Travels with Snowbirds Quest for The Stamp May 13-15 2017 Batesville IN

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Next stop, Horseshoe Lakes Thousand Trails CG, Clinton, Indiana. A one night stay just to cut down the mileage on an otherwise long run. It turned out to be a fun place, but I complained a lot about the location of my campsite. Very nice people checked us in, and led me to the propane filling station, and then sent me on to my campsite which Kim and Ginnie had scoped out already. We could not get adjacent sites, but near enough - 40, 42, 51. Water, sewer, electric, Ginnie had a tiny pull thru on a corner; she did not have to unhook the car for our one night stay making it a big plus in her book. Kim was around the corner, and I was halfway between, abutting the bathhouse. My bedroom window looked out on the loud, running all the time, exhaust fan. On the other side of me was a new looking Class C with a chained-up dog. We quickly made friends with them, newbies to RVing, shaking the kinks out to see if they will go full time. The dog was nice, too. Funny part of the world here. We were 5 miles east of the IL/IN borer, which is the time zone change also. My phone changed times depending on where I was in the campground. My neighbors live in IL, she works in IN, so she is constantly changing time zones. I guess you get used to it. I did not see any construction workers or indigent long timers here. We are so far west in the time zone it is bright out until 9:00.

This is a very nice campground. We met the manager and she is a honey, she wants a clean, neat place and she’s got it. There are many annual site holders here, but the difference is the sites are gorgeous. These renters put a lot of money into making their getaway space luxurious. Putting down 5 inches of large bluestone gravel on the entire yard is not unusual here, and many have built permanent decks. We heard that there is a 5 year wait for an annual site. I took a lot of pictures here, please enjoy them. Then you will see my site. Sigh.

At sundown, 2 neighbors lit up campfires. The newbie folks next to me gathered twigs from the surrounding woods. Damp. Smoky. Into my windows. Close everything up on that side. Neighbor across started one with lighter fluid. Smoke. Smell. Close everything up on that side. Campfire smoke really bothers my eyes and hangs in the back of my throat. I turned my a/c on for the night when I realized my little corner next to the bathhouse acted as a chimney driving the smoke my way. Ugh.

Before we checked out after one night stay, we got free breakfast for Mother’s Day at the Rec Hall. Sausage and biscuits was very good. We were also given a rose and Thousand Trails coasters embedded with wild flower seeds; a nice touch.

The drive from Clinton, IL to Thousand Trails Indian Lakes, Batesville, IN, was one of the most gruesome we have had. 170 miles on the worst roads EVER!! I had heard about a huge accident involving chicken filled tractor trailers at the junction of two of the interstates we would traverse; we chose the route selected by Google Maps and incorporated a Kroeger in Terre Haute where I would surely find my fresh cut cold cuts. NOT! What is it about the Midwest? The cold cuts served at Kroger looked just awful, and did not include an unflavored ham, the pre-sliced roast beef was overcooked. It was Mother’s Day morning and the store was filled – they did have a lovely floral selection. Instead of getting on the interstate there, we travelled over hill and dale on a narrow State Route that often had no shoulders. I drove down the middle over the yellow lines as often as I could. When we finally got on the Interstate, it was awful. Bone rattling, RV shaking. I saw a pickup truck go airborne over one large bump. I saw a Camaro trying to be a smart ass and pass all 3 of us on the left over one particularly nasty stretch, and run right over a blown tire shred (called ‘gator’). There are no more dead armadillos on the edges; we mostly see deer, and I saw one dead coyote, and I expected to see an overturned truck.

We arrived at Thousand Trails Indian Lakes Resort in Batesville, IN after a fashion. Very strange place. There are 2 ‘resorts’ here. The whole place covers 540 acres. KOA bought into Indian Lakes about 3 years and pumped money in to renovate one whole section – maybe 100 sites - with all new utilities and sewer. If you come in and pay KOA you can park there. Nice grass between sites, brand new picnic tables on concrete patios. Gorgeous. Empty. One RV in the whole area. If you are a TT member, you park in one of the non-annual areas. I was first checking in, and the worker told me to turn right at the second street and park anywhere. I drove around while the others checked in and saw a great handicapped site with 2 empty sites across the street and slid right in. The girls were quick to point out that I was in a KOA site. I ignored that, the worker told me to park anywhere at second right. I quickly put my hangtag in the window. 2 days now and no one has bothered me. I am right next to the laundry and did 3 loads. Kim and Ginnie are in the shade, mostly, but the areas around their utility poles are a little lower than their campsites and very wet and muddy. I am not complaining. I have not seen any construction workers or other indigents, but do see 2 very old rigs with a lot of crap around them. One tick on me, I haven’t found any on Winston.

Up and out at 9 for our day in Cincinnati. William Howard Taft National Historic Site and the Cincinnati Zoo. Kim has never been to Kentucky. Ginnie found a route that we could be in Kentucky for about 20 miles without taking us too much out of our way. Remember, we all have different rules for putting our state maps on our US map from blogs ago? Well, she has NEVER been to KY, so she will put it on her map. The order of states to get from Batesville, IN to Cincinnati, OH is hysterical and included: IN, crossing briefly into OH, then crossing the Ohio River into, KY, finally going back to OH. It’s called the Tri State Area. We had a lot of laughs and a lot of pictures out the window while Ginnie drove.

The. Cincinnati. Zoo. Was. Awful. Signage awful to locate entrance; all parking covered by solar panels, a good thing. No directions to handicapped spots. No signs to purchase pre-paid parking passes while buying tickets. No signs to entrance. The line for the elevator up to the zoo level from the parking lot was very long with moms and their multi kid strollers. We were lucky we could take the escalator. Nasty. Just Nasty. Once up to the next level, the queue to buy tickets wrapped around and around and around then you had to get on another line to enter. Once we did all this and bought our paid parking pass, we waited just a bit to enter the zoo. Nasty, just Nasty. I rented a scooter, no line there. Sam from UC helped me…..University of Cincinnati of course, silly me. So, we have a lot of mothers with babies and small children in their multi kid strollers and we have every school trip from every school in nearby IN OH and KY there today. It was a nightmare. But, we were hopeful, and had high expectations. Bad. The zoo map was certainly not done to detail and did not indicate the steepness of the hills nor did we realize how many passages ended in dead ends. This meant you were darting around those strollers or school groups both going in and coming out of an area. Bad zoo planning. Food lines were outrageous, and we read Trip Advisor reviews that said food was overpriced and awful. We went hungry except for popcorn, ice-cream and pretzels. I was thrilled I had the scooter. Ginnie with the bad hip held on to the scooter to assist going up the hills. The animal enclosures were small, Ginnie objected to the herd animals only having one animal. So, the net, don’t go to the Cincinnati zoo.

Next on to the William Howard Taft National Historic Site, his boyhood home. Movie, brief tour by an excellent ranger who was on duty by himself this day and he had to keep running to bring incoming guests into our tour. Poor guy, he worked hard for his money today. We all got a new appreciation for Taft today, he did good things. The ranger dragged out the Centennial stamp for this location just for us. Nice guy. He had also worked at the Women’s Rights in Seneca Falls and Lincoln Homestead for 8 years.

The car needed gas. Google maps led us to the nearest, in the hood. Bulletproof glass, drawer pulled out to put your money in. Scary. But, we needed gas.

Home to our very happy dogs and a quiet evening.

Enjoy the pictures.



Kat Out

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Photos

see the giraffes? Baby here, too
in the tiniest enclosure I have ever sen