Midwest ideas

Starved Rock State Park is a very very busy park especially on weekends. You will also need reservations asap for that park and there may already be no sites available. Many of the state parks are like that in the summer.

I would highly recommend Thomson COE in Illinois. It's right on the Mississippi River If you can get into Potters North loop, that is on an island with the River on three sides of you.

Great birding and also on the 50 mile Mississippi River bike trail.

Shirley

Starved Rock State Park is nice, but don't go for the waterfalls in mid-July - they'll likely be nothing but trickles or totally dry.

I'm sure you know of Shawnee National Forest in southern Illinois - a don't miss if you're anywhere near the area. Here are a couple blog posts I did from our trip ....

Top 10 Fun FREE Things to do Near Garden of the Gods, Illinois.

Garden of the Gods is Not Just in Colorado!

Mirror Lake and WI dells is worth a solid day maybe one more if you hit the waterparks. Go east and camp along Lake Michigan at Kohler or Harrington. In Il starved rock is a cool place. You could spend two days and not hike it all.

DCS7 wrote:
Mirror lake state park is also in he area and a very nice place. We liked it better than Devils lake, somewhat less developed.

If you stay in the Dells area or especially at Mirror Lake state park, be sure to eat at Ishnala Supper Club (it is in the state park). Great view, great food and their bloody marys are almost a meal in themselves!

Mirror lake state park is also in he area and a very nice place. We liked it better than Devils lake, somewhat less developed.

I agree Devils Lake State Park is a great July camping place, you will have to reserve a site early it is full every weekend.

If you are coming down I39, the Starved Rock State Park along the Illinois river is very nice. The Linclon sites in Spingfield, especially the museum is very interesting, the evolving map of the civl war boundries is really unbelievable.

For Wisconsin, my pick would be Devil's Lake SP.

You could plan a stop in the Wisconsin Dells area then head straight down 39 into Illinois. Not familiar with campgrounds at the Dells, but there are a lot of them. Kids would probably love it especially if it's hot, which it may be.