Day 1 - Truck Stops and Other Attractions

Thursday, May 31, 2018
Posted from: East Glensdale Campground; Knoxville, IL
Miles driven: 230
Total trip miles: 230

This morning started out like any other school and work day, and pretty much continued that way for the kids and me until about 4:00pm when Matt pulled to a stop in front of the house with the camper in tow.
Naturally my work computer forced a software install at 4:00. Deep breath. So 30 minutes later...
Our bon voyage committee consisted of Matt’s parents and my dad. It was nice to have a sendoff crew!

We appear to like each other at this point.

We pulled out at 5:00 pm. Not bad.

The giant flag at the dealership indicated a lack of straight line winds. Bonus. 

We took I80 east. I’d like to say we made it pretty far before we stopped, but, well, our truck REALLY likes truck stops. And our daughter REALLY likes water. So we stopped to fuel, eat a sandwich, and use the facilities before we even made it to Iowa City.
And then I realized that we were going to pass the World’s Largest Truck Stop (WLTS). Wow. This day was going to be better than I could have imagined. I remember stopping here once when I was a kid, but have not been since (can’t imagine why). Matt was relatively willing to stop. I believe his words were, "Are we really going to stop?" Heck yes! Who wouldn’t?! (Y’all just stop yer judgin’ right now.)
WLTS Observation 1: Uhh, this is nothing like I remember. It was nicer and trendier than a Whole Foods.  (See pic below)

WLTS Observation 2: It really is pretty massive, and not all of the cheesiness was lost with their very recent 2018 remodel. (Again, see proof below.)

And now it is getting late.

We had to make one more stop to get an iPass transponder at a Jewel Osco in Moline, IL. We will hit a lot of tolls on this trip and having an iPass just makes it an easier and cheaper process.

We got off the interstate in Moline and immediately ran into construction that meant we could not go to the store we planned to go to. After some recalculations and awkward moments pulling the camper through a very old (narrow streets) part of town with a strong law enforcement presence, we found another store four minutes away. This store was right in the middle of a neighborhood, and we did not fit in with our camper. Literally. We took up 20+ parking spaces. Thankfully it was late enough that there were 20+ spots to take!

Back on the road, we watched a lightening storm and drove through a little bit of rain before arriving at the campground a little before 10:00pm. We put the jacks down, slideouts out, and called it good. We stayed hitched to the truck.

Bonus material: How to NOT make friends at a campground

1. Pull in at 10:00pm
2. Underestimate your kids’ ability to talk in LOUD whispers while putting the jacks down
3. Pray that the process of putting out the slideouts is quieter than you remember
4. Push the button to put out your slideout while cringing (because the more you cringe, the quieter it might be...perhaps)
5. Realize you have a second slideout 
6. Cringe more
7. Put out the second slideout
8. Wake up at 5:30am the next day. (hey! Guess what?! In the daylight you can see the train tracks located 100 yards from the campsite.)
9. Repeat the above in reverse order, but don’t bother cringing because seriously, the train. We were practically silent by comparison.