Fireflies, Country Western Music and Detours

We found some bugs we like!  I can't remember the last time I saw fireflies, but last night when I took Maggie out around 9pm, they were everywhere.  So beautiful!  Little lanterns in the air. I'll look again tonight for them.  We are in Southern Illinois and it brought back super memories of chasing them in my grandmother's yard  - which was about 50 miles south of here!   
About 7pm last night I started hearing - over the sound of the traffic on the interstate and the air conditioner - loud music.  I was starting to get upset and ready to call the camp host, but couldn't find a number.  When I went outside with Maggie, Roger came with me to look for the noise pollution.  It turned out that there was a country bar about a quarter mile down the road. They were having an outdoor concert and the noise was carrying over the open fields.  I can't imagine how loud it would have been if we had been at the bar!  Rog was talking to one of the guys who lives in the park and he said that they do these concerts once a month.  Lucky us - we were there on the right day!  

Our drive today was a pretty straight shot north across the toe of Kentucky into Indiana. Then about ten miles north of Evansville we turned west  We had a bit of a craziness, though.  I was using a 2014 road atlas map and Sal (GPS) was navigating from her update just before we left home.  You would think that between the two of them it would be a piece of cake and we would know where we were going.    

My map said we were on some parkway from north of Clarksville to Hopkinsville at the Ohio River.  Once we were in Indiana it said we were to take I-164 on a ring road around Evansville and connect with I-64 going west.  OK.  Looks good on paper.

About halfway between Clarksville and Evansville there was a sign that said the parkway was ending in one mile and then roadsigns popped up proclaiming we were on I-69.   OK, our paper map is old and they've renamed the road.  No prob. Carry on.

Ohio River at Evansville, IN/Hopkinsville, KY

Would you say this bridge needs some work?

We crossed the Ohio River on the most scary looking bridge (we definitely need some infrastructure funds for bridges) where we were to join the ring road.  The road that we thought would be I-164 has been named I-69 and is closed for construction. We had to  take a detour through Evansville on US41. It was a long 16 miles with the detoured highway traffic, traffic signals, and filling-rattling train crossings.  Our I-69 detour signs disappeared at some point, so we just kept heading north on US41 until we found I-64.  SAL never did figure out where we were until we got to the intersection of 41 and 64.   When we got there we stopped for lunch.  We haven't had much luck with roadside rests since we left Pensacola, so decided to just pull into a truck stop and park in the back by the grassy area.  We put out the awning for shade, got our chairs and a table and our lunch and then the entertainment started.  A young man was learning to drive a big semi.  His instructor would show him how to make turns, how to back into a spot, how to pull out, etc. Then he got out and the young man tried it - lots of times.  It was interesting and fun to watch.  He waved to us every time he passed and we kept giving him thumbs up.  He was trying so hard but just couldn't back the rig into a parking spot.  They were still at it when we left and waved goodbye. 

As we were pulling out of the truck stop I noticed this sign.   Note the overhanging power wires going every which way. Lots of them.  We are so used to underground wires that these make you want to go get a cord organizer!  Rog wants to know if they are still serving the same food as they did in 1825 at the Log Inn.  

In Hopkinsville, KY there is a huge John James Audubon Preserve and Museum.  We couldn't stop with the RV, unfortunately.  It looked like a lovely place to spend an afternoon.  

In Kentucky our view was still hampered by trees along the road.  Just couldn't see much of what was behind them.  We did see a huge Tyson chicken processing plant - they are looking for workers - $12/hr!  


Once we got into Indiana there was more opportunity to see what the countryside looked like.  Beautiful farms and lots of corn fields.  In Illinois, the same, but the fields didn't look as good as they looked very dry.

Right behind that line of trees is the interstate!
Otherwise it's a lovely site.

I've had a request from a faithful reader to include the names of the RV parks we stay in so she can look them up and see what they look like, so from now on we will do that. (She's an RVer) Wednesday was Birmingham South RV Park, and the last two nights was the Clarksville RV Park and Campground.  I didn't take photos at the first one.  

Clarksville Campground

Tonight we are staying in Mount Vernon, IL in the Archway RV Park.   Tonight's place is the least appealing of the three, as it isn't very well maintained and over half of it filled with residents.  It'll do for an overnight.  It was easy in and will be an easy out tomorrow. When we pulled in the owner told us to pull through one of the sites, turn left and pick a site.  So, Roger picks the site next to the one we pulled through.  It's a straight shot out to the road and nice and long.  About the time we dropped the RV and Rog had hooked up the power and water she came out and told us she didn't mean that site.  She meant the ones further down.  She was saving this one for last minute folks with 45 foot rigs.  She didn't make us move, but let us know she wasn't happy with the spot we picked.  Rog said that she should have assigned us a site and that would have solved the issue.  Oh, well.   Fuel stations are close by so it'll work.  We have some shade and the place is quiet which is a plus.  There's a pond at one end and I saw some creatures scurrying around the bottom in the mud but have no idea what they were.   

We stopped for lunch in Indiana and we are parked in Illinois tonight.  That rates two states on the map!  It'll be a few more days before we get the last two!






We've got pretty decent WIFI tonight.  Had to laugh, though, because someone in the park has a hotspot called "JesusIsLord2.6gh  It's password protected so couldn't log on to it :-/   People have some strange names for their hotspots, but this is a first for us.  

Today was the hottest so far - 90 degrees and about 65% humidity.  Cooler temps are forecast for the weekend.

It's a bit of a long post tonight, but lots happened today and I had photos to share. It was a fun day!   Thank you for sticking with me to the end!  

P.S.  Maggie was still a bit under the weather this morning but is still improving.  She wanted to play ball with Roger tonight, so you know she's feeling better.