Sixth travel day - not much - Day 868 (Yr 3, Day 135)

Marion, IL

We got off to a late start (1.5 hrs late: left at 9:30) due to a dead truck battery.  Apparently Mitch had left his keys in the ignition in the battery on position.  Our charger wasn't doing much good, but the campground owner was kind enough to bring over his truck and give us a jump.  We arrived in Marion, IL at 12:15.

Last night there were also 2 kitties (1 black and 1 gray/white) who befriended us.  This morning, while the truck was being jumped, the gray one acted like an attention starved toddler!  He just wouldn't leave me alone!  Here's a photo of him butting his head against the table where I was sitting, but most of the time he was doing that to me (or on the table behind me patting my head).  The 20-odd chickens were out and about running all over the place; interesting how he had no interest in chasing them.

  

The drive, again thank G-d, was mostly pleasant (except for a few places of road construction) and uneventful.  Along the highway, we passed many more large malls and big box stores.  We also passed through St. Louis and saw the arch (we were there in 2010 - pre RV days.  Almost got to ride up, but we were 5 minutes late and missed the last tour).  The best I could do was take a photo.  You can see the arch in the background:



The campground in Marion is pretty nice.  Again, mostly empty so it appears to be very spacious and has some nice amenities.  The area itself is extremely developed - reminds me a lot of Fargo, with lots of malls and strip malls and big box stores.  I had a lot of work to do when we arrived, but finished at 4:30.  Mitch needed to find a tire store to see if they could replace the valve stem.  We went to 2 places and the 2nd one determined we needed a new extender instead.  We went to Walmart for a few groceries and to see if they had one, but they didn't, so we'll try again next time we're near a large store (it was after 6 by now and we were both tired and hungry).

We're having trouble adjusting to standard time.  Just 6 months ago, it didn't get dark until after 10:00.  Now it's dark at 5!