St. Louis to Elkhart – Getting Our Geese in a Row

After a wonderful but jam packed stay in St. Louis, we had about two weeks to get to Elkhart to start our summer bus projects. And we had a LOT of work stuff stacking up to get on top of before jumping into bus chaos then boarding a train to Alaska!

So we set off with what would hopefully be a leisurely pace in search of campsites where we could get some isolation and time to really focus. We have apps to get updated, mobile internet equipment to get tested and content to produce.

All and all, we really scored on some sweet locations!

Stop 1: Cat Sitting

First stop out of St. Louis was visiting some family friends to the north on their property. They have bus parking and were hosting a Mother’s Day feast.

Chris’ Mom and Grandma came on up for the day, so it was great to get some bonus family time.

Turns out our hosts needed to head out of town for a few days, and asked if we could stick around and take care of their cats.

It didn’t take us long to accept – a gorgeous location and all to ourselves?

It was perfection, and exactly what we needed to re-charge and get a handle on all of the projects ahead of us.

Stop 2: Middle Fork Campground

When looking ahead for potential stops, I try to find locations that are new to us. We have a thing for public parks.

We love feeling more out in nature, and having lots of space around us. As our holding tanks are setup to easily go 2 weeks without dumping, we rarely need full hook-ups – which gives us a lot of flexibility to stay in the places that bring us the greatest joy.

I spotted this little park just north of Champaign, IL within Middle Fork Forest Preserve, run by the County of Champaign. Their website gave enough info to make it sound like it could be nicely run – they even accept online reservations. But I could only find one (positive) review.

Our app Coverage? (which we just completed an update for) showed we should have cellular signal for both AT&T and Verizon.

So we took a chance, and headed out here. According to their reservation system there was plenty of availability through the weekend.

Spot 34 – Spacious & Private

Looking down a row

‘Walking’ Kiki on the trails

The swimming lake

We were in disbelief when we arrived. A completely empty but gorgeous and well maintained campground around a little swimming lake. Huge private feeling sites, and over 7 miles of hiking trails.

How was it we were the only ones here?

The camp hosts were off for the day, but a sign in the registration office said to just go pick a site then register. I pulled up the online reservation map and we walked the campground to find an ideal site for a few days.

And then I just made a couple taps and checked us in online. How cool is that??

Our stay at Harry Swartz Campground (we’ll post a full review as soon as Campendium adds the listing) was simply amazing. Even as the park filled in a bit over the weekend – it remained peaceful and chill.

We got a lot of work done, and had easy access to beautiful hiking along the Middle Fork River. Exactly what we needed!

We’re always hesitant to share scores like this – for fear it won’t remain chill. But this location, is a true gem that is underutilized. If you’re in the area and enjoy the kind of campgrounds we do, it can’t be beat. Prices as low as $14/night for electric hook-ups during the week, or $20 on weekends.

Stop 3: Indiana Dunes State Park

We had actually stayed at this park last year when we were in the Elkhart area, and enjoyed it so much we decided to return.

While we didn’t need to make a reservation and we hardly ever do, we did anyway. Guess my intuition had kicked in, because just a few days later a price increase was implemented state wide to $23/night from $19 (not that the sites aren’t worth the new price.)

Our drive in was a bit tough – heavy wind gusts the entire way, combined with the ever lovely Indiana roads (seriously… when was the last time they were paved??). But we made it in, and were happy to be still for a few more days.

Sunset along Lake Michigan

Narrow and poorly maintained roads.. combined with high winds.

Dune side site #104

The first couple days were great weather and we hit the trails and enjoyed sunsets along the shores of Lake Michigan.

And then the temperatures plummeted into the mid 40s (in MAY??) keeping us less inclined to be outside. Which was fine, we were able to super focus and get our projects wrapped up so we could head in Elkhart ready to tackle the bus!

Another great stay at Indiana Dunes State Park (our review).

What’s Next?

Now that we’ve gotten all our ducks in an order work wise, we shift focus to bus projects!

We’re now parked at Master Tech RV in Elkhart, where we’ll be spending the next week working with the crew here to come up with the final project hit list.

Aside from a new paint job, Zephyr will also be getting some sweet upgrades that we’re not yet ready to reveal (mostly because we haven’t decided on the exact ones we’ll accomplish.) She’s gonna be super spiffy when next we roll.

We also have to effectively move out of our home and into a back pack for a 6+ week adventure of our own.

Once Zephyr is prepped to hand over and we’re packed up.. we’ll head back down to St. Louis in the Mini with Kiki. She’ll stay there.. then we start our adventure to Alaska by rail & sea!

Wow.. so much to get accomplished! It’s crunch time!