Last Outing of the Season

In my last post I mentioned we had been to our favorite campground, Bo Wood COE at Lake Shelbyville on the final weekend of the season the last 2 years. We couldn't pass up the opportunity to make it 3 in a row. Glenda was able to get off work about an hour early on Friday so we were able to get on the road sooner than normal. IT really helped too since the sun is setting sooner in the evening. I had loaded up some firewood in the afternoon because we knew it was going to get cool/cold at night. We headed out and had a smooth trip to the campground. When we got there we found out that we would have to vacate the campsite sooner than normal(12 noon instead of 4 pm) because it has the most campsites  and they wanted to get them cleaned up for the winter. The smaller side of the campground was going to stay open until the first weekend in December. We tried to get a spot on that side but someone had gotten there about 15 minutes sooner and took the last one. However we did decide to take a different spot on a more wooded loop.

Once we got to our site we noticed that the only other camper on the loop was a motorhome. So we parked way in the back of the loop for some privacy.

Hard to see us in the back(click on pic to enlarge)

I zoomed in

 

 

Of course we brought some chili for dinner and heated it up with some crackers and a little cheese on top. It was delicious. After dinner I hurried outside and got a fire started.

 

We sat by the warmth of the fire and listened to the radio on the outdoor speakers. It was very peaceful and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. The stars were out in full force. As the fire burned down we headed inside to watch some TV and I played some games on the my smartphone.

We had the small electric heater on so it kept the trailer comfortable. So comfortable in fact that we ended up sleeping until 9am on Saturday morning. We like to sleep a little later on the weekend but that was later than expected. I guess we were just too cozy under out micro fleece sheets. Once we got up we had out oatmeal and juice and got ready to take a trip into Arthur, IL for some supplies and check out the Amish Market. We got our supplies at the Dollar General and noticed that there was a larger than normal number of buggies in front of the store.

 

 

Then we headed to the Amish Market were they have bake goods, ice cream, fudge, produce, meats, and assorted candy and snacks. 

 

 

After perusing the goods we ended up getting some veggie chips and a small loaf of pumpkin bread.

 

By that time we were getting hungry again so we checked out a small BBQ restaurant in town called

 



I had the brisket special with Hobo potatoes and Cole slaw with cornbread and Glenda had the Salmon burger with a salad. I know I enjoyed my food more than Glenda did. The meat was firm but tender and had that great smoked flavor. The BBQ sauce was spicy but not overpowering. The only downside of the meal was it took about 1 hour to get our food. It was busy and the wait staff was doing the best they could but that is a little long to wait even for good food. I was definitely stuffed after that meal and ready to head back to the campground and take a walk to work off some of my meal. So that is what we did. The wind had picked up a little in the afternoon but most of the loops we walked were pretty well sheltered. Of the 136 campsites in the whole campground only about 24-26 sites were occupied. I guess with the government shutdown earlier and the cool weather people decided to either put the camper away early or just stay home. Either way we had most of the campground to ourselves. I got another fire started in preparation for the evening. As I was stoking the fire and enjoying the flames I got out my phone and took some photos with different settings.

 

Solarized setting

Negative setting

 

 

It was fun playing with the settings and giving the photos some different feel.  Along with that I talked Glenda into a Selfie photo of ourselves. You can see it was getting a little cold and we were bundled up.

 

 

 

 

You have to understand getting Glenda to let me take a photo of her is a rare feat. She doesn't like how she looks in pictures but I think she's beautiful. We won't have any problem being together 24/7.

 

After a while we went inside and had some leftover chili for dinner and hurried back out to enjoy the fire. Once it started to die down we went in for some TV. Again it felt good to get under the sheets and get cozy. We woke up earlier on Sunday morning since we had to be out by noon. I took the truck into Sullivan and filled the tank and got some coffee for me and diet coke for Glenda. When I got back we had our oatmeal and juice. Glenda got a shower and I started getting the outside ready so we could hitch up at the last minute. We took a short walk and talked to a couple that had just purchased a pop up and were out for the maiden voyage. Our first camper had a canvas bunk out and it would get pretty cold in the fall but to have all four walls canvas is more than I would want. They said they had two heaters going all night. I'm sure they did.

 

Well before we had to hitch up I took a few more photos of some of the sites in our loop.

 

The sites are nicely spaced

Many are long and wide just right for a big rig

 

 

Right behind our site was a short path down to the lake with a nice bench to sit and enjoy the scenery. I took some shots from different angles of our site and the lake.

 

It's easy to see why we enjoy coming to this campground and being a COE and me having my Senior Pass the full hook ups are $12/night.(I know I've mentioned that before but is worth saying again) Well it was getting late and we needed to get out of our site so Glenda cleaned up the inside and I got the trailer hitched up and we left our site right at noon. Nothing like getting your monies worth. We decided that since we couldn't stay on our site past noon and we weren't really ready to leave we would drive down by the boat launch ramp and park in the parking lot for a while and enjoy our last weekend out for the season. We parked and got out some chicken salad and crackers and had a quick mini lunch. Then we explored the park area by the boat launch.

Our last Selfie of the season

 

 

After about an hour of watching folks launch and pull boats out of the water we headed for home. We made it home in good time and started to take our clothes, food stuffs and most interior items out. We will be back this next weekend to get the rest of the things we don't want to keep in the trailer over the winter. I plan to winterize the water system on Friday and take the trailer to the truck wash before we put the RV cover on. Remove the battery, get it charged up and on the battery tender. I've had the trailer for sale on Craigslist but not much happening this time of year. Hope to sell in the spring before it's time to pick up the new 5th wheel. Trade in value is not much of anything but we may have no choice if it doesn't sell. Retirement is getting closer and the truck will be ordered soon then on through the winter and place the 5th wheel order around Feb next year. If everything goes as planned the house will sell  and we will move into the rig sometime in April-May next year. Bittersweet feeling being the last time we will camp in the trailer but looking forward to the future. I do have the Hitch Itch that Rick and Kathy of It's about Time commented on a couple of posts back. All I can say to that is we're working toward retirement and it won't be long. Thanks everyone.