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Published: August 8th 2013
The one about a long day and a sore thumb
Hoosier National Forrest is less than an hour from the Eastern Daylight Time Zone. I set all my clocks and therefore my body to Eastern time yesterday so that I wouldn’t lose an hour today. I thought I was being smart and it turned out I was. I went to bed early and woke up early, and was on the road by 7:30 EDT. Hoosier National Forrest was a great place. I wish I could have done some exploring in a car to at least see the lake and marina, but I sure did enjoy the quiet and the shade. In rereading yesterday’s blog, I realized I told you my neighbor made note cards, but she gave me one in trade for the book. Somewhere I have a picture. I have been having issues with my camera and iPhone date stamping wrong, and maybe now I figured it out. When I sort by date/time, they came up all fekaka and I have lost pictures I know I took.
First stop the holding tank dump station. Ta da dump, ta da dump, tad a dump dump dump….Hummed to the tune
of The Lone Ranger theme……inside joke. Host Bill told me how to get there, up the road 3 miles, turn at the sign for the prison. I turned into the prison on the left, missed the sign on the right which he told me I would and I did. Growl. I had to back up and turn around, and did that just fine. I pulled up to the hole in the ground and landed 3 feet from it, able to use my short flexible hose. Black tank emptied fine. Phew. When I opened the gray tank it had so much water in it which came gushing out and overflowed. Thank goodness it was the gray tank, not the black one. I jumped aside and pushed the lever in to slow it down and the operation completed smoothly after that. I tried to wash the ground hole with the hose lying there, but I couldn’t turn the lever to turn the water one, and I hadn’t even hurt my thumb yet!!
Back on I64 East thru the remainder of Indiana. Road kill in Indiana consisted of 2 Bambis, and one was on the left/median side, poor thing. Both were very
tiny things. Squirrels, too. But, NO BLOW OUT TIRE DEBRIS!! I saw an Indiana DOT picking it up. Two guys walking along the roadway scooping the tires up with snow shovels and putting them into what looked like a leaf chipper. There was a pick up truck in front of them putting down cones and one behind them picking up the cones. I guess they switched positions when full/empty. Good going Indiana!! The roads were nice and smooth, too, except for the overpasses. I made several stops early on, it took me a long time to get into the long haul mindset, and I kept trying to figure out how far I really could get today before I needed to stop. Somewhere along the way I passed a sign that said, “Worlds Only Underground Zip Line” in some cave or another. Mental picture that!!! The farms in Indiana are smaller, more mom and pop type operations rather than the MEGA farms I saw in Kansas and Nebraska. These farms have normal sized tractors and no irrigators.
I crossed over and ran alongside the Ohio River for a while, getting into Kentucky, certainly not as impressive as the Mighty Missouri,
Joy note card
trade for RV book but wide enough, and less brown. I expected to see beautiful horse farms and lovely homes, but didn’t! I saw suburbia. I passed Louisville Slugger Field which looked like a Triple A club ball field and was beautiful. I never saw a sign for Churchill Downs. The stores are more frequent and more familiar sounding names, Sheetz, Schnucks, Kohls galore. I did notice some Biscuit fast food chain, but cannot remember the name of it. I should have stopped. It didn’t seem like I was in Kentucky all that long, or I slept thru it, or I was so engrossed in listening to my book….Ken Follett…….that it sped by. I remember the Kentucky River was unexciting. I passed the Kentucky Horse Park – where retired thoroughbreds are sent, and was wondering if there was a place for me there.
I continued to stop frequently, probably every 60 miles or so, Winston was pacing, he had not done his business this morning, I know that pace of his, but he did not do his business and continued to pace. I had considered stopping at Daniel Boone National Forest, figuring they had to have just as nice a campground, but I
Only the 2nd time I came to a stop on the entire trip
paving the road in IL. One of the guys saw me taking this picture and spit on the roadway in front of me. Dirtbag wasn’t far enough along yet. I eventually crossed into West Virginia, again seeing the Ohio River along the way before I realized the river was now called Kanawha.
The terrain has changed so drastically in the last 600 miles. I have gone from flat corn fields and grain elevators and railroad yards that are huge to rolling hills with coal mines and train cars filled with coal. The rail yards have some type of storage facility that kind of looks like a grain elevator, but must hold coal. The roads in WV just plain suck. Bumpy, rutty, potholed things. WV, be ashamed of your I64. I had looked at a campground in the Kanawha Forrest, when host Bill and neighbors told me the road into that cg is twisty and they don’t cut the trees and they scrape your roof. To top it off, a tree fell on an old lady and killed her this summer! Not the campground for me. I stopped at the WV Welcome center just to see if they had any camping information that was newer than what I had on my phone app, and they didn’t I had to make a decision. Back to
the RV, Winston was chomping to get out the door, I took him for a walk and he finally produced and was ready to eat for the day and pulled me back towards Moya. He lept up the stairs, I followed and pulled the door closed on my thumb. My right thumb in the left side of the door. Very awkward, I had been pulling it closed from the door edge, rather than the handle. My thumb was closed in the door and I couldn’t reach the handle with my left hand, nor could I open it at that strange angle. I pulled my thumb out, ouch, yes, thank you very much, and put it in my mouth, it tasted awful. I grabbed an ice cube tray from the freezer, slammed it down to jiggle some loose, put them in a cup with water and sat there and soaked and bawled. What a dumb ass thing to do. Once it started to throb from the cold I stopped and turned on the key and started to drive. I found a campground less than 2 hours away, putting me there around 4:45. Ken Follett and I and a sleeping Winston drove on. What I didn’t realize was the CG was 15 mile off the exit, and once to the County Park where the CG was located, the RV section was 6 miles in. Yes, of course it was a windy twisty narrow road.
