June first of 2003 found us once again on the road. And happily so.
Our goal was to visit with Leigh's relatives and friends in Lincoln NE, and then meander on over to eastern Illinois to see kids and grandkids. Finally, we wanted to head down through western Arkansas and then home to Texas. We'll leave it to you to determine if we met our goals.
Here's a map showing our (kinda, sorta) itinerary. Click on it for a much more detailed graphic. The trip includes the towns of Gatesville TX, Haskell TX, Canton Lakes OK, Wilson KS, Emerald NE, Iowa City IA, Danville IL, Carterville IL, Mountain Home AR, and Texarkana, TX.
Our first two nights were free. Well, the camping was free; the cost of diesel was almost a hundred dollars per fill-up. Yikes!
But free is good. And this campground was very likely the best of the freebies. Faunt Leroy Park is sponsored by the city of Gatesville TX and is very well kept up. It features great views of the Leon river, a fabulous playground for the kids, and even 50 amp electrical service.
Our third night was also free, although we don't have any pictures of the park. At any rate, this particular park is run by the City of Haskell TX.
Nights four and five were spent at Sandy Cove campground, at Canton Lakes OK. The CG is run by the Corps of Engineers. Very very popular with the boating crowd. Here's some photos of this very nice campground
Here's some shots from along the road, literally.
A couple hundred miles further northeast (two hundred is about our maximum comfort zone...) we landed at the Wilson State Park, near Wilson KS. This one was obviously previously run the Corps of Engineers. Gorgeous, but very much overpriced. At $23 a night, it's beyond our normal price range.
After a week of slow meandering, we arrived at Pawnee Lake State Recreation Area, outside of Lincoln NE. We had been here several times previously, but this was the first time in warm weather. Very vibrant blues and greens, especially since they have evergreens up here.
We hope you enjoy these photos. Click on any of them to see much larger pictures.
One of the nicest things about being here in Nebraska is that we got to spend some real quality time with Leigh's sister, brother in law, Nephew, two grand-nieces and her son, who she hadn't seen in seven years.
After a couple of wonderful weeks at Pawnee, we headed east into Illinois and stopped just shy of the Indiana border, at Kickapoo State Park.
If you'd like to see our pictures of Kickapoo, click HERE
