Waking up Early, Longer Day, Bowling Anyone?

For some reason, slept out perhaps, I was awake at 5 am on Monday, Oct. 29^th. At 5:30 I looked at the clock and thought it said 6:30 so got up and hopped in the shower. I shouldn’t trust my blurry morning eyes, obviously. Bill followed soon after and advised me of the ‘real’ time. Lordy oh Lordy. Oh well, we were up now! I had my tea and then we read on our laptops for a while.

Our sky started out cloudy but eventually it looked like this

Our wifi usage this month is low so I dallied longer on Facebook than I normally do. Bill had his shower and then made his cereal and coffee. Clemson was up through the night apparently so was still in bed. I warmed up a bowl of hot oatmeal for me and that hit the spot. Today would be a 6-hour drive day so we hoped to get away a bit earlier and hit the bigger cities of Cincinnati and St. Louis at decent times.

Bill with his halo?
We are blessed to have him driving us from A to B

It was 8:20 when we pulled out of Arrowhead Lakes, 44F, and cloudy with the odd sunny periods. As we headed out, Bill led the way through the rest of Ohio and I started to notice the American flag was at half-mast at a few places. I was curious. What did I miss? 

Half mast in Ohio

So, I googled it and discovered that the Ohio Governor ordered public buildings and grounds to lower flags to half mast today to honour the life and service of Vietnam p.o.w. vet and Arizona senator, John McCain. He died on Saturday after a year, dealing with cancer. Now we all know!

Yay! More brand new Ford trucks being shipped out

Near Dayton, the skies cleared even more and we drove for an hour and a half before stopping at a Rest Area. What a busy place! 

This was a huge place but we had to wait for 2 trucks to leave so we could park

We basically had to wait for a couple of spaces just to use the facilities but we also got a brief leg stretch at the same time.

Roads are pretty well marked as long as construction doesn't
get in the way

We were back on the I-75 SB watching for Exit 16A-B (towards Cincinnati) to catch the I-275E bypass, and then onto I-71S at the south end. With our GPS leading the way along with some instructions we’d printed off, we caught the exits easy enough.

A pretty water tower today

Before we knew it, around 11:30 we were crossing the bridge into Kentucky. We pulled off to Love’s for a diesel fill-up and it was a bit less than yesterday @ $3.39/gal. Nothing for a while will beat the price we paid at Murphy’s in Wapakoneta. It was a sweet $3.169. 

Some really pretty colours along the way today

Back to today. Rob teased me yesterday that at a fuel up, I should be washing the windows while Bill pumped. So, today, I thought I’d show him that I was no slouch!

Bill pumping and I washed Black Beauty's windshield

Then I noticed the Paparazzi!

When we got back onto the Interstate it was sunny and now 56F. The temperature is definitely going in the right direction! They were going too slow (60 mph in a 70- zone compared to our 65) and more of a nuisance than anything, but I thought it was neat to see 4 ladies traveling together in the right- hand lane in their individual VW vans. It struck a cord with me that they were probably single and still taking their lives on the road any which way they could. They were French Canadians too. Neat!

We stopped at a Rest Area around 1:25 for a late lunch. Well, Rob and Pat had eaten their sandwiches on the road. They were much better prepared than us today, so we opened slides and made ourselves a cheese sandwich and got a drink. It felt good to walk a bit more, Clemson too, and stretch the kinks out of our legs. 

This was such a pretty rest area
It just spoke "Kentucky" to me

It was so pretty there and a warm 62F. I know I’m hung up on the temperature a bit right now, but it will pass. It just feels so good right now!

I love the way this cloud is just hanging there

Louisville, KY and the huge Ford plant

I didn't get very good pictures of the plant at all

But I like this one with the painted mural on the side of the building
This is where Black Beauty and Rob's truck came off the line!

Bill picked up a couple of Kentucky maps for us and we were back on I-65S. Pat texted at 2:17 to let us know that we just jumped from EST to CT so we gained an hour. Good! We could use it today. 

Backed in at Camping World but not an overnight spot

We arrived at our destination at 2:45 and even though it took a bit of scrambling in the crazy busy Camping World parking lot at Bowling Green, KY, one of the staff helped us park so we could go in and shop. It was obvious that there was no room to camp for the night so we didn’t hang around too long.

Did I say it was sunny? You'll need your sunglasses for this picture

We pulled out, following Rob this time, 6 miles down the road to a Wal-Mart. Pat had called to verify approval for overnight camping. It seems to be harder and harder to get that final ‘yes’ at these lots but we had already found a good spot and didn’t want to have to move. We were pleased with the 70F on this later afternoon and it took a second look at our watches to confirm that it was only 4 pm not 5 pm.

We drove by the road to the Corvette factory in Bowling Green

If it works out, we'd like to check out the Corvette museum tomorrow

It was agreed to eat inside at Mcdonald’s tonight rather than cooking and at least it filled us up. We can’t say anything good about the service or the warmth of the food but we ate it and the guys left Pat and I to wander while we looked for a couple of things. Soon, after a bit of silly-ness, we all said goodnight and agreed to meet in the morning for an early start. Between an issue with Rob’s front truck tire and Bill’s HP laptop, the night ended with some concerns.

The guys should know better than to leave us two alone
together!
Pat said 'no Facebook' but she didn't say 'no blog'
I love you Patricia!

Bill sat with Clemson to read while I caught up on this blog. I downloaded today’s pictures to see which ones I would include. This has been a long but good travel day. We got around Cincinnati and Louisville easy enough, missing the rush hour traffic. I hope you’ve had a good day too.

And goodnight from Wal-Mart at Bowling Green, JY

Thanks for stopping by. We’ve made it to Bowling Green, Kentucky and tomorrow will be a short drive day for us. Thank you for your comments!

