13 May 2024 - Arrived at Scott Air Force Base FamCamp near Bellville IL + Stats

 

We vamoosed from Bull Shoals White River State Park Campground this morning promptly at 0800 hrs and made our way into the "Show Me" state.  

Today's travel was fairly uneventful which is how we like it, but longer than we would prefer.  Since I built the route and chose the stops, I have no one to blame but myself!  I promised myself I would do better next time...!  Not unlike traveling from Little Rock to Bull Shoals, traveling from Bull Shoals to the East St Louis IL area is similar - there is no straight shot.  But except for some windy, slow roads it was not bad.  After a lot of two lane, we entered I-44 and headed eastbound to St Louis.  We had a pottie and fuel break along the way but soon a familiar sight came into view!  

We crossed the Mississippi River and in a few miles we exited I-64 and pulled in to the main gate of Scott Air Force Base, our home for the next two nights.  We traveled 302 miles today in 5 hrs 49 minutes.  Our average travel speed is 50mph no matter what we do.  So that makes it easy to figure how long it is going to take to get from point A to point B.  

Photo credit:  USAF

This is just an interim stop for us.  Other than replenishing the pantry and fridge, we have no plans to do any touristy stuff here.  We spent quite a few days here in 2016 and 2018 seeing all the sites and before that we brought our kids down for a very reasonably priced family vaca.  I never had the need to deploy to Scott while I was in the military even though back in the day is was Headquarters Air Force Communications Service and then Air Force Communications Command.  I served under both but was just a lowly radio fixer and had no business at AFCS/AFCC Headquarters!  Now it is the home of the 375th Air Mobility Wing.  They fly C-21's, C-40's and KC-135's.  This is also the home of one of the Illinois Air National Guard units, the 126th Air Refueling Wing.  Back in the day they flew F-15's.

So as I mentioned above, I picked the route and I picked the stops, so no one to blame....  I reluctantly chose Scott AFB for this stop, and it is only for a couple nights.  We have stayed here twice before and I have never been impressed with this place.  <Lengthy, emotional rant removed here>  As a dear retired Command Chief friend of mine Scott Dearduff would say, "YOUR NAME IS ON THE MAIL BOX!" Have a little pride.  OK, done with my rant.  

The campground is not large and right now it is also not very busy.  The sites are back-in with electric and water only - no sewer.  So when we depart Wednesday morning, we will have to stop at the "dump station" and download a two day supply :-)  

The pictures don't do the weeds/grass  justice

Ruts all over the place need gravel

Seriously?!  Give me the friggin mower and I will do it myself.

Stats:  This is campground #13 of 42 

# States Traveled Through So Far This Trip, in order: 8 (IA, MO, KS, OK, TX, AR, MO, IL)  

# States left to visit on this trip: 24 (IN, OH, PA, NY, VT, NH, ME, MA, CT, NY, PA, MD, WV, VA, NC, TN, AL, MS, LA, TX, OK, AR, MO, IA)

Baseball Parks Visited So Far This Trip:  2 (Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, Oklahoma City OK; Texas A&M Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park)

Lighthouses visited:  0 

Lighthouses climbed:  0

Point to point travel miles:  2842 miles 

  - Avg point to point travel miles between campgrounds:  189 miles

Vicinity miles:  814 miles 

  - Avg vicinity miles:  63 miles

Total miles driven:  3656 miles 

Total point to point driving time:  58 hrs 22 minutes

Total diesel fuel purchased: 385.366 gals 

Total diesel fuel cost:  $1366.89 

Average diesel fuel cost/gal:  $3.600

Max diesel fuel cost:  $3.899 (Bradt TX) 

Min diesel fuel cost:  $3.179 (Corpus Christi NAS TX) 

Avg MPG:  10.64 miles/gal

Cost/mi of operation:  $0.35

# Nights at end of this stay:  61 (Includes Griff's start)

Total lodging cost:  $1732.53  (includes Griff's start)

Average cost/night:  $28.40