We pulled into Starved Rock State Park and had a chat with the lone ranger, and by lone I mean the only employee at the state park in Illinois. We discovered this when we tried to hook up to the power supply at our designated site and found it dead. The ranger moved us to the handicapped site across the way commenting, "he he he... I give them spaces away all the time." His tone was backwoods nonchalant....so was Starved Rock State Park. It is basically the only patch of forest in a 500 mile radius surrounded by corn. There were maybe one hundred sites in 2 loops around the campground. No swimming, no amenities, just a little shade from the CORN! It was a place to eat, sleep and play cards. In fact, my little brother and I have played so many games of Rummy, Gin, Double Solitaire, and the like, that we are dreaming about cards at night!
Our next stop was in Lake Anita, Iowa. Hailing from the Great Lakes region and spending the majorities of my summers swimming, kayaking, surfing and just plain relaxing on the beaches of Lake Erie, this place was grossly misnamed. Lake Anita is a large pond in between a few hills in Iowa surrounded by CORN!!! We spent two nights there and I actually shouldn't complain, because we had a good time. I ate some corn, paddled out into the pond with my little brother, and enjoyed some great skies. We leaned back in our raft and watched the big white pillows rolling around in the sky looking for shapes, animals and faces. A nice thunderstorm passed by in the distance, but never came close enough to be any concern. John hopped out for a swim. Life was good.
We played a killer game of soccer with our neighbors, and then spent the rest of the night chatting with some people a few sites down about music. The people you meet in campgrounds are usually very friendly and from greatly varying backgrounds and walks of life. We did lose part of the Winnebago somewhere on our way to Lake Anita. It was the small panel that covers the propane tank, that is leaking....ha ha... this thing is the Beverly Hillbilly motor home as of late.
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