Leg 9 - April 16th - Delaware, OH to Erie, PA

We left Delaware, Ohio this morning at 8:55 a.m. under clear, sunny skies and 45F (7C). Along our route the temperature gradually rose to a pleasant 65F (18C). Again, not much to take photos of along the way but here's what I have.

Alum Creek - Alum Creek State Park is right across from Cross Creek where we stayed. We'll have to check this out one day.


I took a photo of this van as it says - A blind man is driving this van. Not sure of the significance of that but sure hope it wasn't true as he had just passed us.

An Amish horse & buggy crossing over I-71. It's pretty blurry so I made it a vignette.



Some Ohio green along the way.



Another Titanium passes us and then there was one at the rest area when we stopped.

Daffodils at the rest area on I-271.

A couple of construction areas.



Finally, Pennsylvania!



There are a lot of bridges being worked on in Ohio but only one caused a real slowdown and then not much of one. Other than that, we had another uneventful trip. We arrived at Hill's Family Campground at Erie, PA right on the dot of 1:00 p.m. and were set up within 15 minutes. We're getting really good at this but I have to say I'm tried of breaking down and setting up every day.

Hill's Family Campground is right off I-90 and the best description of it is 'functional'. It has 50 amp, full hook up, cable TV and wifi (they say it's only in the office and rec room) but from our site #7 we can both reach it. Gordon had planned to set up the satellite dish but decided against it when we were able to reach the wifi.

Here are a few photos of the RV park.

Our site - it's handy, just drive straight in. We had the same site last year.

Here you can see the office and the entrance. This motorhome came in right behind us. So this is our rear window view.


Here's the restroom/showers and some other sites.


I had planned to defrost the refrigerator today but I think I'll wait until tomorrow as we have a short drive to Rochester NY KOA tomorrow. Today I put some chicken legs in the crockpot and threw together some things to put in with it. I wound up with potatoes, 1 cup of chicken broth, a little white wine and some soy bouillon along with some seasoned salt. Let's see what turns out! It's my Chicken Surprise!

After we got set up, I called the only park in Ottawa that's open, Rideau Heights Campground. It is just off Highway 16 and he does have a site for us so we booked it for a month. It's $540/month inclusive. The campground isn't much but it is in the heart of the city so will be handy for medical appointments. Unfortunately there's a lot of traffic around there as they've built up the area south on Highway 16 but the road remains only 2 lane. Also, there are no sidewalks so not much place for me to walk. Oh well, you've gotta do what you've gotta do!

It was a relief to get that looked after although the sites available were not the ones we wanted, the manager assures us that we can reach the satellite from the site he's keeping for us. I told him we'd be there on Friday so Friday will be a long travel day!

Gordon got through to our doctor and has made an appointment for Monday morning so things are falling into place.

I went to the 'modern' showers to have a shower this afternoon. They are the pushbutton style. You push the button and the water runs for maybe 30 seconds, you push it again...another 30 seconds. I didn't really get any hot water out of it at all and neither did the other lady who was there at the same time so we're not impressed with the showers.

For Gordon's synopsis of today, click here.

Leg 8 - April 15th - Terre Haute, IN to Delaware, OH

After I posted last night, when we were having dinner, Gordon saw this little robin in her nest in the crevice of the tree right outside our window.


We left Terre Haute this morning at 9:20 a.m., 41F (5C) and sunny. There wasn't much to photograph on this leg of the journey, just lots of traffic. There was also some construction still going on around I-75 at Dayton but we made pretty good time anyway.

A scene along the way.



We arrived at Cross Creek Camping Resort at Delaware, OH at around 2:00 p.m. and got set up. We get a very strong wifi signal from our campsite (which by the way was $36 for full hookup). It's a nice place, we stayed here once before our first year on the road and even better it's 60F (16C)!

Here are some photos of the campground. They are paving all the roads within the campground so there is heavy equipment around and it's a bit on the noisy side.

Our site.


View from our rear window.

Pool area.


Sites.

Gordon has decided he wants one of the warming throws so I called the Walgreens here in Delaware and had them put one aside for us. After we rested for an hour or so we went in to pick it up and also get some bananas. Then back to the rig for wind down time!

