July 31st - August 4th, 2023 - Midwest RV Club Rally - Topeka, Illinois

Well, grandpa's GPS got us to another rally and back home again.

This car compas came with Homer. I've kept it mounted on the dashboard as a nostalgic piece. Homer is a 1993 model. The compas reminds me of just how much technology has changed in the last 30 years. I also keep an Atlas in Homer (even older technology). In truth I relied on "Google Maps" to make the trip.

The "Midwest RV Summer Rally" was held at "Evening Star RV Resort" in Topeka, Illinois this past week. Last winter we met a couple at Adelaide Shores RV Park in Florida who were from Central Illinois and invited us to attend their summer rally as guests. So this week we did.

There were about twelve rigs and all the attendees were extremely friendly and welcoming. They all wear name tags all the time which really helped us with names. Through no fault of theirs, we were assigned a terrible site. Here are some pictures. Because of the neighbor's slide out, I literally had to shimmy out of the driver's door to get out. The sewer connection was at least ten feet in front of Homer. We were too far away to be able to hook up. This site was $50.00 per night! There were a lot of empty sites the next street over. I have no idea why they put us here, wedged in between a fifth wheel and a pickup truck. In the third picture you can see the white sewer pipe in front of Homer between the picnic table and the water connection. Our site didn't have a picnic table.

In addition to the site being the pits, setting up Homer for the week did not go well. Because of the distance to the water connection I had to attach a second water hose. No problem. I always have a second hose on board. I attached the cloth windup hose I have had for about ten years but rarely used.  Upon hooking it up it would not seal at the water bib. It needed a new washer. No big deal but I searched Homer and could not find one. (I'm in a learning curve as to where things are in Homer after spending months in Marge where I knew right where everything was stored.)  A neighbor was going to get me a new washer when I realized that I had another problem. This cloth hose had numerous pin holes in it and at the other end looked like a soaker hose in places. That wouldn't do. I took it off. Luckily, I also had an older white plastic hose. It was shorter and barely reached the water bib. Problem solved! Nope. This plastic hose leaked terribly at the crimped connection not under the washer. No amount of tightening would stop it. This hose was junk as well. Since I was now out of hoses, a club member immediately offered me a hose to use for the week. While all this was going on the group was sitting there watching me get my water hooked up like a rookie. Later that day I threw away the two old hoses and got online and ordered a new hose and a set of washers for next time.

Everyone arrived on Monday and the hosts provided pulled pork for a potluck supper in the campground's activities room. The room wasn't air conditioned, but the host brought a huge shop fan and that, along with the ceiling fans, made it tolerable and kept the flies at bay. The meal was great with lots of tasty desserts. Here is a picture of the building. Most people drove to it but it was an easy walk from our campsite.

The hosts provided breakfast each morning in the activities room. Donuts, coffee, and juice the first morning; eggs, biscuits and gravy, coffee, and juice, the second morning; and donuts, coffee, and juice the third morning. All were very good, even the coffee. (I'm particular about my coffee.) Everyone visited during and after breakfast. Breakfast was from 7:00 a.m. until 8:30 a.m. Too early for Kelly so she slept in each day. 

Lunch was on our own each day. On Tuesday we lined up at 1:00 p.m. and drove to the "Dickson Mounds Museum" a few miles away. The museum is operated by the Illinois Department of Natural Resouces on the grounds where Indian mounds have existed for thousands of years. It was quite informative. It is a smaller version of the Cahokia Mounds near Cahokia, Illinois, which we have visited several times.

We didn't tow Bart to the rally so each day we rode to events with Linda and Dave, the couple who invited us.

After the museum visit we headed to "Babe's" in Havana for supper. Upon arriving back at the campground everyone sat around and visited until dark. There were fire pits, but it was much too warm to even think about a campfire.

At l:00 p.m. on Wednesday we drove to "The Jack Wolf Memorial Fish Hatchery". I talked Kelly into posing for a picture.

We have been to fish hatcheries before but none this large and diverse. They hatch about sixty varieties of fish from salmon to alligator gar. I always thought alligator gar were a trash fish and never imagined they were hatched and distributed in the rivers. We were told they are very important to the food chain because they eat a lot of dead fish and keep the populations of other fishes in check. Here is a picture of a tank of fingerlings. Note the minnows just lying in the bottom waiting to be eaten.

This hatchery is huge compared to other hatcheries we have visited. They purchase minnows for food by the ton in addition to feeding tons of fish feed. Here is a picture of the main tank room.

This facility uses hundreds of thousands of gallons of fresh water each day. Fresh, clean water is essential to raising fish so all tanks are cleaned every day. They do this by pulling the plug at the bottom of each tank and using brooms to push the fish poop and leftover feed down the drain. Fresh water automatically enters the tanks as they do this to keep them full. Sometimes a fish will go down the drain during this process. Interestingly a fish can then live in the pipes below. In the pipes there is plenty of fresh water, leftover food, etc. One time they had an issue with a pipe. The maintenance man was working on it when he saw a tail and pulled it out. It was a 12-pound trout that had been down in the pipes for seven years. The crew had a fish fry. 

Here is a picture of the tanks where they segregate the males and females for egg and sperm harvest. The process is all done by hand by manipulating each fish. I never thought about people doing this for a living before.

