Travel day....Quincy, Ohio....

Our Location: Oakdale Campground, Quincy, OHIO

 

 

A cold night over night with rain and ice pellets and a wee bit of snow as well. When we woke up it was trying to snow and tiny white flakes were coming down but nothing was sticking. The temperature read 28F/-2 C and believe me it was definitely pretty accurate. We were up at 7 am CDT and on the road by 8 am CDT. I was a bit concerned about the roads to the interstate as it was down a pretty steep incline and I noticed where others had been sliding and slipping but I kept everything slow and easy and the one time I touched the brakes it was just wet pavement. We were good to go. 

 

Started out a bit misty but turned out fine....

 

Within minutes we were on I-65N with just some wetness coming off the roadway. I have no idea where we cross the time line but by 9:19 am CDT I mentioned to Riley to check the phones and sure enough we had crossed the line somewhere and we were once again back in our own time zone, EASTERN DAYLIGHT TIME. Yeah us. 

 

Not much snow on the sides of the road either. See Ohio is beautifying their ramps as well. Great roads, dry, and sunny, what else could you ask for?

 

We had absolutely no issues at all and things ran along just fantastic. We iced up pretty good and at one point had a pretty thick coating of ice on the front of everything and sprayed along down the sides of the Dogsled but at no time was the roads ever slippery or even snow covered. All just stop splashing up and freezing on. We were those people that you see at the rest area with ice hanging everywhere and you say to yourself," Glad we didn't go through that." Honestly though, we didn't hit any weather at all.  We eventually reached a high today of 37F/2.7C and that was all we could wring out of the sunshine. On I-71N between Louisville, KY and Cincinnati, OH the sun came out and the road was dry. We enjoyed a wiper free drive the rest of the way. 

 

This is mostly OH 235 North. A very nice road, with a few small towns, a few lights and few slow downs but nice, quiet, not too busy at all. Great road if you aren't in a hurry.

 

As we reached Covington, KY (just across the river from Cincinnati, OH) the traffic slowed down, seeming to back up for a while, but we managed to keep rolling, it cleared up for 5 minutes but once again slowed down and crept along. This was the norm until we were actually out of Cincinnati. I was surprised, there was no reason for any slow downs at all, no construction, lane changes, accidents, etc. Just some mystical reason I guess. 

 

Cincinnati area.....

 

I will say the construction in Cincinnati has been on going for as long as I can remember but I will tell you that they have vastly improved the over all interstate, both surface conditions and width of lanes, not to mention taking out some of the very sharp turns. A bit more work is needed in a few places but over all, the best experience I've ever had moving through Cincinnati. Congrats to the city for doing such a wonderful job. 

 

The big pic on the top left is coming down the hill in Covington, KY toward Cincinnati straight ahead. The others are Louisville, KY,  Florence, KY,  and Dayton, Ohio.

 

Instead of following the GPS and taking 4N out of Dayton we stayed on I-75N until we came to I-70 East toward Columbus. We followed that for a bit and then took the exit for OH 235N. From there it was straight sailing and we managed to pull into the campground just before 3 pm EDT. 

 

I've never seen a Field & Stream store before but I'm sure they're around.  I believe these pictures are Cincinnati, Dayton, and New Carlisle, all in Ohio.

 

The campground is nice with pretty decent sized spaces, and we are parked literally on the Miami River. We can see it out the door. However I will say that I doubt we'll be back due to the state of the office. It is a small, cramped space, that is seems very junky and reeks of cigarette smoke. In fact they smoke as evident by the half full ashtrays that litter the desk area. The folks are friendly enough, helpful, and accommodating but the smell of the office is too much for us. A nice black lab greeted us at the door and continued to stand and lay at my feet making it difficult to move.  

Some road signs along the way....

A nice fellow named Roger brought us to our spot which is high and dry on a gravel driveway which suits us fine. We have electric and water is available but I won't hook up until after the chance for freeze is over. They have a dump station as well. We are back off the roadway by a long distance and I think we'll enjoy the time here as we're close to a few little towns and villages. So hopefully we find some interesting things to keep us amused for a bit. 

