After 6 months of full-time stationary RV life, we’ve now finished up our first full month actually traveling! We left home base on March 31 and spent all of April in southern Illinois. We thought it’d be fun to put together an overview of the month including where we stayed, what we did, lessons we learned, and what our future plans are.
Here’s April on the map! This is everywhere we went, except for errands like groceries & gas.
Where We Stayed
We spent March 31st at our first Harvest Host, then two weeks at the World Shooting & Recreational Complex, two weeks at Ferne Clyffe State Park, and the last two nights of April were at Fort Massac State Park. While planning our year we weren’t sure how long we’d want to stay at each campground. Some full-time RVers spend months in one place, and others move weekly or more. We thought 2 weeks would be a good middle ground to try out. We’ve also been staying at state parks and in Illinois there’s a limit of 14 nights at a park in a 30 day period, so that worked out too. The WSRC was full hook-ups (electric, water, sewer), but our other campsites were electric only. We knew that our black tank could go about two weeks before needing dumped, so that was another reason we thought it would be a good timeframe. Overall, we think it’s a good amount of time to explore an area before moving on. We also did short moves between campgrounds, so we slowly worked our way across the state.
I’ve written about some of our campgrounds on the blog already:
- In Our Harvest Hosts Era: All About Our First Adventure
- The Complete World Shooting and Recreational Complex Camping Guide
- A Nature Lover’s Paradise: The Ultimate Ferne Clyffe State Park Campground Guide
What We Did
Events
Total Solar Eclipse
Our trip started off pretty eventful, since the full solar eclipse was a week into our time in Southern Illinois. Josh’s dad and our friends Liz and Anthony came down to watch it with us, since we had full totality in our WSRC campsite. The day before the actual eclipse, we also went into Carbondale for some eclipse festivities at SIU and to visit some of our former scouts who go to school there. Besides the coolness of the eclipse itself, it was really interesting as a cultural event. We saw so many people coming to see it and it was cool to see everyone so excited.
Indigenous Plant Symposium
Josh and I returned to SIU in late April for the Southern Chapter of the Illinois Native Plant Society’s annual indigenous plant symposium. I had wanted to go to the symposium anyways, and it ended up working out for Josh to have a table for work there too. We learned a lot of interesting things about plants and got to meet fellow plant nerds. We’ve done events with our local chapter before, so it was fun to meet new people. We even met an SIU student who will be working for the Kane County Forest Preserves when he graduates this year. The day after the actual symposium, we joined up with the INPS again for a botany hike at Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge. We’d done a fair amount of botanizing already, but it’s always fun to go with people who know the local area.
Giant City Wildflower Walk
We joined a guided wildflower hike at Giant City State Park. The naturalist, also named Jennifer, was great. There’s just enough difference between the plants of northern and southern Illinois that we were able to learn new things. While talking with her afterwards about our backgrounds, she invited us back to do a program or give a guided hike at the park- something I really hope we’re able to do in the future!
Hiking
The main activity we were excited for in Southern Illinois was hiking. In April we hiked at Fults Hill Prairie Nature Preserve, Ferne Clyffe State Park, Giant City State Park, Panther Den Wilderness Area, Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge, Garden of the Gods Recreation Area, Rim Rock National Recreation Trail, Tunnel Hill State Trail, and Little Grand Canyon Trail.
Historic Sites, Museums, Etc.
For people who love museums, we didn’t actually get to many during April. Most of the ones in the areas we were in were small museums with limited hours. We did visit several historic sites though. During eclipse weekend we took a tour of Carbondale’s Bucky Dome Home, designed and lived in by Buckminster Fuller. We visited 5 Illinois State Historic Sites- Fort de Chartres, Fort Kaskaskia, Pierre Menard Home, Kaskaskia Bell, and Governor Bond Memorial. 3 sites we visited are designated National Historic Landmarks- Fort de Chartres, Pierre Menard Home, and Modoc Rock Shelter. We also saw sites along the Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail and Trail of Tears National Historic Trail. Besides bigger sites, we found lots of historic markers, plaques, signs, monuments, and markers. I’m a firm believer in “Always Read the Plaque.”
Botanizing
A lot of people know how obsessive I am about tracking the plants I observe on iNaturalist. In April I recorded 168 observations of 103 species of plants, many of which were new species for me. I also observed several species considered rare or threatened in Illinois. Part of why we wanted to come to southern Illinois in the spring was to see the spring ephemeral. Every year I’m jealous of southern Illinois folks on iNat and the Illinois Botany Facebook group. We did see some wildflowers, but phenologically everything was a few weeks ahead, so even with coming down at the beginning of April we missed a lot.