Once the eggs and sperm are harvested the two are mixed and put in trays called incubators. The water is the trays is closely regulated for temperature to get the eggs to hatch based on the species. Here is a picture of one tray. You can see the multitude of trays in the background.

Once the eggs hatch they are called "fry". The fry are then moved into cylinders called "McDonalds" (fries) (Get it?) where they grow until they are large enough to be put in the tanks.

We had a great tour guide. He was a biologist who truly loved his work at the hatchery.

After that tour we headed to "The Shed" for supper. It had been arranged for them to open early to accommodate us. The place was previously a "biker bar" but had been remodeled into a nice restaurant sort of in the middle of nowhere. The food menu was outstanding and the amount of food with each entree was huge. Kelly and I should have split a plate. (We always say that after we see the size of the meal.) We each ordered catfish nuggets. They were delicious but the amount was so large that we brought an entire plateful home. Once again back at the campground many sat around and visited. It was a good time for us to get to know people.

Thursday at 1:30 p.m. we headed for a tour of "O'Heirn Feed Lot" and "Nature's Grace and Wellness" marijuana growing facility. The owner has raised cattle all of his life and branched into marijuana production in 2015. Here he is telling us about this cattle feed lot operation (he has several others in Missouri and Illinois). It was the neatest, cleanest, well-maintained farm I had ever been on. One of his sons manages it.

This facility is licensed for 6,000 head. It was interesting to learn about the science of how to design the buildings for animal comfort, how they handle the waste, and how they feed and keep the animals healthy in confinement. His herds are 90% black angus. He buys the calves from out of state and feeds them out to about 1,500 lbs. They were a little leery of us and huddled in the back until we walked away. 

In 2015 he obtained a license to grow marijuana and process it on this farm. We next toured that facility. No pictures are allowed inside the facility but here is a picture of the outside of the facility taken from the corporate office building.

For us to enter the facility we each had to be cleared ahead of time by the Department of Agriculture. We had all submitted our names about two weeks ago for approval. The facility was expanded in 2018 and is absolutely huge. The marijuana is not only grown and harvested for smoking, but the majority of the operation is to reduce the marijuana to oil for various products and for infusion into candy bars, gummies, vaping, etc. In the picture above you can see a white fence on the left. This is an enclosed outside area where 16,000 plants are growing. They get about ten feet tall and are then fed into a woodchipper. The pulp that comes out is "cooked" into cannabis oil. In one room he showed us a gallon jar of crude cannabis oil. He said that jar was worth about $30,000. There was a wall of cabinets in that room full of these jars.

The tax on cannabis in Illinois is 36% and in Missouri 6%. He is only allowed to sell his product in Illinois. He has 80% of the infusion market in the State of Illinois. (He has obtained a Missouri license after suing Missouri over the licensing process.) His product can only be delivered to Illinois retailers by his employees. Two employees must deliver each shipment. He said this is crazy because pharmacies can send much stronger drugs through the mail to people. 

He clearly has tens of millions of dollars invested in this marijuana operation. In one room they were rolling joints by hand for sale in a "five pack". They recently purchased a rolling machine for a half of million dollars. It can roll so many joints so fast that it paid for itself in two months.

All employees must be cleared by the government and must change into pocketless scrubs before entering the facility. Interestingly, most of the employees are employed to keep the place clean. Any kind of mites or other contamination are disastrous. Only the employees actually attending the plants are allowed in the growing rooms. Once the plants are moved out of a growing room, before a new batch is moved in, the entire room floor to ceiling is scrubbed down with bleach. We had to have our shoes sprayed with alcohol before we entered the growing rooms. In the growing rooms the plants are kept under 24 hour per day light so that they do not produce flowers. The lights are very intense sodium lights. He said each light uses as much electricity as the average house. There were hundreds of them. I can't imagine his electric bill for these lights and the entire air-conditioned facility.

This is big business like I never imagined. I envisioned seeing some plants growing in pots and getting harvested for sale to roll joints. That is the smallest part of the business. Most of the product is CBD oil, infused products, and vaped products. They infuse candy bars, gummies, etc. I can't imagine how much money is invested in this operation and I can't imagine the profits. What a learning experience.

After the tour we headed back to their corporate offices for a catered meal of brisket, ribs, mini meatloaf, pulled pork, smashed potatoes, corn bread, mac and cheese, slaw, dessert, beer, water, and soda. It was all outstanding. We helped the hosts load up all the leftovers. Once back at the campground bags were provided for attendees to take whatever they wanted. I got some pulled pork, potatoes, and brisket. It will make a couple of nice lunches this week.

Friday everyone headed home on their own time schedule. This was our first rally with this club, and we hit a home run. It was forecast to rain several of the days, but it did not. The weather cooperated, the members were exceptionally welcoming, and the tours were most informative. Now we have to decide if we want to join the club.  Their next rally is in the Amana Colonies in September. We can't attend because it is the same week as the Carri-Yals RV Club Rally in Jefferson City, Missouri. If there wasn't a scheduling conflict we would go because it has been about ten years since we were there.

As with any RV trip there is something to fix on Homer. It is a minor "redo" of a prior "improvement" I made years ago. I'm in the process of making that modification and will save that for the next blog.