Springfield KOA Journey

We stayed at Springfield KOA Journey in Rochester, Illinois. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A nice quiet KOA, a bit off the beaten path.

Dates:

Check in: 2024-07-16
Check out: 2024-07-18
2 nights

Weather:

Mostly cloudy, some rain
High temps 78-84°F, lows 59-71°F
Negligible wind, gusts to 15 MPH

Noise:

No road noise
No train horn noise
No neighbor noise

Site:

#43, pull-through, gravel
Didn’t need to disconnect toad, parked behind coach
Fairly level site, a little high on the passenger side; used hydraulic leveling
Gravel driveway about 70 feet long by 9 feet wide
18 feet to neighbors on both sides
Picnic table
Fire pit
No trees
Clean site

Utilities:

50 amp power, conveniently located
50 PSI water, conveniently located
Good sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

Verizon: 12-19 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 70 ms ping
AT&T: 3-8 Mbps down, 0.8 Mbps up, 110 ms ping
T-Mobile: 22-35 Mbps down, 0.03-0.5 Mbps up, 80-800 ms ping, unreliable
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: not currently available

Amenities:

Garbage dumpsters
Pool
Mini golf

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Nice KOA tucked away

Most KOA Journeys are right off the main road/highway/interstate and are pretty noisy because of this. On the other hand, the Springfield KOA Journey is tucked away in the country (over the river and through the woods…literally) and was absolutely quiet and lovely. Our site was nice and long, so we didn’t need to disconnect our tow vehicle, even though we did so we could check out the Abraham Lincoln Home NHS in Springfield. We camped at Springfield KOA Journey in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

Campground map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Utilities:

Utilities

Other sites:

Other sites

Office:

Office

Playground:

Playground

Bikes

The mini golf seems to be undergoing repairs, or something:

Mini golf

Swimming pool:

Swimming pool

We’d be happy to stay here again.

Video

Video: Sullivan, Missouri to Rochester, Illinois motorhome travel timelapse

A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 165 miles from Sullivan, Missouri to Rochester, Illinois.

Travel from Sullivan, Missouri to Rochester, Illinois

We drove our coach 165 miles, about three hours of driving, from Sullivan, Missouri to Rochester, Illinois.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading northeast:

Route map

An interactive map:

Toading up:

Toading up

“Impassable during high water”; it was raining, but not flooded yet:

Impassable during high water

Rain:

Rain

Nearby tornado warning:

Tornado warning

Heavy rain:

Heavy rain

Emergency Alert, flash flood warning; totally fine time to be traveling:

Emergency Alert

The other side of the freeway was flooded, with water up to the top of the barrier, and a (presumably) broken down car:

Flooded freeway

“Water over roadway”:

Water over roadway

Flooding beside the freeway:

Flooding

Rest area:

Rest area

Roadworks with a narrow lane:

Roadworks

KOA on KOA Road:

KOA on KOA Road

One-lane bridge:

One-lane bridge

Narrow road:

Narrow road

Our site:

Our site

The best hose quick connectors

While in Red Bay I chatted with a neighboring Tiffin owner about plumbing bits (always a fun topic, for me anyway), and he showed me his Eley hose quick connectors. I was impressed; they were much nicer than the cheap ones I had been using, that I got from Amazon.

Better how, you no doubt ask with bated breath? Perhaps the most exciting thing for me is that one can just push them together without having to pull the release mechanism; that saves a lot of effort and time, milliseconds and milliseconds each time!

The release mechanism is much the same as most quick connects, pulling back on the outer ring. But the implementation is a bit better, with stainless steel bars holding the connectors together. And (one thing that confused me at first) they also have a safety feature where the connectors can’t be separated while under pressure, preventing messy accidents.

Another benefit is a wide aperture, so they don’t restrict the water flow.

The only downside of these connectors is that they are several times more expensive than the cheap ones, at about $27 for each pair (you can buy in units of 1-4 of each side). But you get what you pay for.

