"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood... And sorry I could not travel both. I took the one less traveled by. And that has made all the difference." --Robert Frost

Friday, July 2, 2021

Illinois, Home of Corn & Really BIG STUFF

Lake Shelbyville, Illinois
Bo Woods COE


Now that we have had the big check up and repair of our rig in Indiana (click HERE if you missed it), we are excited to be heading to Illinois so we can visit our RV friends, Curt & Glenda and Faye & Dave.

We had some really BIG things to see later in this trip! 
Boy, MORE corn!  Faye & Dave filled us in on all things corn as Faye's parents live nearby.
Here at Lake Shelbyville, Faye & Dave are WorkCamping at Forrest W. Bo Wood Campground.  We were very fortunate to get 4 days here over the 4th of July weekend.  We did have to switch campsites once but both were great sites!
#27, 30a, $18.
The Gang!
Dave, Faye, Steve, Me, Glenda & Curt.
This is a beautiful COE campground and look at our first sunset!
Hurley helping me with 4th of July decorations.
We were not too far away from here a few years back when another RV friend, Cori, told us about all the big things in Casey. We weren’t able to go last time so when Fave mentioned it, we were looking forward to it. 
Not sure if everything is “The Worlds Biggest”, but it must be close.
   
Should we leave them or let them out?

This mailbox was awesome. You can walk upstairs and if you mail a letter the flag actually goes up.

We walked all around town where these biggies are spread out. What a clever way to bring in tourism to such a tiny town in the middle of nowhere.
There were murals about local Ag and beautiful gardens.
   
More corn!
Biggest Sewing Needles


 
I really liked the Rocking Chair and the garden all around it.


Biggest Wind Chimes
 
Of course the Biggest Bookworm is in front of the Library.



Biggest Ruler.  The detail and craftsmanship in these are amazing.

   
Uh oh. 
I guess that cheese was irresistible?
Biggest Spinning Top.
I enjoyed a delicious Iced Mocha Coffee in the shop behind the pencil. A great way to keep cool on this hot, muggy day.
Biggest Wooden Shoes inside the candy store where we picked out some tasty treats!
How could we not take a picture with Kevin the Minion?
We had a blast walking around the cute town of Casey. On the way to lunch we stopped by a Two Story Outhouse that was across from a, you guessed it, cornfield!


Faye and Dave took us to another small town to one of their favorites (I forgot the name) and we just ordered a bunch of appetizers to share. We stuffed ourselves silly.
And look who was on a huge painting inside. My favorite, Tom Petty!
All this corn is what gave me the idea of writing that last blogpost so I told Dave, Stop the truck! We need a  cornfield picture! We just stopped in the middle of the road and took some pictures because there is no one out here for miles!

For the 4th they were having a fireworks show at the nearby marina so since Faye and Dave work for the Corp, we got to watch them in our own VIP section.


There was one firework that made a heart! I love it!

   


Of course Dave-the-Master-Smoker cooked up some delicious brisket and ribs. Always a treat! Thanks Dave!
We got some more paddle time in too.

Our last day brought us to the Smallest Post Office.
They don’t get much business with those hours!
More cornfields and massive silos. Soybeans are also planted out here.  We watched one of the Amish farmers working his field with horses.
Then it was off to a huge place called Beachy’s. Part Amish-Super-Bulk-Market, part Buccee’s. You’d have to know what Buccee's in Texas is to appreciate it. We all picked out some items.
Our end goal was to stop at Triptych Brewery. The guys loved their beer samples while us gals enjoyed our sodas.
We opened up some of our Beachy snacks. Pretzel Balks, chocolates and nuts.
With the wild weather here in Illinois it’s nice to have these local weather stations to keep you up to date. No tornado today. We had a great Mexican dinner but I didn’t get a picture. The waiter had funny nicknames for us but I could only remember Hot Plate Dave and One Taco Curt 😄
We had one last fire before we moved onto Missouri and Curt and Glenda headed back home to Arizona.
It was so hot and humid out we had to sit far away and we had a fan outside to keep the skeeters away.  We couldn’t take it after a while, it was like a sauna so we said our early goodbyes and see ya laters!

Thanks Faye and Dave for such a great time and chauffeuring us all around. I’ll never look at corn the same again without thinking of this trip!

Movin' on to Missouri.


12 comments:

  1. Great post and fun time with friends.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great post!! Fun times with great friends, thanks for stopping by.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was so fun. Thanks for all the good times!

      Delete
  3. What an awesome time you guys have had! Great theme to attract tourists. Love the corn field group photo. Safe travels!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They had brought us to see some great places!

      Delete
  4. So nice to be parked around friends....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As you know, meeting up with friends along the way is the best!

      Delete
  5. So glad you got to Casey!!! Looks like they've added a few things since we were there!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. So great that you were able to meet up with everyone and see all those "world's largests"! Hurley sure seemed to be in a festive mood for the 4th!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We sure had a great time with lots of fun things to do and see. Hurley actually seemed to have fun.

      Delete

I’d love to hear from you! It’s more fun when you leave a comment!