Whittington Woods Campground

Whittington Woods Campground in Whittington, IL was the location of our Spring 2021 Fuse rally and was a very nice campground all around. It is located just off I-57 just north of Benton.  I mention Benton because Benton is 5 miles to the south and the location of the local Walmart and all sorts of restaurants. 

The office, store, pool and showers were located in the main building.   There is a pavilion and another set of restrooms/showers in the back along with the event pavilion.  

The second set of showers were closed due to COVID but the ones at the main office were open.  They were really nice and kept spotless.  They get an A for campground showers.

The sites were nice and level.  Large with fire pits and tables at each one.   You can tell they take pride in the facility.

They also have a lot of art and other interesting features scattered around the campground.  Lots of woodcarvings and plantings.   We would stay here again without hesitation.

Day 2 at the Rally - I won

The second day of the 2021 Spring Fuse Rally in Whittington, IL was perfect like most Fuse rallies are.  The morning was spent with more Q&A, some show and tell on the best things you have found for your Fuse (I took notes), presentations on boondocking, electrical and general fellowship.  It is amazing that so many people can come together to discuss a little motorhome and have so much fellowship and enjoy each other so much.   

A challenge was put down by Paul Benson to find the loudest generator.  After lunch several folks would walk around and check inside and outside to get readings on the noise all the coaches put out.  Guess who won?  Me, with the loudest generator noise inside the coach.

The afternoon was spent with people showing off their Fuses.  Robert Garbe went around and checked ATS switches making sure the connections were tight and there was no apparent heat issues.  Joyce N. had a generator problem and everyone stood around trying to get it started.  Only one of us volunteered and was small to enough to get underneath. (Way to go Lisa.)

After a great afternoon we had a catered dinner of pork chops (some of the best I have ever had) and wrapped up.  For all her hard work, Rebecca was given a present.  She had forgotten her peanut butter and some was presented to her for the trip back home.

Day 1 at the Rally

Thursday night was spent getting together with our old friends and meeting new friends.  A great time was had by all.   Rebecca apparently had ordered the best weather possible and it was delivered.  Clear skies, perfect temperatures and low humidity.  For someone from Florida, this was the best treat available. Perfect sleeping weather with the windows open.

Friday was the first day of the Rally with Fuses coming in all day long.  A total of 21 & 1/2 (we had a Travato join our group) Fuses in one place and 38 Fusers are in attendance.  

Festivities started at 5:30 with a group dinner.  Bring your own and sit together and have great company to discuss the Fuse lifestyle.    

After Dinner was the Fuse "News You Can Use" event.  A great open discussion of topics, Q&A and putting people in touch with others to answer specifics.  Someone suggested a new game.  Who has the loudest generator contest.  We will be playing on Saturday.  

And one last photo as I was walking around the campground.  Take a look, this Fuse has been a few places

Kenlake State Resort Park and then on to the Rally

We spent the night at Kenlake State Resort Park in Hardin, KY.    Kenlake is 10-15 min away from Murray, KY home to Murray State University and the closest Walmart.  

This is really nice state park.  There is a lodge, cabins, restaurant, activities and the campground.  The campground is not really close to the lodge but is not too far (easy bike ride) to several small restaurants in Aurora.  One of the things we saw as we drove around the park was some interesting artwork.  The photo is from one overlooking the lake near the tennis facility.

We got to the campground and down came the deluge.  A huge rain and I got soaked getting our electricity plugged in and some water added to the tank.   I would have tried to wait it out, but being the rusty campers we have become we let the water tank run dry and need to be able to flush.  So into the rain I went.

We were at site 80.  Note to others the sites share electricity and water so bring a long electrical cord if in an even site or a long hose in an odd site.  The 25' attached cord had to be stretched under the fuse but barely made it.  Another foot over and it would not have. 

The bath house was across from our site.  It was about par for a state park.  Clean, plenty of hot water and good water pressure in the showers.  It was a nice place to stay for the night.

Thursday started off as a rainy day.   So rainy in fact that I got soaked again unhooking the electricity at the campsite.    Though we had a couple of stops planned between Kenlake State Park and the rally site at Whittington Woods Campground , we decided that staying dry was a better plan so we just took the drive.   It really was not a long one.  We left at 10:00 and made it to Benton, Il by Noon.

Our first stop was at Arbys for lunch.  I can report that there was nice parking at the rear for your Fuse and after a large Roast Beef and a Gyro (both pretty good) we were ready to get a few more supplies for a couple of days at the rally.  So we stopped at the Walmart.  Apparently we were noticed, but we missed the other Fuse in the parking lot since the report at the campground was that two Fuses were at the Walmart.  I guess I am getting old.

A 5 minute drive down the interstate and we were at our home for the next couple of days.  And waiting for us were Deb and Lee to welcome us to the Rally.

Ft. Donaldson

 The third day of our trip was to visit Ft. Donaldson Battlefield. We are still knocking the rust off of Fuseing/RVing/Camping/Traveling so for this third day we decided to take it easy.  Up and at'em and we got on the road at 0900.  

