Rantoul To Utica and Proud Of Myself

Utica, IL.

65 Deg. partly cloudy, NE wind @ 6 mph.

Forecast = Partly cloudy. Highs in the lower 80s. Light and variable winds in the morning becoming east around 10 mph in the afternoon.


After what seemed like forever, we finally left Rantoul at about 20 minutes to 11:00. I had been waiting and waiting to get on the road but we didn't want to get to our destination before the 1:00 check-in time, so I had to be patient.

From Rantoul, we headed West on US 136 until we came to I-74. 74 took us up to Bloomington where we pick up I-55. 55 took us up and around to the North side of Normal where we tuned North on I-39. Once on 39 we followed it all the way up to I-80, (near LaSalle). After turning East on I-80, we took the first exit and after crossing over to the North side of the expressway, we followed a frontage road here to the Hickory Hollow Campground . 

Since we took our time and drove slow, it was 10 minutes after 1:00 when we pulled up in front of the office, so we traveled 118 miles in about 2 hours and 30 minutes.

How's that for a nice leisurely drive? ; )

But, you want to know what was the best part of all???? Well, after Jim pulled me into my site and had me positioned just where we wanted me, he shut off my engine and restarted it again. Twice!!!!  And, you know what? it started up perfectly both times!!!! Hot engine and all!!!!  ; ))

Phew!!! I was so relieved that I can't even describe how it felt. I was pretty sure that my starter problem was repaired, but you just never know until you get out on the road and test it under real conditions!

Oh, and one other thing. (and I'm going to pat myself on my roof here). Jim also said that he was very pleased with how I performed on our way here. He said that I never felt like I was straining or having problems merging onto the freeways. He also said that I was much easier to drive than any other Motorhome that he had driven and is looking forward to driving me many, many miles.

Wow!! What a nice complement!! ; )

After getting me settled onto my site, Jim took the camera and took a few pictures of the CG. He and Linda had been here many times in the past, so he didn't take a lot of them.

This first one is of the Office / Store,  viewed from near my site. (D-3)

This next one is of me in my site. Because Jim told them that he and Linda don't watch TV on satellite, they gave me a nice shady site.

This is a nice CG and if you come here during the week and you belong to Passport America, you can get a nice level full hook-up site with free wi-fi and 50 amp electric for only $17. (Cash only).

This morning, we'll be leaving here to head up to the Wisconsin Dells. Jim says we'll probably leave sometime between 10:00 and 10:30. If my calculations are correct, it should be about 180 miles up there.

Did you know that more than ten people a year are killed by vending machines?