I wanted to post this update sooner but life is busy….and painful. I am not going to draw this out with fluff so I’ll get right it. Our last trip almost broke us because our towing hitch was stolen that weekend. We did not realize it was gone until we were packing up to go home Sunday morning. Imagine that feeling when you realize a complete stranger took your expensive property. We have no idea if it happened at the fair or at the campground, River Forest Campground.
Your body responds negatively and panic settles into your gut. Your angry, frustrated, and your mind goes through all the reasons this could have been avoided. But the deed was done and we were hitchless. The one RV store open does not have anyone knowledgeable in parts in that could understand what we were looking for. The poor sales guy was clueless and we were frustrated.
The campground was very accommodating and permitted us to keep the RV onsite until we could find a way to get it home. We drove the 90 minutes home and immediately went to the RV store down the road. Long story short….they said we’d have to buy a new towing system and expect to spend $400+ for it.
I went home and scoured the internet. Our towing system was old and I could not find anyone selling that model. But I was determined to keep looking. I went to Craiglist and after hours of scrolling I found a guy 20 minutes away who was selling the exact hitch we needed! YES!! I responded to that ad and by Monday evening we were on our way home with the hitch for only $100. Can you imagine how good it felt to have everything line up in your favor?!?!
On Tuesday, the hubbins and one of our sons went to pick up the RV and brought it home for me to get it ready for winter. I was happy but the sting of someone taking your property was still fresh. In all of our years of camping, we’ve never had anything stolen or heard anyone ever say they had their property stolen.
Is there a lesson here? Hell yea! We are buying a lock for the hitch!! And, if we are going to be in a public area where people are coming and going, store the darn hitch in the camper. Unfortunately, this event pushed everything I wanted to share about the campground our of my memory. This event has painted this campground with a sad memory. It may always be “the campground where we experienced the evils of humanity”.
We plan to go to the State Fair again next year. I don’t know if we’ll stay there again. But here are pictures of the one main issue I had with this campground. The not-so-nice bathroom.
So, the fried chicken and onion rings from the restaurant was meh, there wasn’t a general store for the kids to spend our money, and the bathrooms were….mmmm…let’s go with grimy.
Our camping season is over but to those out there grinding it out…HAPPY CAMPING!!
BlackCampers 