We Officially Arrive in the East!

Timber Trails Campground, Mulberry Grove, IL

Gateway Arch, St. Louis, MO (taken from the truck en route)

We left America’s Best Campground in Branson, MO at 8:50 a.m. and headed east on I-44. The trip was uneventful except for getting through St. Louis. Driving through large cities is never fun but thank goodness it was Sunday.

We officially arrived in the east as we saw the Gateway Arch in St. Louis – Gateway to the West and then crossed the Mississippi River although we’re still in the Central time zone until we reach Ohio tomorrow. We took I-70 out of St. Louis and arrived at Mulberry Grove, IL around 2:30 p.m.

Our plans had been to stay at a Good Sam Park east of I-70 but when we were traveling I checked the Passport America book and found that the campground north of I-70 was a Passport America campground and only $15/night. We arrived and finding no one in the office, I called and got an answering machine. We were about to move to the other campground when we came upon some pull thrus that faced south so decided to go ahead and set up. As we parked a man came along on a tractor and since we had decided to stay here, paid him and got set up. Gordon then went to fill up with fuel so we can beat a hasty retreat in the morning to get through Cincinnati hopefully shortly after lunch.

I called and made a reservation for a week at Cedarbrook Campground in Lebanon, OH where we stayed in 2004 on our first trip in Big Harv. We are sort of between Dayton where Gordon's son and family live and Middletown where Gordon's sister lives but closer to his sister.

Tomorrow's trip is 318 miles.

I’m looking forward to staying in one spot for a week. I don’t really like packing up and moving daily.

There’s no cable here but our aerial gets ABC TV thank goodness so I get to see Desperate Housewives and Gray’s Anatomy tonight. I would not be a happy camper otherwise!