Technomadic meetup

We are at the RV park for the Casino Queen casino in East Saint Louis, Illinois (map). This is the same place we stayed six years ago, when we attended a conference across the river, and we're just a few spaces away, in the next row, from where we stayed back then. Nevertheless, check-in tried to convince us that we would not fit on the north side of the park, insisting we take a spot on the south side for an additional $20.

We seemed to recall going through this the first time we were here, and we stuck to our guns until they agreed to let us squeeze in here. Their web site makes no mention of a supposed 35' limit here. We fit just fine, by the way. The AAA rate is $36 per night on this side, $10 more than we paid last time. Still better than the $55 they wanted for the south side. Six years ago, the south spaces had grass in between them, but now it's gravel just like the north side. Those spaces are a bit longer, and there are another couple of feet of separation between them. Otherwise the amenities are the same, and we have a full 50 amps here, plenty to run all the air conditioners.

We have not visited the casino itself, which is an entirely different place from our visit six years ago. Back then, the gaming area was on a riverboat, albeit permanently moored, with a tunnel under the railroad and Front Street connecting it to a building housing the restaurants and other services. The riverboat is gone now, and the restaurant building bulldozed, in favor of a conventional landlocked casino facility all in a single building.

Last night we met up with friends Chris and Cherie of Technomadia as well as Sam and Tracy of Zen Nomads. After cocktails in Zephyr, the Technomadia bus, a vintage GM 4106, we all hopped aboard the Metrolink light rail across the historic Eads bridge to Laclede's Landing for dinner. It was great catching up with all four of them.

This morning Louise is taking advantage of the laundry facilities here to catch up on that before it gets too hot even to walk the hundred yards or so. And yesterday I spent some time on-line booking the very last site at the Canal campground at Barkley Lake for Friday and Saturday, knowing we are going to need the power and that the lake facilities will fill up on a hot weekend.

Under normal circumstances it is a two-day drive for us from here to there, so we will be leaving this afternoon and heading in that direction. Our overnight options with power in southwestern Illinois are limited, and that will dictate part of our route. We'd love to stick around and spend more time with our friends, but the heat would keep us all trapped indoors anyway, and we want to leave plenty of time to make it to the lake by mid-day Friday.