The Mighty Mississippi 8.04.16

Thomson Causeway, IL, our first 3 day camping excursion!

Well, I don't want to keep you in suspense. I know you're all wondering, "Did it rain on this trip?" The answer is an extremely frustrated, "YES." (That's 4 for 4, if you're keeping record.)

Our drive across the state of Iowa was stressful. VERY stressful. A nasty band of storms moved east across Iowa, and it was right on our tail as we left home for Thomson Causeway. We adjusted our route and managed to escape the high winds and rain for about an hour, but they eventually caught up with us. We decided to pull over, eat at a restaurant, and allow the storm to pass us. It was a good move on our part, but our 5 hour trip became close to a 7 hour trip by the time we arrived.

Arriving late and in the dark, we couldn't see much more than the road that led us to the campground, and the number at our campsite. Andy managed to back in, and while we quickly leveled the camper, we didn't bother unhooking from the Escape, and figured we'd do it in the morning.

I grabbed the cooler from the car, put it in the camper, and we managed one beverage and a DVD comedy before zonking out and sleeping til morning, the rain stopping around 1 am.

Friday morning arrived, and we absorbed the beauty of this campground! Holy COW, was it cool! We were on an island in the middle of the Mississippi River, and had the backwaters just feet from the B@r T@b. Lush greenery, plentiful wildlife, and stunning views made this particular spot fascinating!

 Look at this cool guy! If you look closely, you'll see he has a frog in his mouth. Nice catch, buddy! We had views of several turtles, frogs, and birds during our stay.

 This is the view of our campsite from the main road. Our flamingos, Fred and Lucy (their names change later out of necessity) greet fellow campers to our site. We had visits from a LOT of fellow campers who were curious about the T@b. We certainly were unique among the campers...lots of large, beige, mass-produced trailers surrounded us.

 This is the view of our setup from the main causeway leading to the island with the campground. You can see our quirky little setup in the center of the photo. (New addition!) a 12x12 popup shelter that has been unbelievably handy!

We used it over our kitchen area to create a nice bit of shade and a seating area out of the sun. It made an extremely lovely spot to relax and chat...especially when Andy's parents came to visit us!

One of the cool things about this campground (and the fabulous weather we had while there) was that many of the campers walked to the point of the island to watch the sunsets each night. We walked the short trip (about 12 campsites away) and enjoyed some of the most spectacular sunsets ever created, and they were on the opposite bank of the Mississippi, so full river view in the pic! Take a look:

In our walks around the campground, we couldn't help but drool over site #60. It was at the prime spot on the island for sunset viewing, and we're hoping we can book that site sometime in the future.

As our experiences seem to show, the weekend ended far too quickly, and it was time to go. We took the B@r T@b on a drive around the island for this lovely photo op, then headed to the dump station for the less than glamorous side of camping. :)

I'll tell you about it in my next post. Don't worry. It's not THAT gross. :)

Happy camping!
Peggy