After a couple nights at Robertsville State Park, we headed to St. Francois State Park for the weekend. I was always fond of Robertsville but the last two times there, we have had tent camping neighbors that were not there to enjoy nature. This time, the guy was a total jerk to the dogs he was supposed to be watching while his girlfriend was at work all day. Glad to be away from them.
Our drive from Robertsville was a little challenging. We drove nearly an hour on a very windy, curvy Highway Y and a part of Highway 30 that I had never seen before. We currently do not tow a car so when I say drove, it was me in the lead with Sabre and Kismet buckled in. My wife drives the RV which she enjoys a lot more since we got the Safe-t-plus Stabilizer system. We do plan to tow one day but not ready to make the investment in the set up and Sabre rides a lot better in the back of the car than he would in the RV space, which is pretty small when the slide is in.
Once we arrived, our friend also arrived with two of her electric bikes. What fun they were to ride. We totally enjoyed the experience. This particular bike was made by Ancheer Electric Bikes. This is something on our wish list for the future but right now, our priority is to get back to riding our regular bikes. Our friend says the Ancheer model is very affordable and she bought it online. The only other brand I have heard of is Rad Power Bikes which is advertised over on the RV Lifestyle podcast.
As expected the park was a little nutty over the weekend. On Saturday, we initially took a walk down the paths behind our campsite to the river and we were surrounded by bluebells, gold finch chirps, fast moving water and epic trees. We finally ended up on part of the Swimming Deer Trail. More spectacular bluebells and Kismet showed that she has very strong hiking credentials. I honestly think she can do anything. She is very athletic. How do you end up loving a little dog so deeply that you have only known for 35 days?
That night, we could hear boats out on the river. It sounded like they were racing. Overhead, there were bats flying in their own chaotic formation.
On Sunday, rain threatened all day and it was like a new place, quiet and peaceful, just the birds and a handful of kids riding the dirt hill right behind our campsite. We won’t choose this one again, site 20. I took it off my favorites list. We didn’t realize this when we booked. But it was fun to watch the dynamics of the kids. They didn’t all know each other but very quickly, a leader emerged. I also noticed that despite peer pressure, most of the girls declined to ride down the steeper section.
The only political paraphernalia was a bumper sticker on a big heavy truck that said, “I identify as a Prius.” The license plate cover was a Don’t Tread on Me emblem. Just unnecessarily sarcastic in my mind. I later noticed the driver of the truck giving one of the kids a hard time because he borrowed his sister’s bike that happened to be pink. The kid tried defend himself, saying it was better suited for riding the dirt paths and I realized how dumb it is to assign color to a gender.
Below is the electric bike that we got to try out.
I had so much fun with you guys, looking forward to more adventures!