises, everything from clock making to brewing, were vital; and well-crafted products became a hallmark of the Amanas…..Today the seven villages of the Amana Colonies represent an American dream come true. Declared a National Historic Landmark in 1965, the Amana Colonies attract hundreds of thousands of visitors annually all of whom come to see and enjoy a place where the past is cherished and where hospitality is a way of life.”
Well, you just never know what you’re gonna see next! We arrived at our campground, the Amana RV Park, at 12:35 p.m. and were assigned site #12. It was 89 degrees, hot & partly cloudy. We’re staying here two nights, meeting our friends here, Mark & Donna. They are camping 2 sites down, and we haven’t seen them in years, They live in a city about 1-1/2 hours north of here, & were nice enough to drive all the way here & finagle a site close to ours. They moved here from the Poughkeepsie area years ago; Rob worked with Mark at IBM & we all became good friends. We also traveled with them to the Boston area many years ago & have lots of fun memories.
This campground is very large and is maybe ½ full of some really big RV’s. We looked dwarfed in comparison. It’s used as a rally destination. Currently a group called “Nomads” is staying here and taking up quite a bit of the campground. We have full hook-ups and we got our site ½ price. To anyone who is travelling and camping, look into “Passport America”. For $40 a year, they offer great discounts at campgrounds across the Country.
As we were unpacking, Mark & Donna walked over & we enjoyed the afternoon talking & hanging out, catching up on everything. We showed them our little RV; they showed us their large RV. It was fun & so good to see them. Their dog, Molly, travels with them; they met our cats; we met their dog. The campground continued to fill up with more RV’s but wasn’t noisy, as you’d expect.
We went into town to the Millstream Brau Haus for dinner, drinks, & live music. Really good food, not very expensive, local wines & beers. Rob & Mark got the amazing beer flight which included 6 large samples of some of the different beer that is brewed here (you pick the ones you want to try). The bluegrassy-style band was very good. We had a great time.
After dinner we went to Middle Amana General Store & spent quite awhile looking around the very interesting store. So many neat items to look at, anything you might want to see & then some. Got back to the RV’s around 7 p.m., still very warm out, and we parted ways, each to tend to our animals.
We were asleep by 9:30, A/C on, & it started to rain. Dreams of rolling hills and corn fields. It rained hard for several hours which finally cooled it off. Tomorow we are going birdwatching with Mark & Donna.
Wow! Amazing clicks. Good to see the ‘DMACS’ guys together 🙂 All the best for future adventures Rob and Vicki.
Thanks Kushagra. It’s been quite a few years since the “Dmacs” guys have been together. It was great to see Mark and Donna again!