Camp Ames, Peru Indiana to Love’s RV Campground, Normal Illinois

Saturday, September 20 to Sunday, September, September 21

This was another first for us in booking a campsite at a Love’s. It was also the first time we’ve seen a Love’s with full hookup, as some may allow overnight camping, some with electric, and some with a dump station. Site #34 was a pull through with full hookups including Wifi.

We continued on US 24 across Indiana. It is a smooth highway, some 4 lanes, but mostly 2 lanes. It is some of the smoothest roads we’ve travelled on our trip so far. Soon after crossing the state line into Illinois, we took I-55 South. The Love’s campground is right off the interstate and has 55 campsites. We made our reservation enroute and it was a good thing because it was the last site available. In looking at the area, we noticed it is near the Illinois State University, and they were having a football game there that night.

Also, enroute, we crossed into the Central Time Zone, making our arrival around 1:30pm CT. With the Wifi, we were able to watch some football games and relax for the day and evening. It is located near the Interstate, but it had rained and cooled off, and we kept our windows closed overnight. The traffic noise did not keep us awake.

Our original trip planned to go to Utah to the mighty 5 but after leaving Jackson Center, we changed our plans and decided to travel to South Dakota. We had made plans to go through a couple of years ago, but changed our plans due to selling our home. Custer State Park is a destination campground and nearly impossible to make reservations with less than 6 months out. We anticipated not getting into the State Park, but there are many other privately owned campgrounds in the area. The area has quite a few attractions, including Mt. Rushmore, Wind Cave, the Badlands, and more. Also, Little Bighorn is located a little over 4 hours west which is a bucket lister for us.

I’ve been checking Custer State Park ever since leaving Jackson Center in hopes of snagging a campsite there but never dreamed it would work out. Well, it did. While staying at Love’s and searching Custer State Park, I found a site at Game Lodge Campgrounds for 4 nights – unbelievable! I quickly made the reservation, before going back in to check is another site was available for a night or two, to make our stay a bit longer. I found another 5 nights and reserved them as fast as possible. We are now booked starting October 1 to October 10 at the Game Lodge State Park campground -awesome!

With a few days to fill before our reservations, we are planning to go to Little Bighorn National Battlefield first for a few nights, then onto Devil’s Tower, before reaching Game Lodge.

Love’s Truck Stop was a highly productive stay! From here, we’re taking I-74 to travel to Beyonder Lazy Acres in Cedar Point, Iowa, with plans to arrive on Sunday, September 21.