Lake of the Ozarks Park in Missouri is a gorgeous park on another dammed up river. Unfortunately, for some reason it is waaaay down. I don’t know if it is climate change or too much water being drained off for irrigation. From the status of all the states we have been in, I’d say drought and climate change is real. We have experienced above average temperatures and very little rain for almost the whole trip. Great for those of us on vacation but not so good for the farmers!

Those are not beaches, that is groomed former lake bottom!

The park was lovely and nearly deserted. We even had a campsite right on the lake!  

Night view from inside our RV.

On to Illinois, where we stayed at Eldon Hazlet State Park, another beautiful park on yet another dammed up river. This one was even more beautiful, and even more deserted! I kind of like camping off season where we have the whole park to ourselves!

This would be a great park for a family or friends reunion with proper planning (i.e. enough in advance to get adjacent cottages). There are 20 lakefront cottages for rent, each sleeping 4.  So cute and reasonably priced! 

You can see a sliver of the lake at the right of the picture.

See how deserted it is?

I bet this park is very busy in the summer. In addition to the huge lake, it even has a swimming pool!