A few water towers, road signs and of course the welcome sight of TIMS!!!!

The overall drive was fantastic, a bit sloppy this morning but nothing that required constant wipers, only occasional. The temperatures aren't too bad either, all things considered. They told us they had 6" of snow when I called earlier in the week, and since then they've had a flood and more snow but today there is nothing but bare ground and a very high river. Kentucky needs to work on I-75 North as it's pretty rough in a few spots but still a decent drive. Ohio also needs to work on a few rough spots but again, nothing too serious. 

Still in Kentucky coming down the Covington Hill toward Cincinnati, OH so you know spring is coming...

We traveled about 280 miles/ 450 km today, it took us approx 6 hours with 2 stops along the way. We used around 25- 27 gallons of diesel through all those hills, so I'm pretty happy about that. I noticed $2.76 for diesel a bit back down the road so I'm hoping the prices in the area are all about the same, a fill up will run us into the $70 -75 US dollar mark. We will be here until Saturday when we will pack up and head for Ontario. 

 

I'm not sure but I think this is the Miami River in Dayton, OH.

So there you have it, thanks for stopping by, hope you enjoyed the trip. Feel free to drop a comment. 

 

Welcome to Quincy, Ohio.

Until next time.... take care, be safe, 

Deb

A quiet day here in Cave City, and some campground notes.........

Our Location: Singing Hills Campground, Cave City, Kentucky

(4110 Mammoth Cave Road)

 

A coolish night last night for sure. We needed the heater this morning for a bit but it warmed up nicely through the day and the sun made an appearance for the most part until late this afternoon. 

 

Couldn't get the building without the pole...

 

Over our hot chocolate we discussed plans and  while it would have been nice to actually do something in the 'attraction' area we opted instead for a few things of a  more practical nature. We needed fuel as the big Dog was showing at only a 1/4 bowl full, so that was first on the agenda. Next we needed a couple of grocery items, nothing major just a thing or two.

 

Thought this was an interesting looking trailer....

 

Those things off of our list we proceeded to at least tour the village of Cave City and have a look at what we might see for another time. We found some interesting sights and even managed to stop for a walk around in a couple of locations. 

 

Notice the handle for GASOLINE is green, and the DIESEL is black. If one weren't paying attention it would be easy to make a mistake. Prices weren't too bad. Loved the big chicken in the ad.

 

We headed out to the Mammoth Cavern but didn't actually go into the building as the lot was pretty full and we already knew from the lady in the office that the tours were full. We did however want to have an idea of what to look for in our future visits. 

 

The Old General Store is more just a junk place but the prices are outrageous.

We did stop at an interesting amusement type area. Their activities included ziplines, a chair lift, a mountain slide, bumper cars, go-karts, a trampoline with harness, mini golf, and horse back riding and something called Outlaw Cave. We didn't partake in any of the activities although I offered Riley a chance to do them, she had no interest. We did manage to see off in the distance a few people coming down the slide on the mountain. You take the chair lift up to the mountain top for either the slide ride or the zip line ride, or you come back down in the chair lift. Interesting place. 

 

Some of the 'goods' outside on the front porch.

 

Back home at the Igloo I parked the big Dog and proceeded to clean him up. He's been dirty for a while and I truly couldn't take any more. I pulled out the wipes, vacuum, etc and gave him a pretty good cleaning. He's not perfect but he's better. It took me about an hour to do the clean up, then we had a nice relaxing lunch and I continued doing a few chores. It took about a  half hour to do the chores and tidy a bit in the cubbies. After that a quick walk to the main office with a bag of books to exchange worked out great. I left a complete bag and came home with not quiet a complete bag. Fair trade in my opinion. After that I settled down to read one of the new books. 

 

I'm not sure who painted the Indian but I've never seen ANYONE with a face like that....

 

The day has slipped past and it's already 5:30 pm CST. I was sure we would cross into a new time zone yesterday but apparently not yet. We must be pretty close to the change and tomorrow we will definitely be back to Ontario time. The skies have darkened some and the weather was calling for rain to change to flurries over night. I hope that doesn't actually happen but we'll see how things look in the morning and go from there. No use worrying about it tonight, nothing we can do anyway. 

