Day 10 - Breaks, VA to London, KY

The holiday weekend is upon us.  It's time to move to a site where we can "hunker down" for three days.  The closest place we could find is in London. KY ... 140 miles away.

Up at 9:00 am.  Hooked up and ready to go at 10:50 am.  Had an early lunch at the lodge and hit the road at noon.

We followed the GPS route even though it left out the part of Country Music Highway remaining from our trip to Breaks.  We had planned to finish that scenic drive, but getting to a holiday weekend campground had priority.  

It was sunny during the drive.  The route guided us over and through forested hills and valleys.  We drove through the eastern section of the Daniel Boone National Forest.  Beautiful scenery.

Arrived in London at 3:35 pm.  We're in site 148 at Westgate RV Campground.  A brief shower popped up as we finished the last trailer setup steps.  There are dark clouds and thunder at 6:00 pm.

Day 9 - Breaks Interstate Park (Day 2)

Quiet, cool night.  Slept well.  Some clouds early.

Looks like we'll be alone at this end of the camping loop tonight.  The rig to our south was gone when we got up and the one to our north is leaving today.

Breakfast at the Rhododendron Restaurant at the Lodge.  Total bill for two, large breakfasts was $13.14.  Tipped the bill and then some.

We headed out to explore the park.  Stopped at the Visitors Center, then foolishly ignored distant thunder and headed for the Tower Tunnel Overlook in sunlight.  A few raindrops fell just as we got to the overlook.  The raindrops quickly turned into a downpour.  The 1/4 mile walk to the car was up a root and timber stepped trail.  We were soaked through and through by the time we reached the car.

Returned to the trailer to dry off and discovered one of the Fantastic Fans wasn't fantastic after all.  It hadn't closed when the rain started.  Spent an hour or so drying the fan frame and bed.

Did a scouting trip for the Clinchfield and Stateline Overlooks before dinner.  Will go back to Stateline at sunset.

Day 8 - Greenup, KY to Breaks, VA

We're off to see the "Grand Canyon of the South" at Breaks Interstate Park in Virginia.  Kentucky and Virginia share management of the park, so it should be a legitimate Kentucky stop.

Left at 11:00 am, got to the campground at 3:15 pm.  US-23 was excellent, KY-80 was curvey.

Sunny and hot (low 90s) most of the way.  Passed through a heavy shower south of Pikeville.

Breaks Interstate Park is located partly in southeastern Kentucky and southwestern Virginia, in the Jefferson National Forest, at the northeastern terminus of Pine Mountain.  It's mountainous, forested and beautiful ... but, you don't get here by accident.

Site C-74

Day 7 - Greenup, KY (Day 2)

Cool, peaceful sleep last night.  Woke at 8:00am to a quiet campground with few campers.  The place is sold out and will be buzzing this weekend.

Site #26

Stuff breaks even when we're not at home.  We had to replace our Kobalt tire inflator today.  It's key to keeping our tires properly inflated when there's no air pump available.  Lowes in Ashland had the replacement.

Took a drive down US-23 (small section of the Country Music Highway).  Didn't hear any singing.

Stopped at Ashland Convention and Visitors Bureau for suggestions and got a great lunch referral.  Fat Patty's cheeseburger was one of the best Dick has ever had and Carol a steak quesadilla that was excellent, too.

Finished making reservations through Sunday.  It's really tough to find vacancies on Labor Day weekend.

It's been mostly sunny, breezy and hot (93).  Spent most of the day in A/C.

Day 6 - Columbus, OH to Greenup, KY

Finally off to Kentucky at 12:40pm.

Mostly sunny, hot (91), and very humid all day.

Easy route and good roads most of the way.  GPS routing was weird and rough in a section where we left US-23 at Waverly, OH and connected with US-52 at New Boston, OH.  We travelled county roads 220, 66, and OH-335.  They were narrow and rough.  One bridge made us stop to check overhead clearance.

Arrived at Greenbo Lake Resort Campground at 5:10pm.  Very nice setting.  Still hot and humid.

