May has come and gone, so it’s time to recap and reflect on our second month on the road- well, kind of, because we only spent part of May on the road.
Here’s May on the map!
Where We Stayed in May
We started the month of May at Fort Massac State Park in Metropolis, IL (Fort Massac State Park Campground Guide & Review). We had gotten there at the end of April and we had originally booked it until May 13. We ended up leaving a day early, though. While we were there, my grandma called and asked if we would be able to come stay near her for a little while to help with some house projects before our adopted cousin from Finland came to stay with her. Staying near Grandma meant staying at Illinois Beach State Park, which is a very popular campground- so we were limited on dates. We ended up leaving Fort Massac on May 12 and did a one night stop in Champaign. We stayed at a winery tasting room, Alto Vineyards, through our Harvest Host membership. One of Josh’s coworkers lives in Champaign and was able to come out and visit us too! After our night at Alto, we drove the rest of the way to Illinois Beach. I’ve camped there as a kid, and Josh and I have camped there together both in tents and our old pop-up trailer when I used to live in Waukegan. We stayed at Illinois Beach until May 20th and then headed to home base in Campton Hills (aka Josh’s dad’s driveway).
What We Did in May
Events
Magnolia Celebration Bus Tour of Cairo
As part of its Magnolia Celebration, The Cairo Historical Preservation Project hosted a free bus tour of Cairo. I wrote all about Cairo here: A City at a Confluence: Visiting Cairo, Illinois. Cairo’s often considered a ghost town, so I had wanted to visit it for a long time. Being able to tour the town with a local guide made the experience even better, and we went to areas we would not have felt comfortable going to alone. It was also an interesting experience because the only other people on the tour that day were a group of 2 journalism professors & 2 of their students from SIU, who were taking photos and doing a story for the historical society.
Paducah Lower Town Arts & Music Festival
When we were camping at Fort Massac we were very close to Paducah, Kentucky- just on the other side of the river. We made a few trips into Paducah, one of which was to go to the Lower Town Arts & Music Festival. We checked out the art booths, watched some music, got some barbecue, and tried a local beer.
Open Elgin Museum Crawl
While back at home base, we were able to join our friends Liz & Anthony (and baby Evan) on a museum crawl in Elgin. They hadn’t been to any of the museums yet, so we prioritized the ones that Josh and I hadn’t been to yet. We visited the U-46 Planetarium/Former Elgin National Watch Company Observatory, Elgin Fire Barn No. 5 Museum, and Elgin History Museum. Because of Evan’s nap time we ran out of time for the Elgin Public Museum. I’ll be putting together a whole guide to Elgin museums, so check back for that!
Outdoor Activities
Dixon Springs State Park
We drove half an hour from our Fort Massac camp to visit Dixon Springs State Park, which ended up being one of the strangest state parks we’ve ever visited. The springs themselves were a popular attraction in the Victorian era and used as a health spa. There are still old structures from the springs, but they are in disrepair and nothing is labeled- so if you didn’t know the history of the area you’d have no idea what stuff was! There was a town on the site too and there are a couple of old churches on the property- but again no interpretative signs or anything! The map just labels them as “churches,” with very little information online either. Dixon Springs is also one of the only state parks with a public swimming pool, which does look to still be in use (just closed for the season when we went). We did a hike into Ghost Canyon. The trailhead is hidden behind the pool and it doesn’t seem to get much traffic since it was very overgrown at the start of the trail. It was an interesting canyon, but there were times it felt like maybe we weren’t supposed to be there. Between overgrown trails, lack of signage, and seeing almost no other people there, it definitely gave off weird vibes!
