Catching Up, IL to IN, IN to OH, "Campground Is Full" and OH to WV

Point Pleasant, WV

38 Deg. clear, no wind

Forecast = Mainly sunny to start, then a few afternoon clouds. Scattered frost possible. High 56F. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph.


We did leave Prairie Pines on Tuesday as planned in change "C" of our trip plan. After hugs and good-bye's at Paul and Louise's it was right at 10:05 when we pulled out of the Prairie Pines CG and headed South on some local roads, joining I-74 in St. Joseph, IL. Once on 74 it was just a matter of following it East over to Indy where we turned South on I-465. 465 took us around to the South side of the city and to the Lake Haven Retreat which is just a little South of the Interstate on Rt.37.

It was 12:25 when we arrived, so it took us right at 2 1/2 hours to drive the 135 miles over there.

After arriving and getting Nora set up, Jim and Linda took Big RED and headed over to Linda's cousin, Mike's house where they had a great visit and a nice meal of Popeye's chicken. Mike and his wife Sandy, seem to be doing pretty well right now. It was about 8:00 or so by the time Jim and Linda returned to the park and both of them said that they had a good time visiting.

Wednesday morning, after hooking Nora to the back of Big RED, we left the Indianapolis area, at about 10:10, (Eastern Time), and headed SE on US 74. When we got over to Cincinnati, we took I-275 around the South side of the city and picked up Rt 32 on the East side. Following 32 SE to the Batavia, OH area, brought us to the East Fork State Park. Upon pulling into the park and at the CG entrance, there was a sign with big red letters stating that the "Campground Is Full"!!!!

Now, this is a huge State Park with many, many sites, but being that they are having a Halloween Campout for the next 2 weekends, all the sites were reserved or full. After talking to the lady at the office, she suggested Jim try the Stonelick State Park which was about 15 miles North of East Fork. She gave Jim the phone number so he called over there and they had a few sites available for a couple nights.  So,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  after programming the address into our GPS, we took off, following "Tillie;s" directions up there.

Now, don't ask me exactly which roads we took up there. There were 4 or 5 different Ohio routes and I have now idea what they were, but Tillie got us there and by the time we arrived we had traveled 178 miles and it was about 2:10 when pulled up to the registration office at the Stonelick State Park, near Pleasant Plains, OH. :-)

They're having a Halloween Campout at Stonelick this weekend too, but we were able to stay for 2 nights in site #42.

As you can see by the photos below, it's kind of a nice park and the fall colors are just starting to show.

I can't even begin to tell you how helpful both of the ladies at the 2 State Parks were at helping us get a site. They went out of their way to accommodate us. I doubt if they'll be reading this, but I'd like to thank them for helping us. "Thank You"!!!!

After staying at Stonelick for 2 nights, (without any Internet Signal), we left there yesterday morning at around 10:15. Again, Tillie came through and got us back on Rt. 32 heading SE. We finally came to US 35 where we turned South and followed 35 down to the Ohio River where we crossed into West Virginia. Just across the river is the town of Point Pleasant. They have a city CG called Krodel Park. It was 1:00 when we pulled into the park and we had traveled 142 miles in about 2 hours and 45 minutes.

Krodel park is OK for an overnight stay. The folks here seem very friendly and except for some kids playing over at the public playground and a train now and then, it's quiet. Most of the sites are quite close together, but the pull-through that we're in is on the end of the row, so we have quite a bit of room.

Here a few photos of the park.

In this last photo, you can see the lake in the distance.

We'll be leaving here this morning to continue our journey to Virginia Beach. We'll probably stop 2 more times before arriving there on Monday.

A Quote To Ponder:  “One of the secrets of life is to make stepping stones out of stumbling blocks.”
Jack Penn

Woof!!!