Campsite #26 electric and water sources are further away than we've seen before.  Had an extra 25' water hose, but our 30 amp electric cord was too short.  We needed 30 amp service to operate the A/C ... drove about 25 miles to Ashland, KY to get an extension cord.

All's well and cool by 9:00pm.

Day 5 - Hillsboro, OH to Columbus, OH

Left Rocky Fork State Park at 11:25am.

Arrived Lee's RV & Boat Storage at 2:20pm.

We'll be home for a few weeks for appointments and special events.

Day 4 - Hillsboro, OH

Each year we take a short, first trailer outing to find out what's working and what isn't before taking a longer trip.  This year we discovered something quite unexpected.  We've lost our enthusiasm for doing a trip blog.

We've been blogging each day of our trips for 10 years.  Though the blog leaves us with a wonderful travel history, it does take a lot of time away from enjoying the experience and our time together.  It's time for a change. This will be our last post.

Please accept our apologies for inviting you to follow along and then ending the story so quickly.

Dick and Carol

Day 3 - Hillsboro, OH

This was a nice day of wandering around.  We saw some stuff and learned some stuff.

The Route
Various roads around Rocky Fork Lake.  OH-41 was the curviest and hilliest of them all ... it would have been fun in a Miata.  The GPS directed us along a few secluded, rough county roads just to keep things interesting.

About the Day
It was sunny, calm and humid.  The temperature climbed to 85°.

We left the campground at 10:30 with the intention of visiting Fort  Hill, Serpent Mound, Davis Memorial Nature Preserve and possibly Adena Mansion and Gardens.  It didn't work out that way.

Along the Way
We passed The Barnyard Cafe in Marshall a few times during our travels yesterday.  It looked interesting, so we stopped on the way to Fort Hill with the intent of getting a coffee and a donut.  We got breakfast and lots of conversation with a local.  It was OK.

Fort Hill is a Native American earthwork built by the Hopewell culture about 2,000 years ago.  The earthwork is 1½ miles in circumference, 6-15 feet high and 30 feet wide at its base in most places.

The memorial is deep in the woods.  There's a museum, a shelter house and a trail head.  The museum is only open on Saturday (May to October) from noon to 5pm.  This stop was disappointing.

The Museum

Shelter house area is very peaceful

Serpent Mound is the world's largest surviving example of an ancient animal effigy mound.  We viewed the educational film and walked around the mound.  It's possible that several cultures used and amended the site over time.  It's a marvel that demonstrates cultures of great intelligence and commitment.

The grounds are beautifully maintained.

The tower offers the best view

It's a long way up.  Will I?

Yes!

View from the tower

You can walk around, but not on the mound.

Davis Memorial Nature Preserve probably exists, but we couldn't prove it.  We see it on the Ohio map.  We drove miles up and down OH-32, OH-73 and OH-41 without seeing any signage.

Pike Lake State Park replaced Adena Mansion and Gardens on our itinerary because it was getting late in the day.  We visited there 4 years ago when we created "Ohio State Campgrounds ... A Trailer Traveler's View".  The earth dam rebuild looks very nice and the lake has some nice boating, fishing and swimming amenities.  The camping areas still need work.

Interesting Views

This grain handling tower was impressive.

This three-horse Amish wagon waits its turn.

The Campground
Camper traffic has been increasing steadily all week.  We think the campground is sold out this weekend.  It's a pretty tame group so far, but there's a lot going on around us.

Tomorrow
We're making waffles for breakfast and going to the Highland House Museum in the afternoon.

Day 2 - Hillsboro, OH

We slept soundly last night thanks to a very busy Wednesday and a delightfully cool evening.  We explored the Rocky Fork area today.

The Route
Wandered around the lake and Hillsboro.

About the Day
It was mostly sunny today.  The temperature reached 80 and winds were calm.

We had a leisurely breakfast and did a few housekeeping chores before heading out to explore around noon.

The large awning got unfurled for a change.

