Turkey Run

Today is Wednesday and we have been at Turkey Run since Sunday.  We have never gotten to the park this many days before the festival so we just relaxed on Monday.  We didn't even get in the car one time.  We read, slept, played chicken foot dominoes, and just contemplated life as we enjoyed beautiful fall weather in God created world.  It was very nice for a change not to be in the car traveling some place.  Today I decided to give a brief synopsis of the last few days for my travel blog.  Sunday, we drove to the park.  Monday, we rested.  Tuesday, Carol had a doctor's appointment so we drove back to Decatur for that and he mowed.  Wednesday, we drove to the three towns that are the biggest part of the festival.  

This is the an roadside motel with cabins.  It was probably a great place to stop back in the 30's, 40's and 50's.  The last time we came through here the cabins were still here and the area was filled with lots of brush so you could barely see the cabins.

Evidently, someone with an idea, brought this land, cleared it out, and turned the cabins into storage units.  It is an old motel with a new purpose.  

Harvest season is in full swing in Central Illinois.  

Here we are back in Indiana.  The sign is fading and hard to read but it says:
Benjamin Harrison, America's Hoosier President and Lincoln's Boyhood Home.

Dana, Indiana is off US 36 in Indiana and the birthplace of the famous WWII journalist Ernie Pyle.  He was embedded with the troops and wrote first-hand accounts of the war starting with the first troops to land in North Africa, Sicily, and then Italy.  After that he covered D-Day and the European war and finally was killed by a sniper at Okinawa in 1945.  He wrote a couple of books about the war.  One of them covered the North Africa Campaign.  I read it because that is where by dad's wartime duties were.  Dad never spoke much about his time in the war so this book helped me learn about the places he served and the battles in which he may have been.  We saw a sign advertising an Ernie Pyle Museum in Dana so we plan to visit it next week.

We also saw a sign indicating that part of US 36 east and west of Newman, Illinois was designated "Earl Riggins Memorial Highway" to honor the fact that he was from Newman and served on the USS Indianapolis.  He was one of 300+ survivors when the ship was sank.  There were over 900 survivors but during the five days it took to find and rescue them from the water, sharks and injuries killed 600.  It was very controversial and the captain was eventually found guilt of neglect.  Mr. Riggins, like most WWII veterans, returned to Newman, married, farmed and lived a quiet life until his death five years ago.   I read that there is only one remaining survivor of the USS Indianapolis.

Anyway, I thought that there are stories of heroes in the heartland that unless you travel the backroads and highways, you will never learn about.

Route 36 leaves the farmland in Illinois and becomes tree-lined in Indiana.  Sad that the leaves haven't turned yet.

This is the bridge that US 36 crosses into Montezuma in Indiana.

This is the 4-H grounds outside Rockville.  By Friday of this week, it will be filled with RV's with people attending the Covered Bridge Festival.  There is one already there.

This is our spot for the next two weeks - Site 228.  We love this spot.  It in under the trees and very large.

As we left the campground this morning, the snoke in the trees through the sun was very pretty.  Carol was kind enough to turn around and pass by it again so I could get a picture but the second time around it wasn't as lovely.

Our first stop this morning was this store in Rockville.  It is a throwback to the five and ten cent stores in the 50's.  They have lots of older things that I don't think you could get anywhere else so we always like to browse the aisles.

After Rockville, we drove to Mansfield and Bridgeton to see how progress was coming for the festival.  Again, we love the drive, but the trees have not turned much.

This is one of many empty parking lots that will be filled on Friday when the festival begins.

This afternoon, we rested, read, slept and just relaxed.  We built the first fire of this trip.

I did manage to take a quick picture of a tree just beginning to turn.  This is what we will have to settle for right now.

That catches me up for the last four days at Turkey Run.  It has been beautiful weather, sunny, low 70's during the day and 40's at night....great camping weather.