Saturday, Mar.11, 2023

We woke up to a chili 30 degree morning. We got up and got moving in our snow clothes. I decided today would be a good morning to make breakfast before we left camp so we had pancakes with grandma and grandpa’s famous maple surup. We packed up camp for the first time and headed on into Illinois.

Our first stop of the day was in Springfield, IL. the capital of the state and the former home of Abraham Lincoln. We went and walked the block they have left historic and stayed for a tour of the house. The house was really cool, it had a lot of period peices which gave you the fell of what it was like to be in the house back when Abraham and his wife Mary lived in it.

Our second stop of the day was the worlds largest catsup bottle at 170 ft tall. Bryce informed me that it is cheating because it is on stilts. I’m not sure how that works but that is their claim, it was right next to this super cool hill side that sits next to the catschup factory that is still there.

The third stop of our day was the Gateway Arch National Park in St. Louis, MO. This stop was not a fun one it was starting to rain and traffic in the city and one way streets made life difficult. But we finally found a parking garage and made our way to go see the big arch up and close. It was really cool to be that close since I have been by it so many times travel as a kid but we always had a trailer and my dad had always said no. We got as close as we could with the dogs and it was working on actually raining so I got my National Park Stamp and we headed back to the truck.

Our last historic stop of the day was the farm of Ulysses Grant also in St. Louis, MO. We stopped shortly before closing so we didn’t get to see much. But I got my stamp and we headed out of St. Louis and on into Mossouri.

Our Camping spot for the night was Onongaga Cave State Park, I was a little concerned that we didn’t have a reservation and that it was first come first serve. But my fears were unfounded we ended up being the only campers in the park that night. It was rainy and wet. We used our annex on our tent for the first time. It worked out amazing we had our gear and cooking supplies all in the annex out of the weather. We had white chicken chili for dinner it was perfect for a cold wet night.