News: Illinois

Prairie Scooners
Local Chapter

The weekend of Sept. 11-13 was absolutely the best weekend for a wonderful end of summer campouts in IL and IN. The Prairie Scooners held the September campout at the MI City Campground. Six coaches joined in the weekend activities and had a ball. The group attended a tour of the Hoosier Bat Company in Valparaiso, IN Friday. Saturday the group went to the Annual Popcorn Parade and festival in Valparaiso, IN. Everyone enjoyed both outings and ate their way through Valparaiso with gusto!

Neta Luther neta_luther@sbcglobal.net

Quad Cities Winnies
Local Chapter
Quad Cities Winnies
By Dianne Steinhagen

The September outing of the Quad Cities Winnies was a two-¬week trip around Lake MI. We had six coaches (14 people), with seven coaches (18 people) for part of the trip. It is hard to summarize—great people, wonderful sites, and fantastic weather. MI has lots of sand dunes, water, lighthouses, wineries, golf courses, shopping, good food, and friendly people.

Our first two nights, we stayed at the "Kamp Across From the Dunes" park in Sawyer, right across from the Warren Dunes State Park. The Kamp staff was very accommodating and we'd definitely go back. We toured the Dunes and headed to St. Joseph (nice city and harbor) and happened to find a winery on our way back for a little wine and beer tasting.

Our next stop was Drew's Country Camping (accommodating people) in Holland, MI where we visited the Dutch Village and Saugatuck (a quaint harbor village with many shops.) From there, we moved on to Ludington and the Vacation Station RV Park. What a nice RV park and, again, friendly people. Ludington is where the ferry comes in from Manitowoc, WI, and is known for the lovely sunsets. While waiting to catch the sunset on the beach, we wandered around town looking at the several murals painted on downtown buildings that contain hidden items in them (I think we found them all).

From Ludington, we headed to Empire, MI and felt like we discovered a jewel of a park—Indigo Bluffs RV Resort, a new one with lots for sale. We were their first group and they treated us like royalty. It is a beautiful resort with carved cement pads that look like stone, two outdoor lounge chairs, and a free¬standing fire pit at each site. We toured the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (beautiful) and Leelanau Peninsula, stopping at the Grand Traverse Lighthouse at the north end. There are quaint towns with many shopping opportunities on this peninsula. Again, we happened to find one of the 12 or 14 wineries on the peninsula for a little winetasting. The next day some toured the Old Mission Peninsula and some Traverse City. This is a gorgeous area with beautiful inland lakes and breathtaking scenery. Big Glen Lake, with beautiful azure water, has been described as one of the top ten most beautiful inland lakes in the world.

From there, we traveled through Traverse City (the bay and sailboats are a treat to see) and headed to Mackinaw City for a couple of days. We stayed at the Mill Creek Campground on the shore of Lake Huron, which offers a nice view of the Mackinaw Bridge. We took the ferry to Mackinac Island, took the horse and carriage tour, and did some sightseeing downtown. We also managed to support the many fudge shops on the island.

We decided to move our RVs to St. Ignace for a night, which is on the north side of the Mackinaw Bridge, because there was going to be a parade of lighted semi trucks Saturday evening. They cross the bridge from St. Ignace to Mackinaw City and then return. This is an annual event. There were around 90 semis, some of which were the fanciest rigs we've ever seen, and it was a treat to see. We took a one-day outing in our cars to Sault Ste. Marie where we watched a couple ships lock through the Soo Locks. Two couples in our group crossed over to the Canadian side to do some sightseeing, while the rest of us shopped and found an ice cream store.

The next day, we were on the move again. In talking to the locals, they told us about a nice city park in Munising where you camp right on the shore of Lake Superior. This is another nice area and a great place to camp with the shore of Lake Superior right outside your door. Another WIT group from WI also came into this park right after us for their outing. After about 12 days of sunshine, it started raining on the day we were going to take a boat tour of Pictured Rocks, so we decided to head on to WI where we stopped at Oshkosh for our last night.

In summary—it was one beautiful trip! We made mental notes of the places we would consider spending a whole vacation and there were many. So much to see, so little time!

Karen Sheets 309-755-7177

Lady members of the Quad Cities Winnies having fun along the beach.

Windy City Winnies
Local Chapter
By Gail Barthel

The Windy City Winnies met at Caboose Lake Campground in Remington, IN, Sept. 18-20. Our wagonmasters, Tressa and Gerry Glassman and Mickey and Gene O'Boyle, arrived early Wednesday to stake out a place to eat our Friday dinner.

Thursday three more coaches arrived throughout the day. This was planned as a laid-back weekend for a change—and that's just what we did. Later that evening, we went to the Iron Skillet in the Petrol Truck Stop for dinner and had a great time.

Friday some couples went to the Fair Oaks Dairy while others sat around and relaxed. Fair Oaks Dairy not only has the BEST ice cream, but it also has a wonderful tour that ends with a viewing room to watch the cows give birth, it was fascinating! Two more coaches arrived in the afternoon and we went to Milly's Bar and Grill for dinner in downtown Remington. Good food!

Saturday was our treat from the wagonmasters as they made breakfast for all of us. After cleaning up, we had our monthly meeting and then we did our own thing the rest of the day. That afternoon, we had our finger food party. Lots of good stuff to eat and lots of storytelling, too.

All good things must come to an end, so Sunday, after a nice coffee gathering, we went our separate ways.

Gerry Glassman 847-397-7998 ggsuncruzr@aol.com

Winnebago-Itasca Travelers