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July 3, 2007
This morning we got a slower start. Appears that our neighbor, Johnny, is a great story teller. He had lots of stories to tell. He even had his picture taken with Murtle. What a character! He was from North Carolina, even though his plates said Missouri, not sure just how that all transpired but if we had a few more hours with him, I am sure we would have found out.
Before we left we took some pictures of the Waterpark. What a sorry sight it is now.
We headed West on Route 50 again in West Virginia. Then still on Route 50 to Ohio. We stopped at a little campground, again way up on the top of a hill. We are in Bainbridge OH. We stopped in Athen’s OH to pick up a few things at Wal-Mart, got some gas, and some great vegetables at a farm stand.
We called this morning to see if we could stay here and were told that they had three sites available. Well, when we got here (after some technical difficulties with NUVI) (OK, I programmed the address of the campsite into her, and she took us on (what we thought might be a wild goose chase). The camp owners told us that there were lots of signs, (we didn’t see a single one). Then when NUVI said that we had arrived at our destination WE WEREN’T THERE YET. We had to keep driving, no place to turn, and finally arrived at the campground about 1 ½ mile from the ending point. PHEWW! I thought Brad was going to be really upset with me for not getting it right, but come to find out, NUVI was programmed to avoid dirt roads, and we HAD to take a dirt road going the right way. NUVI wins again.
We were at the campground in plenty of time to go for a “drive” in the town. We asked for some sights to see and they send us down the hill to make a turn at the BIG rock. Murtle and I just had to have our picture taken at the “Big Rock”. Guess this is not New England.
We also saw the smallest church in Ohio. We didn’t stop. There were too many photo ops going on. It looked like a shed with a stained glass window. The door was open and there were two pews inside. I didn’t think the town was that small, but maybe only a few of them go to church!
Tonight we spend some time trying to figure out what direction to go in tomorrow and where we could call to make reservations for the 4th. There isn’t any cell service here either. (Boy, I know how to pick the campsites!) I couldn’t even connect to someone else’s connection. The owner of the campground has satlelite because that is the only thing that is available, but she did not have it wireless for others.
I have to admit that tonight we walked into the GAME ROOM for this campground and it was truly a GAME ROOM. Not your typical board games with cards and books, or even arcade games. This one had hooks hanging from the ceiling, a large upright freezer with hooks in it. There was even a scale supspended from the ceiling. Appears that this campground is net to a State Park that allows hunting. There are 12,000 acres of woods to hunt in. Most of the campsites have seasonal campers year round and the busiest time is spring and fall. Deer, turkey and such are what they come from all over to do.
Tomorrow we are not sure just what direction we are heading in other than WEST. Hmmmm, maybe we’ll ask Murtle.
July 2, 2007
We packed up the camper this morning and got ready to go. Before we left, I was in the truck with my leg hanging out the door and my little two year old grandson thought he would help and close the door. Well, my ankle was closed in the door. Needless to say it brought tears to my eyes, but thank goodness he wasn’t any bigger than he is. My foot is OK! Just a tad tender, but I can walk and move it all around. My daughter offered me her crutches to use, but I didn’t need them.
We headed from Warrenton, VA in a northwesterly direction. For those of you trying to keep up with us (Dad) we took route 55 to 66, then 81 south to Route 50. Then we stayed on Route 50 till we got to Clarksburg West Virginia and here we are at the Wilderness Waterpark and Campground. (This is a whole story in itself!!!!)
First of all this country is very pretty. Much hillier than I thought. Our poor little truck on this route really likes gas. For those of you who have ever been on the Kancamagus, Route 50 through West Virginia is curvier, steeper, narrower and at least 100 miles longer. No kidding! Riding on the passenger side was like coming down off from Mt. Washington looking over the EDGES. Heck, at times on Route 50 we were looking over the tops of trees that were full grown, and just over the bank. We pulled over at the scenic look out, took some pictures and let the truck rest for a bit.
We began wondering if there were any gas stations on that road. When we did find one it was extremely interesting. There was a gift shop/antique store/restaurant/gas station/hardware store/(and best of all, at least Brad thought so) a tractor museum. Old tractors, steam engines, trains, etc., etc. I took lots of pictures of them. Murtle decided to stay in the truck, she saw a wandering calf and was afraid that he might mistake her for a fresh meal.
Now, for the campground. (The hint on this one should have been when I called and was told that they had plenty of room DURING A HOLIDAY WEEK. Guess I was not cleaver enough to pick up on that. Let me tell you, this place must have been some place during it’s hayday. 51 sites all with water/sewer/electric and all pull through. (For us, that means that we do not have to disconnect the truck from the camper, especially if we are not going out anywhere after we get to the campground.) Well, they were right when they told me that they had plenty of room. We are one of six.
There are horses running along the road beside the campground, about 13 of them. There is a water slide at this place and a lake. But the waterslide is inoperable. The lake (pond/slightly bigger than a mud puddle, ok, ok I exaggerated a tad. It is big enough to work up a sweat if you were to canoe from one end to the other.) There is also some sort of field across from our campsite that we were told by our neighbor, that used to be some kind of ATV park. We went to investigate and found it is LONG, had some sort of race starting lights (you know the kind with four or five in a row), a PA system, a rock rake of sorts. So our guess was some kind of drag racing for small vehicles (probably ATV’s).
This place must have been something a few years ago. But now it is run down, and needs a lot of TLC. I have to admit so far (10:33PM) it is extremely quite. Oh, did I mention that we saw our 11th deer of the day in the field across from our site while eating dinner? We saw lots of them on our journey here today. Poor Brad, had to watch the road and could not enjoy all the wildlife that I saw as I ventured my sight over the cliffs on Route 50!
Tomorrow we head toward Cincinnati OH on Route 50 again. In the morning I plan on taking Murtle on a little trip around the campground. She will have to be careful because I found two ticks on me tonight when we came in.
Oh, our next door neighbor (in his 60’s from Missouri) is a hot ticket. What stories he can tell. Likes to start his stories with, “Let me tell you a real story…” What a character! We had a great time chatting with him.