 

More of the Old General Store merchandise.

 

So there you have it, our pretty quiet day here in Cave City, Kentucky. With a few things accomplished I feel better now. Just a few notes about the park for my own future reference or if you're interested. Sorry I didn't take any pictures. Singing Hills Campground is a nice park, but very tight spaces, hard getting into back in spaces. Drive thru's don't look much bigger but might be okay. Hook ups on the back in spaces are too far from the actually place they need to be. They are located at the front of the site, not in the middle or back. So we couldn't park all the way to the back of the site and still reach the electric. Therefore that makes it difficult to park the truck and be off the road due to not being able to park fully back and also because of the facilities locations, parking is very difficult, they make backing into the spot also very difficult. These back in sites don't have sewer but the pull thru's do. We didn't check out the bath house but it is a cement block building that is the strongest building on the property in case of a storm. Not all roads in the park are 'thru' roads, and don't have an extra lane for exiting, so if all of the spots are full, you are in trouble and need to back out. The office staff is very helpful, supplying directions to grocery store, Walmart, restaurants, attractions, cave tours, etc. Also supply directions to laundry, hospital, police, etc. Advise putting a card in your wallet in case you get lost or forget the name of the place. Great book exchange. Would stay again but get a pull through and be prepared for tight, noisy spaces. 

 

You ride this sled down the mountain slide....

 

Thanks for stopping by, hope you enjoyed your visit. Feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate hearing from you. 

 

Can you see the white line down the mountain, that's what you ride the sled on. The chair lift takes you to the top to get on the slide.

 

Until next time.... take care, be safe, 

 

I think the carpenter wasn't having a good day when he put these windows together.

 

 

Deb

 

 

 

 

Great travel day......

Our Location: Singing Hills Campground, Cave City, Kentucky

(4110 Mammoth Cave Road, 42127)

(270-773-3789)

A cold night with the temperature this morning clocking in at 36F/2C but with sunshine warming things up. We were up at 7 am, loaded, and on the road by 8:20 am leaving Big Buck Resort in Hornsby, Tennessee behind. For my own personal information I should have turned right at the town square in Bolivar to reach I-40 instead of going further out to Whitesville, next time I'll remember that. This route would have been faster than the route we took. 

View from the Dogsled on some of our travels....

The drive was interesting, we traveled some back roads for a bit, TN 18 East, and TN 100 East as well come to mind. We remembered the town of Jackson, TN as we'd been there in the fall working with Verizon to get a new jet pack. They have an odd corner which I remembered as we were heading through town. Funny how certain things come to mind. We've noticed spring has slipped a bit with the leaves not quite out as much as further south, and the blossoms are still just coming into full stride instead of having passed their prime. We also noted the overall area is just a bit behind in the spring like look as we motored north. Maybe it'll catch us when we stop for a few days.

As you can see, spring isn't quite the same in these areas....getting close but not quite...

From Jackson, TN we jumped onto I-40 East for the remainder of the day. The travel was pretty good, not a lot of backups on our side but the other side had numerous LONG backups. We had one slow down due to an accident in the town of Jackson as we were approaching the split to head for the interstate. The first rest area on the interstate was closed and we headed on to the second one which I noted had lots of signs NO OVERNIGHT PARKING, 2 HOUR LIMIT and isn't very big to begin with and I think it would be extremely noisy as the spots are pretty narrow with very little room to spare. 

Some blossoms along the way, and some Wisteria as well....

This is the first time I've come to Nashville from the west, or  at least the first time I remember. Nashville seemed much bigger than normal as we came west then turned north, instead of just a straight dash through the city. Lots of construction signs and a few back ups on the other side but none on our side. 

I forget where this was exactly but it's interesting.

