Litchfield, Illinois

We had a peaceful night. Only a light, short rain shower during the night even though storms were predicted all night. It was overcast when we woke up and the temps were in the mid 70s.

Asa and I packed up the camper and our BW hosts let us leave it while we went to the St Louis Zoo. I couldn’t remember the zoo parking situation but I doubted we could fit the camper and the zoo website said no oversized vehicles over 30 feet (or camper alone is 24 feet). When we got there there was a ton of street parking available and we probably could have managed but better safe than sorry.

The zoo was great. The kids favorites were the capybara, giraffes, the prairie dogs, the hippos, and leaf cutter ants.

The sky cleared up and it was getting really hot. We had our packed lunch, saw a few more animals and decided it was time to go. We went back to get our camper then we went to Walmart for groceries for our last few meals and to get snacks for the movie tonight. I also tried to cash a check but the money services desk said they won’t cash personal checks at all. I could write a check for our purchase for $20 over to get cash back though. The cashier seemed like she had never seen a check before (she was young so it’s possible…).

I got that $20 and I collected a debt from Esme who owed me $40 for all the times she forgot her purse in the car and bought something. I was mostly worried that the drive in wouldn’t accept Amex and that’s the only form of payment I have with me. I did have a Visa card but I lent it to Nole one day and neither of us can remember what happened to it. Most likely it’s lost somewhere in the camper or car but I couldn’t find it after a fairly extensive search. With the $60 plus some other cash I had I felt much more comfortable going to the drive in and finishing the trip.

Asa bought a Japanese candy making kit at the store and he made that after we got settled in at our new BW site. We are the first guests of this nice couple. We gave them a Wisconsin magnet and wrote the date, “First guests at ‘Welcome Weary Travelers'” (that’s their site name) and “The Martins” on the back.

We had electricity at this site so we took full advantage and made everything in the microwave. Cooking on the stove heats up the camper too much and it seems silly to bring out the grill for just 2 people (the girls don’t yet appreciate grill marks on their food).

We made a last minute change in the itinerary to come to Litchfield because it has a drive in theater on Route 66!

Online it said 7-11pm and I didn’t realize that the movie wouldn’t start until dark until we were in line and it was still really light out. The good news is we got a great spot right in the center in the front. The kids also had a great time playing with other kids.

Nova fell asleep before the end of the first movie and Esme decided to go lay down in the car about 10 minutes into the second movie. Not sure how much of E.T. Asa and I will watch.