Thursday, May 24, 2012 – Travel Day to Shawnee National Forest-Camp Cadiz, IL

 Set the alarm early, and managed to get out at a decent hour. As the site was a full hookup, we were able to do all our dumping right on the spot, and we were out by 8:00. We had an important phone call to make at 8:30, so we found a nice little restaurant in Dawson Springs for breakfast, had a cup of coffee before the call, then had breakfast afterwards before heading out on our short trip just 70 miles north. We had a straight shot on a back road, with a delightful ferry ride across the Ohio River (no fee!) to Cave In Rock, then a short 14 mile drive to Camp Cadiz. This is apparently a little used camp, but when we arrived, there was obviously a lot of work that had been done recently. The area had a lovely lawn, most of the 11 sites had recently had a new gravel parking pad applied to each campsite, and it looked very pleasant, and it was easy to get to. The only real drawback was that there is only one water spigot, but since the place was empty, we took the spot nearest the water, which also happened to be perfect for the satellite dish. We had a leisurely afternoon getting set up, letting the horses graze awhile on some long grass across the driveway before they came looking for a drink when we started getting the highline up. At one point a couple of women in a pickup truck came by, scouting the location. Apparently one of them has a cabin on the other side of the park and they’re looking for new trails to explore. They had a trail map of the area, and were kind enough to let me take a copy of it, just in case what I already have is insufficient. Doesn’t look like there’s a lot of choice, just the linear River to River Trail (which is over 100 miles long, stretching from the Ohio to the Missouri River), and some forest roads which the ladies didn’t know anything about, though it looks like one can make a fairly decent, shorter loop. Only problem we foresee is that the forecast is for temps near 100 degrees!! Not what you’d expect for Memorial Day weekend in Illinois! It’s actually cooler in Florida than what they’re calling for here. Seldom seem to be in the right place weather-wise, no matter what we do! Always seem to be breaking some record somewhere. Oh, well, small complaint compared to how fortunate we are in every other aspect of our life!

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