I was greeted by Larry who I had spoken to earlier to confirm availability and he directed me to site 71 for $32/night, full hookup. I needed full hookup in order to rinse my holding tanks several times so they are as clean as they can be before I get home…..hopefully Wednesday. Looking at the campground map I saw that site 71 was in a real ugly spot, first campsite into the loop, right where all the traffic has to pass. I asked Larry if he had any other sites, and he said no, if I wanted a 50amp site I could pay more and be closer to a lake view, but it wasn’t worth it and right he was!! Site 71, while first in and near the road only has one neighbor; the other side is a big grassy area!! There is a speed bump right behind me, and a second one 5 yards away…first clue people speed. The campground is concentric circles in a long looping oval; while sites are close together, they are very long, and are angled in such a way that you cannot look into your neighbors window. My neighbor on the right is a long trailer, but they are not home. A quick plug in and a walk for Winston, and I realized that of the 100 sites here, 90 are rented seasonally to trailer people. Yes, I am a snob. I know that. What’s wrong with trailers you ask? Nothing, it’s the drivers of the big ass Diesel trucks that pull them that I have the issue with. First, they start that damn diesel engine 5 minutes before they intend to go anywhere. When they put it in gear they rev the engine, and nothing about a diesel is quiet. Up and down the road, in and out the road. During my walk I realized I was in redneck city, white T shirts with sleeves ripped off, shaved bald head or long stringy hair, work boots, you get the picture. Cigarette butts everywhere!! Doesn’t anyone pick up a cigarette butt anymore? My campsite was pristine, it had been cleaned up nicely, no butts here, but the interior roadways are awful with butts. The very center of the long loop is a kiddie bike and big wheel area, very well protected and off the roadway, a nice touch. I did not nor will I use the bathhouse. My stroll to the lake was nice, I think it is about 12 miles long. I saw lots of power boats and some pontoon types. No boats or trailers allowed in the CG, they must be left at the marina somewhere else, not here. That’s good! So my site on the end, while bad because of the traffic, is really a blessing because I have no neighbors there and a decent view up a grassy treed hill where the deer were feeding. Winston has no idea what to do with a deer. He just barked and barked until I brought him inside.
I cooked a hamburger on my stove for dinner, cheese, red onion, bright red tomato, toasted bun. Another short walk for Winston and a shower and leg shave for me all the time pondering my day tomorrow.
As the crow flies it is 300 miles to my house. That’s what both Garmina and Siri say. When you key in ‘get driving directions’ it ends up being 400 miles I did 367 today and I am wiped out. As much as I wanted to get home Wednesday so I could be at the Newcomer’s meeting on Thursday, I just know I can’t do 400 miles after a 367 mile day today. I just don’t have it in me. So, I scouted a campground, and all the good ones are in mountains as you cross Skyline Drive, about 100 miles away. I found one called Mayberry CG in Mt. Airy, NC, about 160 miles away, and that’s what it probably will be. But, who knows, time will tell.
Things you can’t do easily without using a thumb
Open the charging port of the LifeProof case on the iPhone
Flick a Bic
Flip a hamburger
Shave legs
Wring out your shower wash rag and the underwear you have stomped/washed with your feet while taking a shower
Open the RV door. It has gotten me two ways, first by slamming my right thumb in it, and now I can’t open the blasted thing. Expletive deleted
Turn the ignition key
Things you can do with only a little pain with a sore thumb
Type. Yay!
Yes, I know I still owe you a blog on Moab and Arches National Park and the Wedding. Good things take time.
Kat out
Questions to ponder
Does every state have a Jasper with an Interstate Exit? Those in the mountains have a white “J” embedded on a hill.
Why do Interstates start their mile marker numbering at the Western Border. When traveling east from Mile Marker 1, you don’t know how many miles there are before you reach the next state.
Why, when I want CBS on my air antenna to watch Big Brother do I only get ABC. When I want ABC to watch General Hospital, why do I only get CBS?
Why is my windshield so big and such a bug magnet. See a PICTURE, somewhere. The rock hole is still there. Do any of my ILM peeps know anyone who fills holes rather than replacing the entire windshield? I also have one on my Lexus at home, so it would be a 2 for 1 job.
Two companies I wish I had invested in. Barbed wire manufacturer for sure!! AND, the company that makes the franchise signs for restaurants, gas stations and hotel chains off the next exit. Do you know how many McDonald’s signs I passed along the way? Hundreds. Multiply that by all the Interstates! That’s some contract. Wish I had it.
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