I will be visiting Decatur, Illinois this spring and there are no campgrounds or RV parks in town. The closest park I have found is in Cerro Gordo called Tom and Carol's RV Park. From the limited description on-line it sounds like just six full hookup sites near some sort of repair or upholstery shop. Has anyone stayed there or been by the place? I'm not just looking for a parking lot to drop the trailer and plug it in. We'd want to be able to roll out the awning, light a fire, and enjoy some outdoor living while we were there. Thanks, Christopher
I happened to be in the Cerro Gordo area reecently and did a drive-by. For those who are interested, here is what I saw. First off, they are closed for the season and the driveway was too heavily iced over to pull in for an up close inspection. Picture a nice quiet residential area in a small town, where one house is on a wider than normal lot. The house is to one side of the wide lot and on the other side, a wide driveway goes straight back from the street. There are about 5 or 6 back-in spaces at an angle on one side of that direveway, all with full hookups. The site closest to the street is set back far enough to be comfortable, and there is little traffic in this area so it should be quiet here. Sites looked like they were spaced far enough apart and there were some trees for some shade. There was a building about the size of a two car garage among the campsites, and I assume that is the shower building. If you were staying for a while in the area and needed all utilities, this is about your only choice. It probably wouldn't be good for an overnight stop though, as with the limited number of spaces it wouldn't take long to fill up, and it is a bit of a drive from I-72. For those who want specifics of their operating season and rates, just do a Google search and it is easy enough to find. Since I was in the area I also drove through Friends Creek Regional Park. Closed for the season as well, they have a small campground containing about 30 sites, though only half have electricity, which I assume is 30 amp. There are a number of water faucets around, a dump station, and a shower building. It's very silimar to what I am used to seeing at state parks. With a nice low rate and being only 3.5 miles from I-72 this is probably your best bet for an overnight stop or extended stay, though I would guess the place is packed every weekend during warmer months. If you have business in Decatur, which I did, it is roughly a 30 minute drive from this park to the center of town. I also did one more drive-by as I wanted to see all of the (limited) camping options in the Dectaur area, the last stop being at the Macon County Fairgrounds. These are located on Rt. 121, just off of I-72. The location is on the NW side of Decatur, really on the edge of town so not much else in the area other than fields and some light industry. I had contacted the fairgrounds office a while back by email and was told that RV parking is available there all year long. They have 30 amp electric, some water hookups, and while there is no real dump station there, I was told they have a place where you can dump into the sanitary sewer. The gates to the fairgrounds were open and though I drove down many roads and past many buildings, I didn't see any RV sites with hookups. Usually those are around the perimeter where carnival workers will park their trailers. The fairgrounds in general were typical of what I've seen in various counties, but since I couldn't find the designated RV parking area I can't comment on what the actual accomodations are like. For an overnight stop this is the easiest access of all three I've mentioned from I-72. Also if you had business in Decatur and didn't care about having a "camping experience" you can't beat the location. Christopher
