Argyle Lake State Park, Illinois
…
There was the requisite morning coffee (full disclosure: coffee for us while camping is instant, which honestly does the job admirably). There were eggs and bacon. And unlike many mornings on these north-south treks, we had no need to immediately pack up for another day on the road, since the Fair and Industrious Trudy had booked a two-nighter.
The idea is this: instead of exclusively using the teardrop as a motel on wheels, instead of the usual arrive-unpack-eat-sleep-eat-pack-depart cycle which leaves no down-time at all these parks, instead of that, a two-nighter once in a while makes getting there indeed feel like part of the vacation. That was the idea, at least.
But in this case the park had little going for it, and our reserved site was soul- and shadeless, making two days in the summer heat under the direct sun seem more like punishment than relaxation. When making these reservations, sometimes you have photos of the sites to help you, and sometimes you just have to trust your luck. This time we drew the short straw. As we ate our breakfast, we discussed skipping the second night.
In the event, we stayed. Trudy walked down to the park host and got us a new site away from other campers (including the one with a continually-running diesel pickup next to the trailer). We set up under the canopy of a medium-sized Bur Oak that promised to shade us nicely all the next day. And so day-2 be a down-day.
Indeed, the day was so down that even sitting in the folding chairs on the green sward of grass and blooming clover with bees buzzing around was too strenuous. And there came a time when we returned to the trailer under the shade of the young tree. In that shade, with blue sky all around us, white clouds floating by, and sunlight dancing on the lawn, we crawled in and left the doors open wide. Izzy curled up between us. There, having absolutely nothing else to do, we fell gloriously asleep.
And it was only just after breakfast.