A confluence of confluences

As I type this post, Ken and I have just finished packing up our 1998 Chinook camper for a short trip—short in time we’ll be gone and short in the distance from home we’re traveling. That’s one of the wonderful things about living in a new-to-us state: there’s so much to explore that we’ve never seen before and much of it is only a few miles up or down the road! As you read this, our adventure has just begun!

The idea for this trip came this past August when we attended the Christian Product Expo at the convention center in St. Charles, Missouri. We had to get home the same day, but as we were leaving St. Charles, we just happened to drive through the historic downtown area. After seeing the charming old town, we knew we had to come back!

St. Charles County is located at the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers just north of St. Louis. As many of you know, Ken and I live close enough to the Mississippi River that we often take our morning walks along the river walk in Cape Girardeau, Missouri with gorgeous views like these:

I have come to love the Mighty Mississippi and the barges and other boats that travel its waters. But the Mississippi/Missouri confluence isn’t the only convergence of rivers we’ll see on our trip this week. When we leave St. Charles, we’ll be driving the Meeting of the Great Rivers Scenic Route. This road snakes for 33 miles through southwestern Illinois along the floodplain of the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers. The route is officially designated as a National Scenic Byway and coincides with a portion of the famous Great River Road.

If you’d like to follow along on our trip, I’ll be posting photos on Instagram at Raney Day Trippin’.

This might sound silly, but one of the things I’m most excited about on this particular trip is that I’ll get to try out the new sink we had installed in our camper a couple of weeks ago. I traded a shallow, divided sink for a one-bowl beauty that is twice as deep as the old one…nine whole inches! (I’ve had a similar home-size deep, black sink in our last two houses and I just love it.) I truly think this will be a game-changer in the camper for how much easier it will be for cooking and cleaning up after meals. I’m also thrilled about that goose-neck faucet and the built-in soap dispenser. (As my kids like to say, “Mom is easily entertained.” )

Ken has made so many improvements to the camper since we bought it in March. After our long trip this fall, he changed out all the gas strut closures on cupboard doors, fixed the clothes rod in the closet, and another door latch, along with some other minor fixes. It’s amazing how small changes make a big difference in how well our tiny home on wheels works for us.

We’ve got the clock changed over to Daylight Savings Time, an on-its-last-legs bouquet in the window box, and the fridge and cupboards stocked with a few days worth of food. Let the adventure begin!

When I look back at how reluctant I was to embrace this camping/traveling life, I want to shake a scolding finger at myself and say, “Try it, silly, you just might like it!” I’m amazed at how much I do! Have you ever gone into something kicking and screaming and later discovered you really enjoyed it? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below.