Based on that recommendation, I bought a bunch of them; each plug and socket comes in a cute twist-together container (that we gave to Mom to repurpose in some craft project):

Eley quick connects

A closer look at the plugs and sockets:

Eley quick connects

I also got a shut-off valve, a different design than the usual ball valve lever:

Valve

Here’s an example of them in use, with quick connects at the campground faucet (which makes it easier to disconnect), and before and after a 4-way splitter, and when connecting to the coach, as visible in the previous picture:

Hose

I use a 4-way splitter, with one outlet having a pressure gauge to check the pressure of the campground supply, one quick connect that I attach a second hose to for filling a bucket etc, a quick connect to a pressure regulator (and another quick connect after that), and a spare regular hose thread, often used to depressurize the hose:

4-way splitter, quick connects, guages

I sometimes add a third gauge after the pressure regulator, to confirm the reading, also with quick connects:

4-way splitter, quick connects, guages

Yes, I do enjoy my plumbing bits, and one could perhaps even suggest that I might get a bit too carried away, if one felt like being wrong. But hey, it’s a hobby. And useful! The quick connects etc make my life easier when moving campsites, as we do weekly on average.

Meramec State Park

We stayed at Meramec State Park in Sullivan, Missouri. (Campground Reviews listing.)

An hour out of St. Louis, with a very long road to the campground, and bad cell reception.

Dates:

Check in: 2024-07-13
Check out: 2024-07-16
3 nights
We were originally going to stay 4 nights, but left a day early as the cell coverage was very bad

Weather:

Partly cloudy, some overnight rain
High temps 90-96°F, lows 71-76°F
Some wind, gusts to 24 MPH

Noise:

No road noise
No train horn noise
Lots of neighbor noise on weekend, fairly quiet during the week

Site:

#2, back-in, asphalt
Needed to disconnect toad, parked in front of coach
Unlevel site, high on passenger side and front; used hydraulic leveling
Asphalt driveway about 70 feet long by 12 feet wide
40 feet to neighbors on both sides
Picnic table
Fire pit
Tall trees
Somewhat clean site; some small trash

Utilities:

50 amp power, conveniently located
60 PSI water, inconveniently located
Loose sewer connection, inconveniently located (2 10-foot pipes needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

Verizon: 18 Mbps down, 0.5 Mbps up, 60 ms ping (okay the first couple of days, then got unreliable)
T-Mobile: 4-13 Mbps down, 0.01-0.3 Mbps up, 60-700 ms ping (unreliable)
AT&T: negligible service
Starlink: not used, too many trees to see the sky
Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

Garbage dumpsters

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Beautiful state park, busy on weekends

This is a beautiful park with lots of trees and green spaces. The two major downsides for us were 1) the access road inside the park was long and twisty and uncomfortable for a big rig to navigate, and 2) the cell coverage was spotty at best, and we work remotely. None of the 3 major carriers got decent speeds, and all the trees made Starlink impossible. Our site was flat, and the hookups were decent, so that was fine. Be prepared for the campground to be party central on the weekend. We camped at Meramec State Park in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Entrance:

Entrance

Deer:

Deer

Other sites:

Other sites

We wouldn’t mind staying here again, but the lack of decent cell reception is problematic for us.

Video

Video: Elberfeld, Indiana to Sullivan, Missouri motorhome travel timelapse

A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 255 miles from Elberfeld, Indiana to Sullivan, Missouri.

Travel from Elberfeld, Indiana to Sullivan, Missouri

We drove our coach 255 miles, about five hours of driving, from Elberfeld, Indiana to Sullivan, Missouri.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading west:

Map

An interactive map:

Water lilies:

Water lilies

Heading on to I-69 North:

Heading on to I-69 North

Pulling up a yellow stripe:

Pulling up a yellow stripe

Love’s fuel stop:

Fuel stop

87.122 gallons of diesel for $367.57; we saved $58.42 off that pump price via our fuel discount card:

87.122 gallons for $367.57

Bridge roadworks:

Roadworks

Wabash River:

