To recap, we've rolled through or into 3 new states since my last post. I'm going to try to stay with the highlights as much as I can in the interest of actually getting this done, so bear with me, but be warned...it's going to be a long one!
First up...West Virginia!
I've honestly not been to a more beautiful state in all my travels...just gorgeous. On the other hand, I've also had some of the strangest interactions with people there as well. Next time we talk, remind me to tell you the story of the ghost town I saw when I pulled off for a restroom break back when I drove up to my sisters wedding...that's kind of how I picture the area now. Beautiful, but scary when you stop. This trip through didn't do much to change that perception... We stayed in the town of Milton, which is just 20 miles or so east of Huntington. The people in town were super nice, it was clean, I honestly didn't have a bad thing to say about it...except for our campground. It was basically a large gravel lot with enough weeds growing up that they had to mow parts of it. It wasn't really dirty as in unkept, but you know those gravel lots just make everything dusty and dingy. The owner was a bit of a strange bird as our directions were to just put cash in an envelope and leave it in the box. At $20/night I couldn't really complain. I'd definately recommend it for an overnight, staying any length of time is probably a mediocre proposition at best.
Next up...Hocking Hills, Ohio!
Due to that mediocrity, we decided to move on to Ohio quicker than originally planned (looking back...this was the beginning of a rash of poor decisions on my part...but we'll get to that in due time). A couple years back we spent some time in Hocking Hills, OH. If you ever want to unplug and do some intermediate hiking in a drop dead gorgeous natural setting, this is your place. Old Man's Cave is a place you'll never forget, but again I digress...bottom line is that we'd been there before and loved it.
There were a couple problems though...The first issue is that we didn't have a camper last time...and we (I) should have thought about that. We had to navigate tight little winding narrow country roads pulling a 41' camper...and that can cause some carpal-tunnel type issues for sure. Now...unfortunately that led us to the next issue that we didn't think about. As we were merrily enjoying the paved roller coaster that took us deeper and deeper into the valley, Karen noticed that she had no signal. None at all... For us spoiled city people that can be a bit discomforting, but luckily I had put the address to the campground into Brutus' GPS, so we weren't dependent on phones for directions, so we continued on.
We finally turned onto the "road" our campground's address was located on and it began to lead us uphill. As we were cresting the peak, Karen noticed a "camping" sign pointing to our left and the main road also turned hard left. I thought we were finally reaching our destination so we sped on down the road. We approached another sharp right and as you may or may not know, sharp rights on narrow roads are the enemy of all fifth wheel drivers. You have to cut them wide because the trailer will track to the inside. So as I'm preparing for this turn, Karen alerts me that the campground is on the outside of that same turn. I know now that I should have just stopped cold, but hindsight is 20/20. I continued into the turn on autopilot before I realized what she had said and passed the campground. Again...I should have just backed right back around that curve and gone in, but I didn't...I continued on for a place to turn around. I'm not going to recall the next section because it is a highly charged topic in my home, but the highlights are that 1) again I didn't listen to Karen, 2) I almost wedged the truck and trailer going the wrong way on a 1 way road going uphill in the shape of a V and nearly tore the bike rack off the back, 3) with a couple of the backups I had to do I managed to tear 2 vent covers off the top of the camper on low trees. You'll hear more about that later.
So...fast forwarding to entering the campground, Karen and I are not speaking to each other at this point. If she could drive the camper I probably would be found months from now in a ditch up on that hill...but she went in, got our site right on the lake and we pulled around and parked. It was totally picturesque and a lovely park (which I would recommend if you have a smaller setup and are looking to unplug...see below). We unhooked and started setting up. I went to plug in the power and...30 Amps! Son-of-a@$?&$! For those not in the RV world, our camper runs on 50 Amps in order to run the two air conditioners and all our modern gadgets...so this meant 1 AC to cool the entire thing. We sure weren't going to hook back up after what we'd been through, so luckily we were able to work through this one by breaking out all the fans...not ideal but we survived!
Now..as most of you know, I'm working on this trip. The following day I had calls starting at 9 AM. Remember that 'no service' Karen noticed on the road...yep...here too. Well, at least I had the campground wifi to email them and let them know I would be late right? Nope...we didn't get the password from the office and the office was closed by the time we got that far. That only left one option...get up at the crack of dawn and get on the road...on to our next stop...so that's what we did.