Paddling the Cache River
One of the big things from my Illinois bucket list that we were able to check off in May was paddling the Cache River. We ended up not having space to bring our 2 hard kayaks, so before hitting the road we bought a tandem inflatable kayak. We went with one on the cheaper side to make sure we liked the inflatable concept, so although we had tested it at the WSRC, we were a little nervous to use it in the Cache. The Cache River a cypress-tupelo swamp, and you paddle through cypress knobs and other swamp plants. When we actually got to our launch point, though, we were surprised by how open the water actually was. We’re pretty sure it’s because of how popular the canoe trail and the traffic it gets. Regardless, it was still unlike anything we’ve paddled in Illinois before. We event got to paddle up to the state champion bald cypress tree- and if you know me, you know I love big trees! It wasn’t the nicest weather, so we didn’t do the whole canoe trail, but did enough to get a feel of the Cache. After paddling, we drove over to the Section Eight Nature Preserve, which has a boardwalk trail. This was more like what we were picturing as a swamp! It was so cool to see, we just kept saying we couldn’t believe this was in Illinois. It really felt like being down in the south.
Museums, Historic Sites, Etc.
Besides the museums in Cairo and Elgin mentioned above, we visited a few others in May. In Paducah (on 2 separate trips) we visited the Inland Waterways Museum and William Clark Market House Museum. In Metropolis, we visited the Superman Museum, Wickliffe Mounds, and while back home I (Jen) visited the Graue Mill Museum.
The Inland Waterways Museum is a small museum about river trade and steamboats. Josh thought it was funny that it’s the second inland waterways museum we’ve visited along the Ohio River (the first was in West Virginia) and then visited the town’s mural wall afterwards. The Market House Museum is full of Paducah history. There’s a big variety of artifacts and stories from the town and its residents through the years.
We stopped at Wickliffe Mounds in Kentucky on the way back from Cairo and while in Metropolis visited the Superman Museum.
- Exploring the Ancient Wonders of Wickliffe Mounds State Historic Site
- Meeting the Man of Steel in Metropolis, Illinois
I visited Graue Mill & Museum in Oak Brook with my best friend Liz & honorary nephew Evan as part of a trip to Fullersburg Woods. Usually they only do mill demos on weekends, but we got lucky and they had recently deep cleaned the millstones so were running a batch of corn through.
Botanizing
I didn’t have record numbers like in April, but we did see two exciting habitats in May. First, as mentioned earlier, was the bald cypress & tupelo swamps of the Cache River. Not only did we see the state champion bald cypress tree, we also saw what remains of the former state champion swamp tupelo (it was taken down by a storm a few years ago). The Cache River and wetlands are some of the most unique habitat in Illinois, but then we went north to one of the other most unique ecological areas- the dunes of Lake Michigan! Even though I used to live 5 minutes from the Lake, it’s still always exciting to visit the dunes. Both the Cache River and the Illinois Beach Nature Preserve are both National Natural Landmarks.
Daily Life
We both feel like we’ve developed a really nice routine to life while on the road. Weekdays are spent working, then some chores and either a hike in the campground or small local activity. Then weekends we venture out farther for bigger adventures or to string together a few smaller ones. It feels like a good balance of taking advantage of being on the road to explore, but still living regular life too. We both feel like we’ve adjusted well and life on the road is just life now. It made things like staying at Illinois Beach feel weird, since driving to Grandma’s meant driving roads I’ve driven regularly in the past. Then with coming back to home base at Josh’s dad’s, we both feel like we’re on vacation visiting family. It’s been hard for us to stay productive during the work day, because it feels more like vacation than regular road life does. There, of course, have been fun parts to being home. We’ve had dinner and hangouts with friends, went to a graduation party, will be going to a birthday party soon, and all that other fun stuff.
What’s Next?
In the last half of June we’ll be in Croatia for my tamburitza performances. Our time home before and after that trip has booked up fast. We have lots of plans for things like seeing friends, birthday parties, events with local organizations we’re involved in, and Josh has a few work-related events too. In between all those we’ll keep working on RV projects, house projects for Josh’s dad, and trying to catch up and keep up with work in between! The main reason we came back early before our Croatia trip is that I need to attend rehearsals since I’ll be performing music over there.Otherwise, we wouldn’t have planned for so long at home base in the middle of summer. We are definitely both anxious to actually get back on the road!