One of my botany bucket list items is to see orchids in the wild. I wasn’t sure it would happen on this trip because of the time of year, but I ended up seeing 3 different orchid species. The first was a leaf of a crane fly orchid (Tipularia discolor) during our INPS botany hike. Even though it was only a leaf, it was still so exciting to see my first orchid in the wild! A couple weeks later while hiking the Rim Rock National Recreational Trail I found two more orchids all on my own- which made it doubly exciting. I found an in-bloom large twayblade (Liparis liliifolia) and the leaves of a downy rattlesnake plantain (Goodyera pubescens).
In Case You Missed It
I’ve already shared more details on some of our adventures, which you can find at the links below:
- Small Town, Big History: Exploring Route 66, Atlanta, IL
- Immerse Yourself in French Colonial Life at Fort de Chartres
- Exploring the Rich Heritage of Prairie du Rocher, IL
- Fort Kaskaskia and More: Historic Sites and Campground Guide
- Popeye’s Playground: The Best Things to Do in Chester, Illinois
- The Complete Ferne Clyffe State Park Trail Guide
- Exploring the Wonders of Giant City State Park: Guide and Review
- Visiting the Bucky Dome Home Museum: A Geodesic Wonder
- Quest Accepted: Discover the Magic of Boo Castle Park
Daily Life
Our daily life isn’t really that different than before, we just get to do it in cool places. Weekdays are spent mostly on the computer, doing chores, and then usually a short hike or quick visit somewhere like a historic marker or cemetery. Weekends we drive 30-60 minutes away either for a bigger adventure (like a longer hiker), or to combine several smaller things. We used to do this kind of stuff before, but eventually you run out of new things to do within an hour and now every two weeks when we move we open up a new range of possibilities. We still have days where we just want to chill and be lazy, or where we need to run errands or work on RV projects. We’re working on not feeling guilty on those days about not exploring, because the point of this all is that we’re living not just vacationing.
Lessons Learned
The Gray Tank
We knew going into this section of the trip that our black tank would be fine for our 2 week stays, but we weren’t sure about our gray tank. We could have been a lot more water conscious, but wanted to feel like we were living and not camping. Besides our large tote, we ended up getting a five gallon jug to be able to dump gray water more regularly. As long as we have a site with easy access to water and a dump station not far away, it’s become more routine and not a big deal to dump gray water throughout the week. We still don’t go crazy with water usage, but as long we they’re quick we can take showers in the rig instead of the showerhouse and we can use the sink like normal for dishes instead of doing the 3 bucket system.
Rosie’s Set Up
We converted the area where our TV had been into a built-in enclosure for our bearded dragon Rosie. It’s definitely smaller than is best practices for a beardie, but we’ve had her so long and knew she isn’t much of an explorer. Even when she was in a large tank in the house she spent 95% of her time in one of two spots. The one thing she hasn’t liked about the smaller tank is going to the bathroom in it. She’s also at a height now where she sees more of what’s going on outside her glass and wants to check things out, so she would get antsy to get out of the tank. We did some different experimenting and finally figured out a set up with a combination of bridges and her playpen so that during the day we can open her enclosure and she can come and go as she pleases. She’s been happy to get out and explore, sit in the sun, and look out the window. She’s gotten good at going back into her enclosure when she’s done, and she’ll come and go a few times throughout the day. It’s also been fun for me since part of her area now is the dinette where I usually work, so she comes to visit and sit with me most days too.
Laundry
We originally thought we’d mostly use laundromats, with some bathtub clothes washing in between visits. We ended up figuring out a two bucket laundry system that works really well for us and haven’t used a laundry mat yet.
Future Plans
The first part of May will still be spent in southern Illinois, then we’re heading up to Lake County for a week to help my grandma out with some house projects. After that we’ll be at home base. I need time to attend rehearsals for performing in Croatia. We’ll be in Croatia from mid-June to July 1 traveling with my cultural club. Then, we’ll spend a week or 2 after Croatia at home to catch up on work and projects. In August, we have a wedding to go to in Wisconsin and in October, another in Michigan. We’ve been debating if we’ll go down through Indiana or up through the UP in between weddings. Josh also might have a conference in Montana in October, which I would tag along on the trip for- but it hasn’t been decided yet if he’s going.
Josh’s Thoughts
I asked Josh if he had any thoughts to share on our first month. He said that he’s not sure if it feels like we’ve been on the road forever or for a week and that he’s surprised at how fast he got accustomed to everything. If people are wondering if it’s weird downsizing to such a small space, he said it’s really not. We have some RV projects to do when we’re home and some minor tweaks to make, but mostly things are going well. His biggest adjustment has been going from an active job to a total desk job.
