We actually left with three days left in September, but by the time we got to Missouri the weather had changed.

The first day of travel was pretty uneventful until we about thirty miles south of Big Cabin, Oklahoma. At this point we came upon a bunch of red lights about two miles up the road. Everyone merged into the left lane as the right lane was closed. As we got closer, I could see that a travel trailer was laying on its side in the right lane. It was a fairly long trailer, and it was a bit of a mystery as to why it flipped. It appeared that everyone was fine and that’s the most important thing.

As a side note Eva was wonderful on the trip. We took one potty break at our fill-up at the Lake Eufaula Loves. Tammy was having a conversation with a truck driver next to our truck and Eva was fine with that.

We spent the first night at the Joplin KOA. On a scale of 1-10, I would probably give it a 7. The sites are level but everything in this KOA journey is gravel and the sites are very, very close together. To their credit, our site was so level that I didn’t need to unhook the trailer. So, I hooked up the power and water, extended the slides, and we were set for the night. That night it got down to 56 degrees. When we lived in Wisconsin, 56 degrees was fine. After living in Texas for 11 years, 56 seems very cold. Needless to say, the furnace did run that night.

The next morning Eva and I had a brisk walk at 4:00 AM around the campground and out to the main road. It was cold but Eva enjoyed it.

Our early morning walk with the moon rising

You can tell that the majority of the folks coming here are enroute to another destination. Everyone was packing up very early in the morning to leave. We were out of the campground by 9:00 and on our way to the Double J campground.

It was an unremarkable drive to the Double J Campground located in Chatham, Illinois. It was about a 6.5-hour drive which in my estimation is long enough. I have to say that Eva has been terrific to travel with. The only time she complains is if Tammy happens to be eating pretzels. In addition, when we stop for fuel she gets her potty break, and has been a happy to get back to the truck afterwards.

The Double J has been under new ownership for the last three years. The new owners have made some major improvements to the park, but even if they had left it the way it was, it would still be a great campground. The owners are really great, and the staff is too. The grounds are really well maintained and the full-time folks that are staying there keep their sites very clean and picked up. You can read more about the Double J by searching our blog. The only downside to the Double J is the sites are on small stone (not gravel) but that is a minor thing.


It would be hard to find a cleaner campground than the Double J. They have also winterized 20 sites for folks that want to stay during the winter months.

We only had a 4-hour drive to Pilgrims Campground in Fort Atkinson Wisconsin, so we left the Double J at 10:30 AM and arrived at 3:30 PM. I know that’s five hours, but we filled up twice and stopped at a wayside for Eva, because the last Loves didn’t have a nice spot to take her for a potty break. Adding to the time is that I am not flying down the highway at the posted speed of 70 mph or greater; 65 is just fine.

If you happen to use the EFS (open roads) fuel cards you will not get a very good discount in Illinois. So don’t be surprised when you fill up and get about 3 dollars off an entire tank of diesel. That was my experience anyway.

We got a full hook up site at Pilgrims, and we set up with a temperature of 85 degrees. However, things would take a drastic change at 3:30 in the morning as a cold front moved in and 35 MPH gusts began hitting the trailer. It was one of those days that you were happy to be sitting somewhere. There was no way I would have towed in that wind. Even though it was still 65 degrees outside at in the early morning, the temperature continued to drop to 55 degrees by 10:00 AM.

We were able to see Tammy’s mom, brother, and his wife, for the two days we were there. Then it was on to Cliffside Park in Racine.

We’ve gone over 1000 miles so far and our fuel costs have been 316 dollars. I expected it would be around 600 dollars for the whole trip, but my guess is that it will probably end up being more than that. However, keep in mind, if we were to drive up, stay at motels, eat out each day, it would be much more expensive.

Stay tuned for more updates!