Early Departure, Easy Border Crossing, Half and Half Driving Day, Park Arrival

I guess I was a bit excited about getting on the road because I was in bed Saturday night at 9:30 and then wide awake at 4:30 on Sunday, Oct. 28^th. I couldn’t go back to sleep so rolled over a few times like a barrel and finally crept out of bed around 5:45. I did well and didn’t wake Bill or Clemson up while I got dressed and ‘sneakily’ left the bedroom.

We had Ron come by before we pulled out to say one more goodbye
He is just that kind of guy - thanks Ron for the send off!

I turned the fireplace up a bit and sat in my recliner to finish my book. And finish my book I did. A Darkness More than Night is after The Poet (which I’ve read) and the references back to it were easy to pick up on. I enjoyed this Harry Bosch story a lot. I initialed the front page, which is what we do, and tucked it in the cupboard for Bill to read. We had eaten some cereal, Bill’s cold and mine hot oatmeal, and had our first brew and were all packed up and ready to pull out before 9.

Waiting in Arkona for Rob to fuel up

Rob stopped in Arkona to fill up his white Beauty and Bill took the lead from there today. We’ll take turns. It was a nice drive to Port Huron with the clouds moving out and giving way to some peaks of blue sky. 

Just a peek at what could be - fingers crossed

Not much but brightening it up enough to give us hope. We were surprised that on a Sunday the lineups over the Bluewater Bridge in Sarnia were as long as they were. With 5 booths open at 9:45, we had a wait of about 20 minutes.

 

Crossing the Bluewater Bridge is always a lovely view

Approaching and entering the border crossing 'corral'

The bigger surprise was that we were about 30 seconds with the crossing guard. He asked ‘where were we going?’ ‘just the two of you?’ and ‘is anyone in the trailer?’ I snickered to myself at the last question and thought of all the illegals in there (not really!) but he pleasantly handed Bill back our passports with ‘have a good day’. Rob and Pat had just as easy a time with 2 or 3 similar questions.

It was here I first noticed that we were being tailed

We are always prepared as much as possible for any question, with nothing to hide, but it is the same feeling arriving in the States as it is leaving. Relief. Now we had nothing else to worry about. We can buy any food we want etc. and go anywhere we want and just obey their laws and relax. Easy peasy. We stopped at at Rest Area at Casco, MI for a nature break around 10:30 and soon hopped back on I-94W.

Rest area in Casco, Mi

It was 38F when we left home and now it was 40F. At least it is going in the right direction! Until we got to the Detroit vicinity, we had pretty good roads. Then it went to hell in a hand basket, let me tell you. It was horrible! I texted Pat and told her that we wouldn’t need to ‘shake’ our martinis when we arrived at camp. 

I talk about our little pest at 'home' and then I see this
All is forgiven - lol

Bill and Rob both travel at a respectable speed approx. 10 mph below the maximum considering the speed limit and the weight we were pulling which certainly helped but I was still nervous to open cupboards when we arrived.

When we reached the Ohio state line, it was honest to God like night and day. Yes, there were a few bad patches later on but I couldn’t believe how the roads were looked after in this state. We stopped at 12:50 at Portage Tic Rest Area for lunch and the rain at this point had began with gusto. We were in for a nasty driving day even though the temperature had risen to 45F. Thank goodness for that, at least!

The boys walk into Love's to pay for diesel - $3.46/US gal

We stopped at a Love’s on Deshler Road near North Baltimore for fuel before moving on. I-75S was pretty smooth going with the exception being at Lima and OH-81 where construction caused a slow down. 

The weather and a bit of construction were the only hangups today

We were down to one lane and this lasted perhaps 15 minutes of bumper to bumper traffic. The rain was battering down and the air was white with road spray through all of this and I am not ashamed to admit I mumbled a few “please stop the rain for us to set up at least” as we approached our destination.

Our turn off approaching and look at the windshield and pavement

Not a drop to block my view of the park sign

someone is completely relaxed today

He obviously doesn't know we are being followed
(or maybe he does and maybe he knows by whom)

At 2:30 we turned off onto Exit 111 to Wapakoneta, OH and left towards Arrowhead Lakes RV Resort.  Voila! The rain stopped, nor word of a lie and enabled us to set up without getting wet. This is a Coast to Coast park for us and for $10/night with full service, it is a very nice park. This is only our second time here and we are only stopping for the night. It would be a great place in the nicer weather.  

We chose 2 pull-through sites together and I just love it when things work out. Not only was it easy to pull in and get plugged in but no sooner did we do this when the sun came out and gave me a great opportunity to take a picture of our rv’s in the glow. The boys drove up to the clubhouse and checked us in on these sites and when they returned, we drove into Wapakoneta to the Wal-Mart for some ‘prohibited’ foods.

Arrowhead Lake, I presume

Before returning to camp, we both topped up with fuel so we are good for a few hours tomorrow without having to do so. We decided to stay in tonight and heat up our chili for supper, with toast. The clouds were back and the wind was pretty wild out there. 

A few pictures of the park on my short walk

It was quite mild at 6, somewhere around 53F/10c so after we ate and did the dishes, I slipped out for a walk around the park. I didn’t go far but stuck my head in the clubhouses and checked out the pool. As I said, nice park.

this was our chili and toast

When I returned from my walk, Rob had brought us a cabbage roll to share
Bill doesn't like them so I ate half and will share it with myself tomorrow night
Delicious!

This was a good first day on our real trip despite the weather. Tomorrow looks much brighter and warmer still. Join us to see where we head next! I hope you’ve had a good day too. Safe travels if you are on the road as well.

My contribution of a Hallowe'en picture

And look who is camped beside us!!
And our sites are definitely enhanced by the beautiful sunshine

Thank you for reading today. I enjoy hearing what you have to say.