A couple of weeks ago, Candy and I took our first real trip with our travel trailer. We spent a day in Springfield, IL and then a few days in the Quad Cities area. We opted for full service campgrounds on this trip, with full hookups (electrical, water, and sewer), so that we could have a hotel-like experience. We also took our birds along, Robin Hood the red lored Amazon parrot, and Scarlet the scarlet macaw. It was quite the merry band rolling down the highway, tunes on the truck radio, and Scarlet singing along from the backseat. In case you did not know, macaws are not musical; it was like being serenaded by broken cement mixer. A cheerful cement mixer… but still not musical.
Tuesday – Who Needs Air Conditioning?
We arrived at the Double J Campground on the south side of Springfield to 95 degree heat, 100% humidity, and a regional power outage. At least it was breezy, so as long as we were in the shade, the heat was tolerable. We set up the trailer and set about waiting for electricity and AC. It was ironic that I had bought a generator for the trailer but had left it at home because we were headed for campgrounds with electric hookups. Why would we need the generator?
In about an hour, the electricity did come on which meant that we had air conditioning… for about 90 minutes. That was when the AC unit stopped and I discovered that it has tripped its circuit breaker. I tried resetting the breaker and it immediately tripped again. I spent the next hour sweating, cursing, and phoning; trying to find someone who could advise me on how, or even if, there was anything I could do at the campsite to get the thing working again. We had been planning on dinner out at a local microbrewery but since we could not leave the birds in a closed trailer without AC, that plan went out the window. Candy graciously cooked dinner.
As mysteriously as it failed, the air conditioner recovered. About an hour after it initially quit, I tried turning it on again and it ran without a hitch for the rest of night and the week. My best guess is that it iced up in the extreme heat plus humidity.
Wednesday – Abraham Lincoln, Rain, and Humility
Wednesday morning, after showers and sleep and breakfast, the world looked a whole lot better.
We left the birds in the air conditioned trailer and drove into Springfield to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. We had visited it several years ago but left before seeing the whole museum. This time, we started at about the halfway point and did the parts that we missed the first time. I came away impressed with how hard Lincoln’s job was and how nasty politics were in the middle of the 1800s. The personal attacks and mudslinging that we see in today’s politics are right in line with the aspersions cast by all parties in Lincoln’s day. (I do not know historical broad spread threats of violence by political extremists here in the USA, though. That seems to be a modern invention for our country.) The museum is one of the most interactive and engaging that I have ever visited.
After the museum, we stopped at Walmart to pick up some fresh fruit and a couple of deli sandwiches. We had a quick lunch back in the trailer. Then we hooked up the truck and headed north to Camelot Campground Quad Cities in Rock Island, IL.
We drove through some bodacious rain on the way up with some pretty hefty winds. Slowing down was sufficient to keep everything calm. I never felt like the trailer was jerking the truck around or like I should pull off the road. Even with a stop to buy some Junior Mints (they didn’t have any!) and a trailer taillight bulb (which I didn’t end up needing), we were at the campsite by early afternoon.
I got another helping of humble pie. Maybe one of these days I will learn to like the stuff. I was having a lot of trouble getting the trailer parked. The woman from the campground office was directing me and clearly exasperated with my incompetence. She was gracious about it and never said anything. She just efficiently told me which way to turn the wheel and when and once she had my trailer on the concrete pad, she made a hasty retreat to the office. I hope that she gets a gold star for patience.
We set the trailer up, this time with electricity available, with no fuss. We got the birds settled. Candy and I sat and decompressed a bit outside, watching the red winged blackbirds, house sparrows, and herons around the little lake. Rain rolled through while we were at dinner. We returned to a gorgeous sunset.
On Wednesday morning, we drove to see the Pine Creek Grist Mill in Muscatine, IA. This is the last of about 500 mills that operated in Iowa. It was restored in the 1990s and today is fully functioning, both with its water wheel and with its steam engine.
Nearby, Candy got to meet a stainless steel llama. One of the park employees at the grist mill told us that this property used to be owned by a woman who had a herd of llamas.
The rest of that day was pretty mundane, with a bit of shopping, a lot of relaxing, and pizza with beer. As my good friend Ron is fond of saying, life is good.
Thursday – Atomics, Arsenals, and Milk Shakes
Our Thursday “itinerary” included a visit to the Rock Island Armory to see both the atomic canon and the newly re-opened museum. I had wanted to see the atomic canon during my bicycle tour last year but a flat tire delayed me so much that there was not time.
I think that this was my first time on an active military base. The security process surprised me. I got to fill out a real form, on paper and with a pen, and then hand over the form and my Real ID Missouri driver’s license. (The old style license would not have been sufficient.) Ultimately, the soldier deemed me not a threat and issued me a plastic recreational visitor pass, with photo, valid for one year. Candy passed muster, too, so we got to proceed through the guard station and onto the base.
The atomic canon was every bit as awesome as I had dreamed. Imagine being on the battlefield with the sheer power of this artillery, able to lob nuclear warheads up to 30 whole miles. You better hope that the wind is to your back.
There was a bunch more hardware arrayed around the atomic canon. All had some connection to the Arsenal. One of the more interesting, to me anyway, was this M115 8-inch howitzer. It was standard issue during the Korean and Vietnam Wars. Like the atomic canon, it could fire both regular explosive shells and nuclear shells. This particular howitzer was overhauled at the Rock Island Arsenal in 1977 and then sold to Iran. It was captured by Iraqi troops during the Iran-Iraq War. It was then re-captured by US forces during the Gulf War. And now it is on display, back at the RIA.
From there we went to the Rock Island Arsenal Museum. I had always thought of an arsenal as a factory which manufactures and stores weapons and ammunition. I quickly learned that that is just a tiny portion of what gets done at an arsenal. It is basically a manufacturing city, always growing and adapting to whatever the US armed forces require. This particular arsenal has made everything from mess kits to bridles to whole tanks. It has had roles in numerous experimental weapon systems. Today, it even has a good sized additive manufacturing plant.
In case you cannot tell, this museum is definitely worth your time. As an added bonus, there is no admission charge and parking is also free.
Lunch on Thursday was at a Maid-Rite diner. I got an Original Maid-Rite sandwich and a chocolate milk shake. It might not have been good for me but it tasted so good that I don’t care.
The rest of the trip was a relaxing afternoon and evening followed by a completely uneventful drive home.
Other than the iced up air conditioner, the trailer and truck worked flawlessly. The shower is great, not huge but spacious enough. The hot water tank is plenty big. We have each cooked and cleaned enough in the kitchen to know that it is just fine for preparing real meals. The truck is averaging between 9.5 and 10 MPG when towing.
My cousin and his wife also live the RV life. He describes a real appreciation for YouTube as, like yourself, he’s always doing some sort of maintenance.
YouTube is my Bible for RV life, for sure!