On Our Way Home

I am really sorry to leave Cincinnati.  I really feel like I just got here and there is so much more to see and do here.  Besides that, I'm really trying to slow down and not rush and this trip feels pretty rushed to me.  I think it has to do with the fact that I have a deadline - I am only able to be out on the road for two weeks - there is a finite end to this.  I really want to be able to spend time and then more time putzing along the road.  Oh well, you work with what you've got and grab what you can.

As I've said before, I don't like to drive more than two-three hours a day.  Ease into the day, take Miko for a walk, do the driving and then get to where I'm spending the night by around 2:00 in the afternoon.  That way I can settle in, set up camp and then there is enough day left that I can do something in the area I'm in.  Hiking, sight seeing, whatever.

Cincinnati to Home is about 11-12 hours.  Seems like about a four day drive to me.

When we hooked up the car to the RV there were no lights in the car.  We stopped by Coleraine RV and they checked out the coach and found that there is an electrical problem that will need to get fixed.  Another trip to my local Jayco dealer.  We drove on, I figured that we were driving during the day so we didn't need the lights on the car and besides that the back lights on the RV are huge so everybody would be able to see our turn signals and brake lights. 

Thursday
Drove through Ohio, across Indiana and ended up in Danville, Illinois at the Kickapoo State Park.  A fairly crowded state park - we were coming up on Columbus Day weekend and people were planning on getting their last fall campout.  I took Miko for a walk and the most amazing thing happened.  We came across a squirrel who ran up a tree.  Miko ran up the tree right after the squirrel.  This was a straight up and down tree and Miko just flew up it.  I have never seen this before.  Her hind feet were above my head and I'm five and a half feet tall. She didn't do this just once but three or four times. 

Friday
Drove from Danville Illinois to Rough Cut State Park which is by Rockford Illinois.  Another very crowded state park, but it is also a very large park.  I was looking at the park map and saw that they had a dog park.  Off Miko and I go.  The dog park was large enough for her to get a little bit of exercise.  Again, she found a squirrel and when she took off after it, she ended up on the other side of a gorge that was about five feet deep and about eight feet across.  When she realized that she was on the opposite side of the gorge from me, she got a little worried.  I tried to show her how to get around the gorge but she decided to take matters in her own paws and flew across that gorge.  She actually made it - her front feet hit the rim and I thought she was going to slide into the gorge but she was able to pull it off.  What an athlete this dog is - able to leap wide gorges in a single bound.

Saturday
Drove from Rockford to Tomah Wisconsin.  We stopped at a place called Grangers RV Campground, which was basically a large field with a lot of permanent residents - sort of like an RV trailer park.  The reason we stopped here was because it had full hookups - electric, water and sewer.  This was going to be my last trip for the year and I wanted to get all my tanks dumped and my water drained.  It was an adequate place for one night.  Although during my nightly walk with Miko, I looked up and the stars were huge.  The Big Dipper covered half of the sky.  Living in St. Paul, I don't get to see stars like this very often. 

Sunday
We are home.  Stacks of mail, an irate kitty who has been expressing his displeasure about being left alone (we did have a friend stopping in to visit with him everyday) and a very happy Tony and Miko who really love to be home and only travel with me to make me happy.