Campground Full
Starting on Wednesday people came in and set up tents or popups then went away to work...claiming their site for the long weekend. By Friday evening the "Campground Full" sign was up. We'd never seen that here at Illinois Beach. Only about 10% of the sites hear are reservable so everything else is "first come, first served." That works well for us because you can surely get in here during the week and claim your 14 days. (more on that later)
The weekend weather was wonderful and the crowd wasn't too rowdy. One group down the way started playing loud music Saturday afternoon but after a couple of hours I guess the neighbors got tired of it and the Ranger came by to quiet the group down. Lots of family groups had adjoining sites with huge screened in rooms and outdoor games. Funny how excited people can get throwing beanbags into a hole or weighted ropes around a bar.
We took several bike rides and got into the swing of "camping" on Saturday night with a huge fire. The family across the way was showing a movie inside their screened room. We were outside all evening and were never bothered by flies or mosquitoes. But lots of folks have the screened rooms and I know it can be a problem here. We talked about getting an enclosure, just in cast, but it's just one more thing to find a place for and so far we haven't really felt the need.
Last night, on a site down the way, el flamo appeared! It was a large family group, with lots of kids including a baby and here they are with the campfire about three feet from the trailer, throwing flammable fluid on the flames. Fire shot up higher than the trailer! ....and they are laughing hysterically! How stupid. And then they are raising another generation who'll think this is OK.
Well we lucked out. We're parked next to the campground host who's pretty quiet, the people across the street were not tooooo noisy and the folks next door were an older couple who had a quiet party. The weather was so good that I bet people didn't believe ran was coming but middle of the night ....it poured. Lots of campers were packing up soaked stuff in the rain this morning.
Two days of rain are forecast in the Midwest. We planned to leave tomorrow but the weather looks stormy here and in Indiana....so....Jim went to see the campground checkin guy. We've already been here 15 days.. (shhhh). Could we stay another day? Good thing Jim had schmoozed with him because he says, "Let me check with the supervisor." He calls the supervisor and says, "I got a guy here who's having some electrical problems on his car and he needs to stay over. OK?" "Well OK...one more day!" says the supervisor. I bet they have that routine all worked out and that's how people get around the 14 day limit.
Wednesday looks to be sunny all around...so we should be movin' then. I forgot to mention that we dumped tanks on Saturday and all systems worked well. So my confidence is slowly being restored but my fingers and toes are still crossed.