Heading West Again

Several years ago, we stayed at the tiny campground, Arrowhead Lake, near Johnson City, Illinois.  We were delighted with both the campground and the price ($8.00 per night).

Imagine our surprise when we stopped this year, and found the campground had made some cosmetics improvements, and the price is still $8.00 (7.00 seniors)!

The campground is on the banks of Arrowhead Lake, and a walking trail runs along the banks.  These are photos we snapped of the office, picnic shelter, trail, log chapel and campground.

          

             

       

       

       

       

       

In contrast, a few days later we chose the 5 Star RV Park near Tyler, TX from our Passport America listings.  Yep, that’s the name, 5 Star.  We drove several miles down a narrow country highway to find the park.

      

When we finally located it, the “5 Star” park was nothing more than grass sites.  There was no Rec hall, laundry, or restrooms.   Texas has been in a state of drought now for several years, and the brown grass crackled underneath our feet.  To his credit, the owner said he had purchased the park rather recently, and had several improvements planned.  Our Passport price was $14, which means non-member customers are paying $28.00 nightly.  What a contrast to a few nights ago at Arrowhead Lake.

Our Second Month this Summer at McCormick’s Creek

The first weekend back at the park was a busy time.

A Tear Jerkers Rally was set for the weekend.  Teardrop trailers are tiny RVs that look like a teardrop laid on its side. The Tear Jerkers have an open policy, allowing anyone with a small RV to join.  Most of the sites in Loop A (where we were located) were rented for the rally.  27 states, plus Canada, were represented.  There were all sizes, shapes and colors from expensive toys to homemade ones.  I couldn’t resist taking several photos.  If you’d like to see them, click on the logo pictured here:

The official site for the Tear Jerkers Rally can be found here.

Ron enjoyed joking with the owners of the tear drops that our 5th wheel started out the same size as theirs until he began adding Miracle Gro to the water each time he washed it.  :-)

McCormick’s Creek 95th Birthday Celebration was held on the same weekend.  A free concert was presented by the Bloomington Community Band.  Attendance  was good, considering the temperature was 90+ degrees.   Birthday cake was served to all following the concert.  We helped serve the cake.

We made a day trip with granddaughter, Chelsey, to Shakamak State Park in western Indiana.   

 

Chelsey has worked for the McCormick Creek Stables this summer as trail leader.  Grandpa joined her for one of the trail rides.

Fortunately, the weather cooled considerably a little later in our month’s stay, and we were able to hike once again.  If you don’t mind the 150 steps plus going down (and what goes down must come up), Trail 10 is very scenic, running alongside and crossing the creek.

                 

Later in the month we enjoyed celebrating two birthdays, that of our coordinator, Connie McCain, and her husband, David’s.  Including ourselves, 4 sets of camp hosts were on hand for the party. 

            

          

We also enjoyed several family visits during the month.  It’s been a great summer, spent in a great place surrounded by great friends and family.