Wabash River

“Welcome to Illinois”:

Welcome to Illinois

We haven’t seen a pump jack for a while:

Pump jack

More bridge roadworks:

Roadworks

Rest area:

Rest area

Crossover roadworks:

Crossover roadworks

An interestingly shaped trailer (a mobile stage):

An interestingly shaped trailer (a mobile stage)

Another rest area:

Another rest area

A sign that says “After 11 hours driving, you need 10 hours rest”; we prefer to drive only two hours, but will go up to six on interstates, and stay at least one night when “sprinting”, preferably one to two weeks:

After 11 hours driving you need 10 hours rest

Our first glimpse of the Gateway Arch:

Our first glimpse of the Gateway Arch

Gateway Arch

“Missouri Welcomes You”:

Missouri Welcomes You

Gateway Arch

Six Flags theme park, yep, with six flags out front:

Six Flags

Approaching our destination, Meramec State Park:

Meramec State Park

Our site:

Our site

Miles Landing Campground

We stayed at Miles Landing Campground in Elberfeld, Indiana. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A one night stop on our journey home, but we would have been happy to stay here longer.

Dates:

Check in: 2024-07-12
Check out: 2024-07-13
1 night

Weather:

Cloudy, light rain
High temp 89°F, low 70°F
Negligible wind, gusts to 11 MPH

Noise:

No road noise
No train horn noise
No neighbor noise

Site:

#4, pull-through, gravel
Didn’t need to disconnect toad, and didn’t
Mostly level site, a little high in the front; used air leveling, since only one night
Gravel driveway about 70 feet long by 15 feet wide
20 feet to neighbor on passenger side; about 50 to neighbor on driver side
Picnic table
Fire pit
Some small trees
Clean site

Utilities:

50 amp power, conveniently located
60 PSI water, conveniently located
Didn’t use sewer connection, but conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe would be needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 60 Mbps down, 50 Mbps up, 70 ms ping
AT&T: 160 Mbps down, 60 Mbps up, 90 ms ping
Verizon: 11-70 Mbps down, 2-25 Mbps up, 30 ms ping
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: none?

Amenities:

Garbage dumpsters

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Lovely spot for a quick stop

This is a nice campground not far from the interstate but far enough away that you don’t hear it. Our pull-through site was long enough that we didn’t need to disconnect our tow vehicle, which was very convenient for a short stay. We also enjoyed the nice view of the pond and wetlands below the campground. We camped at Miles Landing Campground in a Motorhome.

Tip for Other Campers: Your GPS will lie to you about the road leading to the campground and where to turn….

Campground map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Other sites:

Other sites

Pond view:

Pond

A nice campground; we would be happy to stay again, and for longer.

Video

Video: Park City, Kentucky to Elberfeld, Indiana motorhome travel timelapse

A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 165 miles from Park City, Kentucky to Elberfeld, Indiana.

Travel from Park City, Kentucky to Elberfeld, Indiana

We drove our coach 165 miles, about three hours of driving, from Park City, Kentucky to Elberfeld, Indiana.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading northwest:

Route map

An interactive map:

Toading up:

Toading up

I-65 South:

I-65 South

Bridge:

Bridge

Fun with zoom:

Fun with zoom

Exit to a service area:

Exit to service area

Huck’s service plaza:

Huck's service plaza

Lunch:

Lunch

“The Journey is My Home”; that could be our motto:

The Journey is My Home

Back to our coach:

Back to our coach

I-165 North:

I-165 North

We had a fun new issue: we turned on our generator while driving, so we could run our air conditioners, it being rather hot. But when we tried to turn it off via the switch on the dash, it didn’t turn off. I also tried using the Coach Proxy web app, which also failed, and reported an error:

Coach Proxy screenshot

This has been a problem since; we’ll probably get it looked at when we go back to Red Bay in December. In the meantime, I have to open the generator compartment (once we stop, of course) and turn it off via the switch on the generator itself. A bit of a pain.

Owensboro water tower:

Owensboro water tower