We passed into the state of Kentucky at 11:50 am and just rolled right along. At this point the other side was backed up to a standstill that continued for over 7 miles on the Kentucky side of the state line but it was already backed up in Tennessee for at least a couple of miles. I truly didn't see anything that would have caused the back up but I'm certain construction was the culprit. We noted 4 different spots were the traffic back ups were quite substantial with the shortest being probably a mile. I do believe construction season is in full bloom!!

 

I believe he was at a Garage Sale.....and bought the garage....

We followed the gentleman's instructions with regards to NOT FOLLOWING THE GPS, and instead followed written instructions to the campground location. Sure enough the GPS would have had us turning the wrong way at the exit for the interstate. This is a Passport America park and so we followed those instructions to the letter and found the place with no issues. 

Try saying that 5 times fast....

  

We're quite high up the side of the mountain, and we have iffy AT&T service here. We had to restart both phones in order to get any signal at all. Even with the booster it's not great. I haven't checked our Verizon as they have excellent free wifi in the park. Two different feeds and with all of the folks here I'm sure they need it. 

 

Not sure of the river's name but it sure is big....

We checked in with a nice lady whose name I think is Laura (but I could be wrong), who was extremely helpful and chatty. A very nice setup here very close to the little village of Cave City. We are close to the caverns, the dino museum and a number of other things as well. Too bad we're only going to be here for 2 nights, it would be a nice place to explore I think. We aren't far from Bowling Green, KY where the Corvette Museum is located and if time permitted I would definitely go there. 

 

Houses and buildings along the way....

The day time highs reached 55F/12 C this afternoon. No breeze but some on and off sunshine which is nice when it's out and cool when it isn't. No sewer here in our spot but some folks have sewer hookups. We turned at the dump station to get to our spot we at least know where it is if we need it on the way out. 

Can you see the backups on the other side? The last picture you can see them still stopped over the top of the hill.....

It was a tight fit and I had to give it a couple of tries before I managed to get us in on the skinny little gravel path. Some folks standing around watching weren't very helpful in that they stood very close to the road with dogs and kids and it made it difficult to pull up as far as I would have liked. However, we managed and everything is fine. I'm glad we could be their entertainment for the afternoon. We are in spot 18 with a little foot bridge behind and our picnic table is across a small ditch which I believe is an overflow for some kind of little pond. 

Just kept going and going.........

We were set up by 3:00 pm and of course I called my dad to tell him we'd made it safe and sound. The first couple of calls he couldn't hear me and then I realized the signal was extremely weak, so we rebooted, turned on the booster and managed to get a connection. He said it is right around the freezing mark of 32F/0C and in the sun things are melting, in the shade they aren't. They have about a 1ft/30 cm of snow which they received over the last couple of days/nights. Schools were closed and people were told to stay off the roads. A number of accidents have claimed lives in the greater Sudbury and surrounding area over the past few days. Some folks just don't know when to slow down and unfortunately they don't always do the 'stupid' thing alone and end up causing tons of grief for many others as well. 

Welcome to Jackson, Tennessee.....

So after a chat with dad I started to edit pictures and write this post. The sun is kind of shining and  the temperature is still hovering at the 55F/12C mark. We have the big door open but I think I'll be closing it soon as it's a bit cool on the toes. 

Of course Nashville also welcomes you....

So there you have it, the roads were good, the traffic heavier and heavier as we continue on our homeward journey but not too bad at all. The construction seems to be concentrated on the south and/or west bound lanes right now and I'm hopeful it will continue to be so for the rest of the journey. We will be here only 2 nights before moving on for a weeks stay in Quincy, OH.

 

Then  again so did Kentucky....

While outside to set things up for the heater we chatted with a couple from Colorado who said it's warmer back there than it is here. They've had snow here and a tornado warning as well. According the lady there is snow in the forecast but I didn't see any a few days ago. I'll have to check again soon. 

Again that same river but it's pretty full..don't you think?

That was our travel day, nothing exciting and we like it that way. Good weather, good roads and an easy drive, what else could one ask for? Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed your visit. Feel free to leave a comment. I appreciate hearing from you. 

We drove past this charming fellow on our way to Singing Hills Campground....

Until next time... take care, be safe, 

Deb