After two long road trip dress rehearsals and many months of building/rebuilding, we take off on an open-ended road trip to the Great Lakes and New England with no real plans…!

We had been aiming to start an extended trip to the Great Lakes and New England in time to see the fall foliage, sometime after Labor Day. We were hoping that with most schools back in session the camping crowds would be somewhat diminished. We worked furiously on the van, trying to get as much complete as possible. We got pretty close, but our mantra became “a van conversion is never really done.” While there is some truth to this, we still tried. This resulted in our get-away day slipping from September 7 to Monday, September 20, a full two weeks extra. It was probably worth it…?

In an effort to make up a bit of lost time, we pushed through the first couple of days, stopping along the highway at Cracker Barrels for sleeping. Good food and a good place to park up for the night.

Wednesday we arrived at Lincoln’s New Salem State Historic Park in Illinois. Lincoln spent six formative years in New Salem, from 1831 to 1837, where he was a soldier, a general store owner, and started his career in politics as a member of the Illinois General Assembly. The village was essentially abandoned around 1840, but was restored and rebuilt in the 1920’s. Most of the town was reassembled as close to original as possible.

After the first night at the park, we walked to the reconstructed village and toured the town. New Salem was interesting, and there were few people there. We had a great visit with the town doctor, a retired real doctor who dressed and acted the part. He was knowledgeable about medicine of the times and fun to talk to. We didn’t take many photos while we were there but we enjoyed the history of the town and of Lincoln’s life.

After New Salem, we continued on west, reaching the Mississippi River near Oquawka, Illinois. Delabar State Park is located on the Mississippi, and is named for the two brothers, Roy and Jack Delabar, who donated the land to the state for the park.

The view of the river wasn’t all that impressive as the main channel was not quite visible from the banks of the park, but we knew there would be better views to come.

The next morning’s sunrise provided some interesting lighting on a row of trees at the park entrance, so I took a couple of pictures.

After our stay at Delabar State Park in Illinois, we headed up the Mississippi River.

Next: Traveling up the Great River Road