We decided to sleep in some to catch up from a very active day and late night last night, so we got a late start today. Our friends Hardy and Judy got out early to find an EarthCache (a kind of geocache that is a natural feature, in this case a spring with a small cave). An EarthCache is designed to "share information about a particular geological feature of our planet Earth, and the object is to learn something about it." The Pottingers pulled their Casita out, and we said goodbye until Wednesday, when we will meet at the campground near our next square dance weekend.
After we packed up and hitched up, we took our morning walk along a hike and bike trail which starts in the campground. We walked only 30 minutes total, but really enjoyed the hardpack trail through the woods. We heard lots of birds and saw a multitude of butterflies. Ken spotted this milkweek plant whose flowers attracted four different types of butterflies while we watched them sipping nectar. I thanked Ken for spotting the butterflies, and he said it was easy--they were waving at us. Four fritillaries opening and closing their wings do attract attention!
By the time we had packed up and dumped, it was almost noon when we headed out. We stopped in Bowling Green to pick up some groceries and eat lunch. We headed north on Highway 61 and crossed the Mississippi into Illinois at Hannibal. It was 4:00 p.m. by the time we pulled in to Warsaw, Illinois.
We had called City Hall a few weeks ago to check on camping in the city park, which is located on the Mississippi River. It was flooded the last time we were here, but the person I spoke with said that the park was not flooded and that it was being expanded. We drove down a steep hill onto a narrow road called Water Street. We were uncertain about exactly where the park was located. When we came to it, we were surprised to find no one camped. We got out and began to inspect the sites, which had short concrete pads, but the ground around them was pretty soft and muddy. Just then, a white pickup truck drove up to us, and a man said, "You don't want to camp here. It's going to flood. The river is expected to rise two feet." Discouraging news, but then he pointed out some new campsites that had recently been added on higher ground.
Great! But when we tested the electric outlet, no power. Then Ken found the main breakers and turned on the power to our site and an adjacent site. The multimeter still wasn't showing good current to the 50 amp outlet, but it's sometimes hard to get the multimeter probes to hit the contact points. We decided to set up and hook up the power cord to see what happened. If necessary, we can get by without shore power and just use our inverter. When we plugged in, we had power!
Our next challenge was hooking up the water. Ken was having trouble making the connections tight enough not to leak. When he turned on the water, I filled a pan to make iced tea. The water poured out with MUCH higher pressure than we're used to. I ran out and found the pressure regulator showing 80 psi, which might be enough to cause leaks in an RV plumbing system, which is made of Pex (plastic piping). I had tried to adjust the water pressure upwards in our previous park, but got only 30 psi. Turns out I had opened the regulator quite far without meaning to.
I had to reduce the pressure, but we couldn't remember which way to turn the valve on the pressure regulator, so inside to check Google. I found the information that clockwise would increase pressure, so I turned the valve counterclockwise and got it adjusted down to 50 psi, which works well for us. Ken got the leak stopped in the water fittings.
Finally,just before 5:00 p.m., we were finally all set up, so I called Dennis and Linda. Linda suggested that we go out to dinner at Fiesta Jalisco, a Mexican restaurant in Keokuk. Dennis's sister, Joyce, her husband, Duane, and Linda's mom, Peaches, had plans to join us. The reservation was for 7:00 p.m., so we had time to decompress a bit and stroll along the water. The Mississippi is rather narrow at this point, and the surface seemed very calm. We had ducks and lots of geese for neighbors.
Dinner at Fiesta Jalisco was delicious (just as we remembered it from our last visit there with Dennis and Linda and Joyce in 2008). We shared the Pescado Yukatan at Joyce's suggestion. Even better was the company. Both margaritas and conversation flowed, and there was lots of laughter. Tomorrow we'll get to see the progress on the house.
On our last trip, the bridge at Keokuk had one lane built up with ten feet of gravel, since flood waters had come up over the roadbed, but now it was easy to drive over the dry bridge, and of course no sign of all that gravel. This area has been spared the flooding that has damaged or destroyed so many homes and farms along the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers.
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