Owners Kim and Jeff Bladdick are turning their love for the RV lifestyle into a new business – converted soybeans, and cornfields into a 20-site facility.
The Bladdicks are the owners of I-55 RV Park & Campground, located at 4260 Blackburn Road in Edwardsville. The big-rig-friendly park, which is right off Interstate 55, opened on Aug. 23.
The land has been in Jeff Bladdick’s family for decades. When he inherited it from his mother a few years ago, the lifelong camper in him decided that Edwardsville is the perfect place to build a spot for people who travel via RVs.
The 20-site park has full hookups with 20-, 30- and 50-amp electric power at each site, and the average site length is 63 feet. The park has been built by the Bladdicks from the ground up, replacing the soybeans and cornfields that were there just a few months ago.
Kim Bladdick was a mail carrier for 30 years and then worked in real estate for several years. Jeff, meanwhile, sold residential real estate in St. Louis for 30 years.
When they retired five years ago, they switched from tent camping to RV camping, and the seeds of I-55 RV Park were planted.
“We didn’t know anything about RVing until we bought our first RV, and then we did a lot of volunteering because we wanted to know more about it, and we fell in love with the RV world,” Kim Bladdick said. “We met so many people and made some good friends.
“We’re very faith-based and we believe in miracles, and we happened to be in St. Louis and the city of Branson was having an expo about how to turn your cornfield into a campground. Then we were in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and they were having a school on how to build a campground. Everything just fell into place, and that started the ball rolling.”
While the Bladdicks, who live in St. Louis, started planning the RV park three years ago, construction was initially delayed due to a shortage of stamp metal needed for an electric panel at the site. A wet spring this year further delayed the start of construction before it finally began in March.
“We’ve been getting calls from a lot of people who want to come here, and the community has embraced us as well, including Home Depot and Lowes and several restaurants in the area,” Jeff Bladdick said. “People are excited to tell their parents and grandparents and friends about us.”
Building a brand-new RV park required numerous permits and inspections from the county and the state, but the Bladdicks say the process was easier than they expected.
“We had to go through Madison County and the Illinois Department of Public Health, but they’ve all been very good to work with,” Kim said. “The county even thanked us for being so accommodating when they gave us our permit.”
One major selling point about I-55 RV Park is its location, as it’s a relatively short drive away from Illinois attractions such as World Wide Technology Raceway and Plummer Family Park, as well as Missouri attractions including the St. Louis Zoo, the Gateway Arch and St. Louis Cardinals, St. Louis Blues and City SC games. It is also ideal for families planning campus visits to local colleges.
“People were calling and telling us, ‘You need to open’ because there are not many RV parks in this area,” Kim said. “During the pandemic, RV sales were astronomical, and it’s slowed down since then, but there are a lot more RVs on the road than there used to be.
“Our key is being right off the highway. We don’t have to expect to have too many people staying here long-term or for the season, but we’re offering daily and weekly rates.”
Initially, the RV park had 20 sites on 3 acres, but there is room for expansion.
“We have three more acres, and the 100th anniversary of Route 66 is coming in 2026, and we might expand by then to accommodate the additional RV traffic we expect for that,” Jeff said.
For more information about the new RV park, visit https://www.i55rvpark.com/, call 314-323-5439, email i55rvpark@gmail.com or go to I-55 RV Park & Campground on Facebook.