Well as we say in Florida, TN was an "oasis of freedom" and the McDonalds right down the road was open so we got our favorite breakfast.  Meaning we were off to a good start. Unlike the first 2 days we had some rain in our travels.  Not bad and the Fuse took it fine.  It did cut into Lily's sniffing and walking but she is still exhausted from yesterday.  She is out of practice as well.

Ft. Donaldson was about an hour down the road.  A nice drive and then we got to the park.  Well the visitors center is being renovated so they have a temporary setup in the parking lot.  A little disappointing but I did get the park stamps.   The real treat at the battlefields is the battlefield tour.  This was a pretty good one.  It took an hour or two.  Lots to see and lots to learn.

Several things stood out.  One was a cabin reconstruction that the soldiers wintered over in.  There was some construction there as well.  Carpenter bees were all over it eating it away.   100 or more of them.  There was even a danger sign warning people about the bees and their activity.  We had an old barn that suffered from the Bee problem but I have never seen that many of them on one spot.

The other thing that stood out, not that the battlements were not impressive was the surrender house.  It has been restored and is super impressive.  The house was a hotel catering to river boats back in the day and the bar looks like it is just waiting for someone to stop in and order a drink.  Sometimes you see something that allows you to envision how things were back in the days and this house allowed me to see back into time.

So from there we went on to our night stop at Kenlake State resort park.  But first we needed to make a Walmart stop and get some fuel.  So we found a town nearby by the name of Murray.   Famous for Murray State University and guess what.  The stadium and college were right next to the Walmart.  

Then off to our stop for the night about 15 min down the road.

Parkers Crossroads RV Park and Campground

We stayed at the Parkers Crossroads RV Park and Campground on our trip to the Fuse Rally.  Tuesday, April 27, 2021.   It is a very pretty campground and conveniently located near I-40.  Ponds, pool, and it looks very well kept up.   TV and WiFi internet worked very well during our stay.  Plenty of grass for Lily to smell and walk around.

The site we had was a nice, level concrete pad.  Out site was #32.  The Check-in, camp store and showers were up  at the front of the campground but everything is pretty close together.

I would say that this is one of the cleanest Parks we have stayed at.  One downside is the showers need some help.   This is an A+ park other than that.  But now for the pro-tip.  The family bathroom/shower is an A+ bathroom so if it is not in use, use that one.

Shiloh and Corinth

The second day of our trip went great with a couple of small issues but overall a 9 out of 10.  The goal today was to see the Corinth and Shiloh civil war battlefields and see them we did.  

We stayed the night at the Campground at Barnes Crossings  in Tupelo MS.  We have stayed here before and will stay here again.   Fuse tip for those not towing:  Ask for site 1-3.  They are near the bathhouse and your fuse will fit just fine.  We stayed in that site the last time.  This time we were in site 53.  It is in the back and there was nothing wrong with it.  It is designed for a large class A towing a large vehicle.  We were super small on a large site.  You could have parked 3 Fuses on that site.  One other thing about the campground was that they do not take credit cards.

Barnes Crossings is a real nice place.  Walmart, food, shopping, pretty much everything less than 5 min away from the campground.  Importantly, the campground feels like it is out in the woods being very quiet and wooded.

Now on to two bad things this morning.  The check engine light came on the night before so I started looking to see if I could see something wrong.  I used the OBD scanner and some errors implying DEF problems but advise that it was not a huge problem.  I decided to drive down the road and see what happened with that info.  Worst case we would pull into the Ford dealer in Corinth and get help there.   Well when we stopped in Corinth, and started back up the light was out.  Maybe the bumpy roads in Mississippi are good for something after all.

Second problem was all of the fast food restaurants in that part of Mississippi were closed to walk in dining.  The Taco bell last night, The Burger King we tried this morning and the McDonalds on the way to Corinth all were only doing drive through.  Not a major disaster but no Bacon, Egg and Cheese Biscuit this morning, just the regular old granola bar.

So we went on to the Corinth Civil War Interpretive Center.   This as about an hour drive. This was a really nice museum, several nice films and really worth the stop.    And lots of sniffing for Lily.

After Corinth we went to the Shiloh Civil War Battlefield. 30 minutes down the road and it was a really easy drive through the country.  Shiloh had a nice museum, not quite as big as Corinth but what it did have was a really nice self guided, driving tour of the battlefield.   So we toured the museum and then took some time out for a nice picnic lunch in the Fuse.  Could not beat the weather and we parked under some shade, opened up the windows and took some time out.

So then we took the driving tour.  22 locations to see with nice pullouts.  Perfect for the Fuse.  Famous places such as the hornets nest and the peach orchard were on the my list but other less famous places that were keys to the battle.  We even got to see a barge going down the Tennessee River from just above Pittsburg Landing.

After Touring we went on to Parkers Crossroads.  There was a battle here as well but the visitors center here was pretty small.  Took 15-20 min to see everything but worth seeing since we were staying 5 min away at the Parkers Crossroads RV Park and Campground.