Laying Low in Terre Haute, IN

This morning when I got up late (closer to 8:30 than 8:00) it was sunny but cold at 35F (2C). I walked toward the road that we came into the park on on the paved area and ran part way. Then I walked around the park ending up at the office where they have free coffee, muffins, danish and some breakfast items like grits. I came home with a coffee for Gordon and a blueberry muffin and danish for me.

Here are some photos I took around the park during my morning walk.

Another area of the park. It looks like these people have been here for a while.

Daffodils are starting to bloom.

The donkeys are having their breakfast.

These are fake storefronts which hide the RV storage area.

The KOA Kamping Kabins.
After breakfast, I changed the bed, vacuumed, cleaned the bathroom and washed the floors, and got the laundry ready. Gordon and I walked over to check out the laundry room and the showers. Someone was doing laundry so I came back and got the receipts ready for our border crossing. By the time I got that done the washers were free so I loaded them up, picked up some books from the book exchange and came back to read a bit while the clothes were washing. I took some of my books back for the book exchange and loaded the dryers then back home again.

It's nice to see the sun again but I sure wish it was warmer. My electric throw has been a really good buy in these temperatures!

The rest of the afternoon I spent on the internet and finished my latest book called "Vanish" by Tess Gerritsen which I left in the library here at the park.

I took this photo from my living room window this afternoon.

That's about it for my day!

Leg 7 - April 13th - Eureka, MO to Terre Haute, IN

I went to bed earlier last night and slept later this morning. Boy, was I tired! So I got up at 7:15 a.m. instead of the usual 6:30 a.m. for a travel day.

The gist of this morning's conversation on deciding whether to stay another day at St. Louis:

Gordon: It's going to be 31F (-0.5C) here tonight (St. Louis) and 30F (-1C) in Terre Haute, IN tonight and 25F (-4C) tomorrow night.

Sandra: So it's only 1 degree difference between here and there. If the weather forecast is right.

Gordon: Yes, if they're right.

Sandra: It's raining.

Gordon (after looking out the door): It's only sprinkling.

Sandra: You wanted to get through St. Louis on Sunday.

Gordon: Right.

Sandra: Then, let's boogie!

So then we had to go and get fuel. At our exit off I-44 fuel was 4.12/gallon so we drove to the previous exit and got it for $3.87/gallon. Might have saved a few cents.

It was 9:50 a.m. when we left the St. Louis West KOA. It was rainy and 36F (2C). When we got on the bypass it started to rain harder and we even had some heavy flakes. It rained on and off for the whole trip but luckily when we reached Terre Haute, IN the rain was still behind us.


Crossing the Mississippi River at St. Louis, MO.


Here's the cross at Effingham, IL.


There's quite a bit more green in Ilinois than there was in Missouri.


We got checked in to the Terre Haute KOA (at $40/night) and since we both need a break but especially Gordon we decided to stay here 2 nights so the cost was nearly $80. Again a nice park but no clear view of the south, too many trees and although we're close to the office and the wifi is supposed to be park wide, Gordon can only reach it from the bedroom. Since my computer is newer I can reach it from the recliners. He's not happy about that. Again, a nice enough park but not worth the price.

We are in the area of covered bridges here in Indiana so here is the park's contribution.

Today we officially reached the east as St. Louis is the Gateway to the West and we also got back on Eastern time when we crossed the border into Indiana so we arrived here at 2:30 p.m. Eastern time. With no satellite dishes it only takes about 1/2 hour to set up.


Here's the entrance to the campground.


After set up, I went around the campground and took a few photos. They have a little barn here with three miniature Cross donkeys so I had to go over and talk to the donkeys and take their photo.

Here's the view from our rear window.


Here's our site and some of the other sites in the park.




Other than that, the plan is to relax for the next couple of days and get back on the road probably on Tuesday.

For Gordon's web site, click here.

Leg 6 - April 12th - Joplin, MO to Eureka (St. Louis), MO

We decided last night that we would probably be staying mostly at KOA's on our way back as they are open (some RV parks don't open till May1) so this morning we stopped at the office and got the KOA card which gives you a 10% discount and collects points as well.

