Back in Rantoul IL

Rantoul, IL (Prairie Pines CG)

74 deg. partly cloudy, NE wind @ 13 mph.
Forecast =  Partly cloudy with isolated storms. Highs around 77°F. North wind 11 to 16 MPH, gusting to 21 MPH. Chance of precipitation near 55%.

Linda woke up about an hour earlier than planned so by 8:55 we were pulling out of the Hilltop CG near Goreville. Just outside of the park, we turned onto the entrance ramp for I-57 North. 57 was a pretty good road, (except for the bridge approaches), and we made good time, even though we did have a few fairly short construction zones.

When we got up to Tuscola, we pulled into a truck stop and Jim bought Big RED a nice big drink of #2 diesel. He was pretty thirsty because the last drink that he had was way back in Clarksville, TN.

Once Big RED had his drink we continued on I-57 up here to Rantoul and the Prairie Pines Campground. When we pulled up in front of the office, it was 12:45, so we had been on the road for about 3 hours and 50 minutes and traveled 221 miles.

Louise was waiting for us and led us right to site #23.  Jim has always said that he thought 23 was his favorite site and this year, Louise was able to save it for us. :-)

Here's a few photos of our site.

Viewed from the street

View from patio looking towards the street. That's the bath house/laundry across the street on the right.

Our back yard.

View from back yard. Those big trees on the awning side of Nora are on the South side, so they provide very good shade during the hottest part of the day.

As you can see, the sites are huge and for the most part very level. All the sites are Pull-through and Paul and Louise know which ones you need to park on to avoid problems with the trees if you have satellite.  

When we drove into the park, I saw a 5th wheel trailer and truck that looked very familiar. And, it should have, because it belongs to  Mike and Terri Young, very good RVing friends that Jim and Linda have known for quite a few years. We haven't been able to meet up with them much lately, but this summer, they've been spending some time in IL. and decided to stay here at Prairie Pines for awhile.

After Jim got Nora unhooked from Big RED and set up, they came by to bring Linda a card, wish her a Happy Birthday and to visit for awhile. I find it amazing that even though RVers may not see each other for a long time, they seem to just pick up the conversation right where they left off the last time they visited. ;-)

I think RVers, especially full-time RVers, are a little different breed. ;-)

Tentative plans have already been made with Mike and Terri to go out to eat today. And, I'm sure there will be a lot more visiting and catching up on what's happened lately while they're here.

A little later, Paul and Louise also stopped by to bring Linda a card, wish her a Happy Birthday. see Nora and to visit, but they couldn't stay to visit because a RV came into the park and they had to go to register it and lead it into a site. :-(

I'm sure Jim and Linda will be visiting with them soon though.

Just one last thing!  Linda wants to thank everyone who called, e-mailed, left a blog comment or came over to wish her a Happy Birthday!!!! It really did mean a lot to her to hear from all of you.

Thank you!!!!

Did you know that the world's first Skyscraper was built in Chicago, in 1885?

Woof!!!