We were declined! (HH/BW Challenge Series)
The weather was looking dreary in and around St. Louis for the first weekend of our Harvest Hosts challenge.
Chances of rain and wind meant we needed to stay diligent with our travel plans. We booked our locations so that, if we did need to drive during bad weather, the drive would be short. Most importantly, we'd be settled in at a Boondockers Welcome from Saturday 4/27 to Tuesday 4/30. This would serve as a regrouping stop, to get errands done that are easier unhitched, as well as a work stop and a "hide from the rain" stop. We were feeling good with this plan.
We didn't expect to journey east so quickly, but we're glad we did. 2 days after leaving Springfield, we saw that one of the Live Storm Chasers was there. That's never a good sign.
Thankfully they only had thunderstorms that night, but they weren't out of the woods. The following day, the radar showed Springfield in the danger zone.
We have a few must-hit stops on our journey this month, but our fast-paced start gave us plenty of time to explore beyond and between them. With time and weather on our side, we hoped to journey a couple hours south once we got to Illinois. Garden of the Gods has been on our list for a while now, and a colleague of mine also suggested Crab Orchard Lake about an hour west of there. How wonderful would it be to tuck some adventures into this grander adventure?! We didn't get our hopes up too high, though. That part of Illinois includes Shawnee National Forest and other federal and state lands. You saw what happens when we try to find privately-owned properties in a government-owned area.
Slim pickings once again! The listings showed one farm an hour away and one Boondockers Welcome 30 minutes away. Unless we want to try and camp at a dump station, those were our only options. A Boondockers Welcome would be ideal, so that way we could stay a few days, unhitch, and explore. Not a lot of availabilities on this person's calendar, but it did show the dates we needed. I requested a stay from Tuesday 4/30 to Friday 5/3.
About 10 minutes later, my notification pinged in. "We're sorry, your request has been declined."
WHAT?! Surely it can't be us, can it? We have an active Harvest Hosts profile, with rave reviews from hosts! I scoured the email looking to see if the host stated a reason. "We are unable to accommodate you on this date." What does that even mean? Unavailable for all 3 nights? For just 1 of the nights? The calendar showed availability! I considered messaging them to ask, but it just didn't seem worth it. Sometimes I'd rather concede and use my time to plan an alternative. There is a lot of weeding out that needs to happen when choosing Harvest Hosts. If someone doesn't have good photos, reviews, or communication, it's a no from me, dawg.
All of a sudden, this location's availability calendar changed, leaving virtually nothing available for several weeks. They probably forgot to update the calendar until my request came in. At least I didn't have to cancel and risk a strike. They might get a strike, though!
This left us in a bit of a pickle. There were no other Boondockers Welcome sites, not even closer to Crab Orchard Lake. We couldn't stay at an overnight because we wouldn't have time to drive down, park, unhitch, and then drive an hour to explore Garden of the Gods. Forget exploring both Garden of the Gods and Crab Orchard Lake. Sometimes if a stay says 1 night max (as all the businesses are), hosts let you stay more than one night, but you basically need to be invited or be very nice about asking. Asking permission to stay multiple nights + unhitching and not being there sounded like a tough sell. Our southern Illinois voyage was looking pretty unlikely.
We put a pin in our plans and focused on the stays we had coming up. It was time to head out of McKelvey vineyards and go meet some animals!
Rush Acres Farm, Wentzville, MO
Our drive was about an hour through backroads, and as soon as we arrived to the farm, we were greeted by Chris, who showed us to our spot. We nestled in next to the barn, while the female alpacas watched with curiosity.
Chris' hospitality was top notch. He gave us time to settle in and then came over to make sure we didn't need anything. This was when we arranged our farm tour. He said he'd be back around 5PM to grab us.
He took us around on a golf cart and we visited all the different animal pens. First up were the female alpacas. We were immediately struck by how well-tempered they all were, and Chris was so loving with them. It was really heartwarming to watch. We have been to a lot of alpaca farms in our Harvest Host visits, and while they were all good, this one already seemed a notch above. We were allowed to go into the pen to feed them. Lots of times, at other places, we need to stay behind a fence. That's a testament to how sweet these ones are.
Then we stopped to feed the donkeys, followed by the male alpacas.
Next up were the ducks and birds. The ducks, who usually roam the property during the day, were already in their pen for the evening, but Chris let them out to mingle for a bit. They were uproarious when they were given some surprise freedom! We also can't forget our pig meetings, with Lucy the house pig, Dougie the rescue, and Penny the boarder. I didn't snap any photos because I was too busy loving on them, but I do have a video with Penny that I'll share later.
And last but not least, the goats.
Then we went to the store to buy some goodies, where we also met the owner Stephen. Then we called it a night. One other Harvest Host family came in for the night, arriving just before the farm closed for the day, and also right before the rain started to roll in. It continued getting worse overnight, with a couple of loud claps of thunder waking us up. We knew we'd be in for a wet drive day the next day. The forecast, which was originally saying rain early with a break in the afternoon, kept getting worse. Driving in the rain wouldn't be fun, but at least we managed to get away from the severe weather systems.
We took things slow the next day, getting work done and leaving in the early afternoon. We would only be driving an hour and would need to take things slow. We also considered taking an extended break if we could find a laundromat with a large enough parking lot. We were already overdue on laundry, and washing our wet farm clothes would best be tackled sooner than later.
We crossed over the Mississippi River and said hello to Illinois.
We found a laundromat tucked in a plaza with a few restaurants. We threw our clothes in and ordered takeout from the Chinese restaurant next door. While we were there, the wind started to pick up, and the forecast was showing thunderstorms. Thankfully, we didn't have much further to drive.
Meanwhile, the activity was picking up big time further west. Several tornadoes were touching down in Nebraska and Texas, and nearby areas were under watch. Later on, a tornado touched down in Iowa. Things were looking pretty active through the entire weekend. We prepared to stay inside during our thunderstorms and keep watch on what was happening west of us.
Triangle H Farm, Edwardsville, IL
Triangle H Farm is a riding arena, stable, and boarding facility. We chose it for the gravel parking so we wouldn't need to worry about sinking into muddy grass in the rain. We also opted to plug into their electric so we could charge our batteries. We were not getting good solar, unsurprisingly. It's a contact-free Harvest Host, so we could choose where to park and fill out all the papers/leave a donation inside the barn. Flexible check-in and check-out times are also helpful during stormy weather. It was definitely a practical stop for us, but we can only imagine what this place is like in better weather. The barns are adorable, the horses are adorable, there is a gazebo, and we even read that there's a nature trail!
The parking lot was filled with ankle-deep puddles by the time we arrived. We quickly parked, brought the pets in, paid our donation, and prepared for a long night of watching the rain drip down our window and occasional lightning flashes light up the sky.
So far, so good with our planning. Weather is no joke, especially when we saw what we would have experienced if we had headed west out of Missouri instead of east. The whole night, we kept seeing more and more news stories pop up of all the tornadoes wreaking havoc on the other side of the Midwest. Some were extremely destructive. Live Storm Chasers put out a warning count at 9:30CDT and our jaws dropped.
We knew in this challenge that weather-related safety would be of utmost importance. We focused on short drives and parking spots on solid ground. And of course, no matter what, flexibility is key. We have been able to book spots as we move along, which allows us to have a better sense of the weather forecast. This has been working well so far, but that didn't mean we could rest easy. Even if we weren't in the thick of the severe storms, we still had multiple days of thunderstorms and wind ahead of us. As long as we could finish up our stay at Triangle H and make it over to our Boondockers Welcome, we could hunker down until the skies cleared.