We left Joplin KOA at 8:45 a.m. under mostly cloudy skies and a temperature of 41F. Along the way we had a few very brief period of what seemed to be sneet (a mixture of snow and sleet) but they were fleeting and there was no accumulation. We had a crosswind most of the way so our mileage ended up at 12.7 mpg.

Here are some photos I took along the way. Definitely not as much green today, the grass is more yellowish brown as we were heading basically northeast and there's lots of water in the fields.


We didn't stop.

This guy has a thing about gas stations.

Branson advertising.


I had a question last night as to whether we use the truck calculation or calculate it manually and the answer is we go by what the computer in the truck tells us.

At 1:00 p.m. we arrived at the St. Louis West KOA and got checked in. I was astounded to find out that the cost for this site is $44.00/night. With our discount we wound up paying $42.80. They take the discount off the original price for the site then add the tax. It's a nice campground but it's not wonderful and certainly not worth $44.00/night in my opinion. We were led to our site and the gentleman took our empty propane tank back on the golf cart, filled it and brought it back. We were set up on site by 1:30 p.m. so I walked up to the office to pay for the propane - $25.78! That's what we pay in Canada or at least what we paid last year. The temperature inside the RV was 44F (7C ) so I got the furnace and the electric heater going very quickly.

Most KOA's have wifi at no extra charge but it's not nearly as good as the wifi at Council Road RV Park in Oklahoma City and the daily charge for the site was a lot less!

Here are some photos I took around the campground on my way to and from paying for the propane.

Our site.

Kamping Kabins at KOA.

The train, we're in the background.

RV sites.



I was tired when I woke up this morning and tired all day so when I got back to the RV I lay down with my book but couldn't go to sleep. Go figure!

After a shower we went out to Walmart again to get a few more things and found out why this KOA is so expensive. It's right around the corner from Six Flags Amusement Park!



Today put us over the halfway point on our trip home. It seems like we've traveled farther than that and that we're almost home but we still have a long ways to go!

Our high today on the road was 43F (6C) and it's supposed to go down to freezing tonight. I hate this time of the year!

For Gordon's day in review, click here.

Leg 5 - April 11th - Oklahoma City, OK to Joplin, MO

Before I start on today I just want to comment on what a nice park Council Road RV Park is. The wifi is great and fast! One of the owners, Sam, who directed us into our campsite yesterday came over to say goodbye and chat for a while. He is really into customer satisfaction! I would highly recommend this park!

On to today. We left a little later today as the RV park has no stop light at the street which gets you onto the freeway so we waited until rush hour was over and left at about 9:10 a.m. It was 54F and sunny. I even had time for a brief walk this morning and a bit of a run. We had a brief traffic back up in Tulsa where they narrowed three lanes down to one lane for a bit but we weren't stopped for long, thank goodness.

After two on the road breaks we arrived at Joplin, Missouri KOA at about 1:00 p.m. We stayed here on our way west in the Fall. They have redone most of the sites with new gravel over the winter and unfortunately where the gravel meets the grass there's a bit of a lip so of course I turned over on my foot that had been feeling a lot better lately so hopefully I didn't do too much damage to it AGAIN!

Here are some 'around the park' photos.





This is our RV with the slides in.


Here are a few photos that I took along the route today.



Did we make a wrong turn and wind up in Kentucky?

Lots of green along the way (for Jenny).


After we got set up, again it took only about 1/2 hour as they have free wifi (no satellite setup) at all sites here as well, we stopped at the local Walmart to pick up a few items then back home to get warm! It's quite windy here and we picked up cloudy skies as we were leaving Tulsa, OK. It looks like we might be traveling in some rain tomorrow.

There is quite a bit of flooding in the low lying areas around here but it's not all over the place the way the news would have you believe. The photo on the left was taken along I-44 and the one on the right, here in Joplin.


Our tail wind wasn't as good today so we only got 12.7 mpg for today's trip but that isn't half bad. In fact we had cross winds for a lot of the way.