We’re back at it! After months of preparation and planning, our first trip of 2023, and the first in the new travel trailer, are finally here! Mark’s been busy researching and learning and placing Amazon orders to get all the gear we need (there were a few things to add to our RoVer stash). I’ve been researching destinations and booking campgrounds for our spring and summer trips in the Midwest.

This first trip takes us to Springfield IL, the state’s capital and destination for all things Abraham Lincoln. About three hours from home, it was the perfect distance for a maiden voyage. We left home on Monday and it was actually snowing while we were connecting the truck and the trailer. Ugh. Unfortunately, it was a VERY windy and gusty day, which did not make for the best driving conditions. White knuckles, anyone? Mark’s first time driving the truck/trailer combination for any length of time (just the trip home from the dealer back in November) wasn’t much fun as he battled the West wind, but we arrived at our campground safely!

Weirdly, our campground is in Rochester, IL. Every time I look at my Apple watch to check the temperature and it says “Rochester”, it’s a little strange, I must say!

At the end of this post, I’ll share our initial experience and thoughts about RoVer Too…but for now, here’s the ‘touristy’ part of the story…

On Tuesday, we headed north to New Salem, a town where Abe Lincoln spent about six years, starting when he was 20. He really didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life when he arrived in New Salem, but during his time there, he forged a path that would lead to his presidency. The 23 log buildings are all re-constructions (except for the cooper shop which is original) that were done in the 1930s and 1940s; they are built on the original foundations from the 1830s village. During his time in New Salem, Lincoln worked as postmaster, county surveyor, and owned two stores, both of which failed leaving him in debt. He had no formal education, but spent all his spare time reading and ultimately taught himself enough about law to start providing basic legal services to the residents of New Salem and earn a license to practice law in Illinois. Lincoln didn’t own a home in New Salem; instead, he would stay with different families in the town during those six years. He served two terms in the Illinois House of Representatives which launched his political career. It was pretty cool to ‘walk where Lincoln walked’ and experience this place that was instrumental in his early years. Overall, the town of New Salem only existed for about 12 years before everyone moved away (apparently because the Sangamon River shifted course).

Wednesday took us into downtown Springfield and our first stop was the Dana-Thomas House, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. It’s unique in many ways, one of which is that it’s a State Historic Site and the tours are free…definitely not something you find with most FLW homes! The place is absolutely incredible. It’s the 72^nd building designed by him and contains the largest collection of art glass (450 windows, doors, light fixtures) and furniture (100+ pieces) designed specifically for the site. It’s massive, at 12,000 sq. ft. and with 35 rooms across a total of 16 levels. Unfortunately, we couldn’t take any photos inside the house, but if you’re interested, they have a nice gallery on their website…

Dana-Thomas House Gallery

The house was commissioned by Susan Lawrence Dana, and she basically gave Wright a blank check to ‘restructure’ the house her family had lived in. Only one room of the original house remains. In 1944, the house was sold to the Thomas family for their publishing company, and then in 1981, the state of Illinois purchased it; fortunately, it had very few owners and had never been dramatically changed as so many FLW homes have been – so the focus has been more on upkeep and maintenance rather than requiring restoration to its original design.

We then stepped back in history a bit to the house where Abraham Lincoln lived in Springfield for the 17 years prior to becoming President. It was the only house he ever owned, and he considered Springfield to be his hometown and the place where his lifelong friends lived, as well as being the place where he met and married his wife and where his four children were born. The Lincolns had the house remodeled multiple times while living there; one of those made the 1.5 story home into a full two-story home (the ceilings in the upper level were too short for 6’4” Lincoln!). The house is furnished with a mix of original items and period pieces that re-create the upper-middle-class home. It was in this home that Lincoln received word that he was the Republican nominee for President after the 1860 national convention was held in Chicago.

In the neighboring Dean House, we learned that Lincoln is the only US President to hold a patent, for a device that could refloat boats that had run aground. Not bad for a man with just one year of formal education!

Thursday was another Lincoln-filled day. We visited the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, two adjacent buildings in downtown Springfield. The library is mostly dedicated to research, but is unique in that it’s open to the public by appointment. The first floor contains some exhibits, including several of Abe’s handwritten documents.

The museum is VERY impressive and extremely well-done. It opened in 2005, and does a fantastic job of telling Abe’s story, from his earliest years in a one-room log cabin in Kentucky, to his time in Springfield, and then in the White House. I think what struck me most is how tragic and sad his short life was. His mother died when he was just nine years old, the first love of his life (who he met in New Salem) died, three of his four sons died at young ages, and the Civil War lasted for his entire presidency. And, of course, he was assassinated at the young age of 56. He was an extremely humble, self-deprecating man who truly came from nothing and dedicated himself to saving our nation and abolishing slavery. There were many references to him joking and telling wonderful stories, in spite of his inner sadness. I think resilient is a good word to describe him, given all that he endured, and the many personal and political losses he bounced back from.

Apparently, more biographies & books have been written about Abe Lincoln than anyone else other than Jesus – clearly his story is one that is worth knowing, and a visit to Springfield & New Salem definitely provides just that!

We made one last stop, to Abe’s final resting place at Oak Ridge Cemetery. The Lincoln Tomb is massive, and was intended to hold many generations of his descendants. But, Abe’s great-grandson died in 1985 and there are no surviving family members; the tomb will always contain just five bodies – Abe, Mary, and three of their four children (the fourth son is buried at Arlington National Cemetery). We learned so much this week about our 16^th President – a fascinating man who is widely considered our nation’s greatest president!

Now let’s talk about RoVer Too…

Overall, we’re very happy with the size and the layout. It improves on the things in RoVer that didn’t quite work for us. We love having a proper table to sit at for meals, games, etc. The bathroom is SO much better than we had before – size, storage, shower…everything. And the kitchen is a huge improvement – it’s larger with lots more storage. The reclining chairs are fabulous – much more comfortable than the couch we had before. The bed is reasonably comfortable (thanks to the 3-inch memory foam topper we added!) and bedroom storage is also pretty good! And outside, Mark is really happy with access to the tanks – no crawling on the ground to empty them!

Things all seemed to work quite well – no major system issues. There is a small leak from the hot water tank’s drain plug (outside the RV) which should be a pretty quick fix for Mark. It was, however, causing the water pump to cycle every 10 minutes or so. This was concerning until Mark was able to confirm there were no other leaks and it was indeed being caused by this one small issue.

The trailer ‘shakes’ a little more when we’re moving around which isn’t much of an issue except when I’m awake earlier than Mark and making my breakfast, he can feel the trailer moving. There are apparently a few add-ons we can look into that can help minimize this.

Hooking up the truck gets a little quicker each time we do it, and the truck’s hitch system gives a nice view on the screen which allows Mark to line up the hitch pretty easily.

Mark was relieved to find that the trip home on Friday was SO MUCH BETTER without all that wind – and our gas mileage improved quite a bit with the truck not needing to work so hard. He could actually use cruise control and steer with one hand!

Our route home from Springfield took us past the dealer where we bought RoVer Too, so we stopped in – Mark wanted to ask them about the angle of the hitch on the truck since it seemed strange to him, but we talked to three different people who all agreed it is exactly how it should be…good news!

Mark read recently that most people buy three RVs in their quest to find the perfect one. We’re hopeful we figured it out with our 2^nd attempt – we definitely learned a lot from our first RoVer that made us smarter with this purchase!

Several more trips in the coming weeks…see you then!