Stop 3...Zanesfield, Ohio!
So we were up and out by about 7ish. Once we made it to some kind of coverage I was able to reschedule the appointments I needed too. We called ahead and Kamp-a-Lot (our next stop) was totally helpful in letting us get in earlier than planned. Things seemed to be going well, then there was a detour in our route. Looked like it should just add a couple minutes, but about an hour later we were almost back to our original course. Then, we came to a T in the road. We started to follow the road to the right (that's what Google wanted us to do) and all of a sudden there was a bridge with a clearance of 13' 9". Sounds plenty high to most people, but our best guesses about the height of our camper are...you guessed it! 13' 9". So...now what were we going to do? Karen got out and ran forward to the other side of the tunnel and I slowly worked my way through. The end result was either that we are 13' 8 1/2" or the sign was an exaggeration. Either way, we came through that one with nothing but severe heart palpitations!
Finally we got to Kamp-a-Lot in Zanesfield it was going on 10:30. The place is private and gated, so we had to wait for the managers to come let us in. Once we were in they gave us the pick of spots on the hill. There were 4 to choose from (2 were occupied) so we chose the one facing the road. The terrain here is rolling, and we had to pull up one hill to back onto another one. Sounds easy, but the grass was wet and the truck just wanted to spin. Luckily a couple of the guys helped me finagle it into the spot. By the time we were set up it was noon...what a day! In the end though we had a great spot on land that my great-grandfather owned and I frequented in the very dawn of my existence. Of course I don't remember it, but it was a very cool feeling.
One of the first things you notice in this part of Ohio is how polite everyone is. Everyone, regardless of age or gender, waves when they go by. I've always done this myself, even in Florida, and Karen thought I was crazy...but it was nice to be in an area where this is the norm. That is definately something I miss from small town Ohio. As for the campsites, they aren't fancy, but they are definately nice. With the people and the location (close to town, close to Mad River Mt ski resort, close enough for a day trip to Columbus or Dayton, close to many attractions) I would highly recommend this one.
While we were there we had a couple interesting things happen. Most of them were even good this time! My dad got married while we were there. It was a small service in a tiny little country church. We really enjoyed it and I don't remember him looking happier. Afterwards my dad and his new wife Louise, along with my sister, her boys Austin and Jordan, her boyfriend Nick, and Austin's girlfriend Brittany came over and we cooked out. It was a wonderful day and the kids had fun playing in the creek and on the Xbox, while the adults reminisced about days gone by.
The next day we headed out to Ohio Caverns. It was truly a spectacular sight. I had been there many times in my youth, but had forgotten just how pretty it really is. Aaron did a full review a little further down the page. They also had a "Tree Tour" where you could walk around the grounds and find 19 different species of trees. It was very fun and we really got our exercise that day!
When we got home that night it started to rain cats and dogs. Karen became alarmed when she found water dripping from our closet light. I took the light off and sure enough...we had a leak. Karen hopped up on the roof (I don't go up there because I'm not sure it will hold me...ok, and it scares the hell out of me) and rubber banded a ziplock bag over the opening of one of the vents we broke off in Hocking Hills. That solved the drama and should last us until we can get the vent repaired. We should be able to tackle that when we reach Wisconsin, so just a couple more weeks.
Finally...Rising Sun, Indiana!
The next day it was time to leave Ohio, kind of anyway. We headed down to Little Farm on the River in Rising Sun. It's literally across the river from Cincinnati, although it still take 45 minutes to get over there because you have to drive up to the bridge. Anyhow, Karen is doing a full review on the campground in a separate post, so I won't bore you with my tribble here. Let's just say I've enjoyed it quite a bit, but it also has a few drawbacks ( most notably lack of AT&T service) that we had to address in new and creative ways. We'll have a follow up post on those solutions in the next day or 2.
For now I'll leave you with this thought from Lao Tzu: "A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving." That pretty much sums us up right now...lol.
Good night!
P.S. - Thanks Valerie for reminding me that we aren't just doing this for us. Miss you!
No comments:
Post a Comment