Along the Way
First, we toured the camping areas along the lake and on the hilltop.  A funny thing happened as we wandered past nearly 175 campsites - see The Campground below.

Then we drove around the lake, stopping at the marinas, boat launches and beaches.  There are 6 launch ramps, 600 docks and 5 marinas. Though the lake allows boats with unlimited horsepower, most are pontoon boats.

West end of Rocky Fork Lake, near the campground ...

Playground at the North Beach Marina ...

Picnic area along South Beach ...

South Beach Marina ...

We drove into Hillsboro to check out Highland House Museum.  It's open Thursdays and Saturdays with limited hours.  We plan to go there on Saturday.

Approaching OH-124 on the way to Hillsboro

Church of Christ in Marshall
(Our "attractive church on the hill")

We ended the day with a round of miniature golf at the campground.  We were relieved when the course swallowed our golf balls on the 9th hole.  Ice cream cones soothed the pain.

The Campground
The campground covers a lot of land.  It offers approximately 175 sites along the lake, the hillside and the hilltop.  The access roads are a maze.  You can get to the various camping areas from different directions.  We got confused as we toured the campsites today.  Here's the story ...

We wandered through the camp areas admiring the sites and RVs.  Some RVs were old, some were new, some had the basics and some were decked out with all the bells and whistles.  We saw 1 Airstream trailer down by the lake, but had seen none since climbing the hillside or on the hilltop.  Suddenly one came into view.  Comments followed ... "There's an Airstream!", "It looks really nice.  It's probably newer than ours.",  "Hmm, it looks like it's a 23 footer.",  "We don't see many like ours.", "Yikes, it is ours!!!."  Yup, we had wandered back to our site without realizing what was happening.

We got this cap to help us remember where we are.

Tomorrow
We may go to Serpent Mound, Fort Hill, Davis Memorial Nature Preserve, or Adena Mansion and Gardens.

Day 1 - Columbus, OH to Hillsboro, OH

This was the day to stop talking about the trip and get on with it.  We'll de-winterize the trailer and adjust to travel mode over the next few days.

The Route
The 98 mile route was short and interesting. We took Roberts Rd. to I-270, headed south and east to I-71, then took I-71 southwest to exit 65 (just south of Jeffersonville) and US-35 southeast to Washington Court House where we picked up US-62 which took us to Hillsboro.  That was pretty simple.  We were in downtown Hillsboro, a few miles from the campground, when learned OH-124 was closed.  We had to detour on US-50E and take CR-91S to N Shore Dr. and the campground entrance.

About the Day
It was overcast most of the day.  The temperature made it into the low 70s.  There were rain sprinkles as we finished loading and getting connected. 

The trailer came out of its hibernation very well.  The stove and refrigerator started up with no problems.  We got on the road at noon.

OK, let's get going.

The sun teased us by peeking out a few times as we travelled. There was a brief shower as we pulled into the campground.  The evening was calm and cool.  Overall ... it was an OK day weatherwise.

Along the Way
The drive after leaving the interstate was quite pleasant.  Corn and bean fields seemed to stretch forever.  Many farms were well tended and picturesque.

Scenes along US-62

The Campground

We're in full-service site #8 at Rocky Fork State Park.  This camping area is on a hilltop overlooking Rocky Fork Lake (we can't see the lake from here).  There are many open sites and it's quite peaceful, but this is mid-week.  Traffic will increase as the weekend approaches.

Site #8

The big tasks for today are to get set-up, to de-winterize the trailer and to make sure everything is working OK.

The de-winterizing part (flushing anti-freeze out of the water lines) is a pain.  Shut-off valves are in an awkward location ... under the bed.  We get to them by crawling under the mattress and reaching through a 5" diameter hole.  There are three valves.  If you miss one, you get to crawl under the mattress again.

The nylon drain plug in the hot water heater is removed during winterizing.  It leaked when it was re-installed.  A new drain plug eventually solved the problem.  We're thankful for having a spare.

It was kind of a long day.  We grilled hot dogs at 7pm and had a relaxing dinner.

Tomorrow
Explore the park and the area.