As our summer wanderings were coming to an end, we made our way south through Ohio and into Kentucky, crisscrossing the Ohio River in the process. Our journeys weren’t always on a straight line, but the general direction was south.
Trail map of the southern end of Caesar Creek State Park near Dayton and Cincinnati OH Caesar Creek State Park
Floods. Our travels into SW Ohio followed the Little Miami River to the Ohio. And the repeated theme as we toured local historical sites was the devastating flooding as rivers overflowed their banks. Caesar Creek State Park was a more recent link in a chain of remediation projects by the Army COE to control these mighty waters. The park is centered on a dam completed in 1978 that transformed Caesar Creek into Caesar Creek Lake. This provided the recreation area that included our campground (holding over 250 sites), hiking trails, boat launches and an excellent Visitor Center museum.
Floods. Our travels into SW Ohio followed the Little Miami River to the Ohio. And the repeated theme as we toured local historical sites was the devastating flooding as rivers overflowed their banks. Caesar Creek State Park was a more recent link in a chain of remediation projects by the Army COE to control these mighty waters. The park is centered on a dam completed in 1978 that transformed Caesar Creek into Caesar Creek Lake. This provided the recreation area that included our campground (holding over 250 sites), hiking trails, boat launches and an excellent Visitor Center museum.
Memphis Belle at the National Museum of the Air Force Caesar Creek is a short drive from Dayton OH, an area rich in aviation history starting with the Wright Brothers and continuing with Wright-Patterson AFB, which is home to the National Museum of the USAF. This mammoth museum easily takes multiple days to see. We squeezed it into two long days. (You can tour it with us in this video.) From early gliders to the Space Shuttle, if it was flown by the Air Force, you are likely to see it here. There is a beautiful memorial park just outside the entrance as well. The museum is free, but if you want to experience flight, there are several simulator rides and a large screen movie that could offer that opportunity. We were happy staying on the ground for our visit.
Cathy and Dave hiking to Horseshoe Falls As the week wore on, the temperatures started to rise, so we tried to get our exploring done early. We took a hike to the park’s Horseshoe Falls, which seemed to be seriously underwhelming due to the lack of recent rainfall. The hike took us over a swing bridge and by a pioneer village, created by salvaged structures that would have been washed away by the lake once the dam was put in place. The Visitor Center did an excellent job telling the story of the area from the ancient inhabitants to the present day, including hands-on exhibits, a movie and an overlook of the lake and the dam.
Our leftovers after eating our fill from our meal at 1572 BBQ Roadhouse. Since we travel on our stomachs, we kept looking for special treats wherever we stay. And, after driving by miles and miles of corn for weeks, we finally were able to buy some fresh-picked corn at a nearby farm (along with some fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies the daughter was selling). It tasted so good. We also found some of the best BBQ we have had at the nearby 1572 BBQ Roadhouse on the grounds of the Renaissance Faire. One of the most unexpectedly good samples was the sliced turkey. We bought a sampler meal for 2 that fed us for 2 days. Yumm.
Little Farm on the River – Aurora Indiana
By week’s end, it was time to move on. We had a short trip across the Ohio River back into Indiana for a 3 night stay at a Passport America campground called Little Farm on the River. Unlike our Caesar Creek campsite, we had a pull-through with plenty of shade and full hook-ups. Given the soaring temperatures, we appreciated the shade, but not the low-branches. We were pleasantly surprised when the park’s maintenance man pruned them at our request. Great service.
By week’s end, it was time to move on. We had a short trip across the Ohio River back into Indiana for a 3 night stay at a Passport America campground called Little Farm on the River. Unlike our Caesar Creek campsite, we had a pull-through with plenty of shade and full hook-ups. Given the soaring temperatures, we appreciated the shade, but not the low-branches. We were pleasantly surprised when the park’s maintenance man pruned them at our request. Great service.
We ventured out into the heat for a few small runs to the nearby towns. First to see William Henry Harrison’s tomb, which was just across the border in Ohio. As the first president from Ohio, there was a substantial monument at his family’s grave site. Our sampling of local fare had to include a bowl of Cincinnati Chili from Skyline Chili. So, despite the 90 degree heat, we sat in the park and ate a hot bowl of chili. It was very good, but to cool off, we decided to try some United Dairy Farmers ice cream, which brought the temperature down considerably.
Arriving in Kentucky, we added a new state to our travel map. Whispering Hills RV Park – Georgetown KY
From Indiana, we crossed back over the Ohio River, skirted the western suburbs of Cincinnati and followed I75 into Kentucky, stopping just north of Lexington. We had chosen this destination to visit some of our Nomads friends who lived there. Since many of the spots in the Whispering Hills RV Park looked pretty tight and/or just gravel lots, we splurged and got a premium pull-thru site, complete with a 100 ft paved pad, full hook-ups, and a patio table and chairs. Between the heat and torrential rain, we never actually got a chance to sit in the patio chairs. You can’t have everything.
From Indiana, we crossed back over the Ohio River, skirted the western suburbs of Cincinnati and followed I75 into Kentucky, stopping just north of Lexington. We had chosen this destination to visit some of our Nomads friends who lived there. Since many of the spots in the Whispering Hills RV Park looked pretty tight and/or just gravel lots, we splurged and got a premium pull-thru site, complete with a 100 ft paved pad, full hook-ups, and a patio table and chairs. Between the heat and torrential rain, we never actually got a chance to sit in the patio chairs. You can’t have everything.
Herb, Peggy and Spotty after our tour of Lexington Our primary reason for coming to this area was to visit with Herb and Peggy. One day, Herb offered to take us on a tour of the area, where he and Peggy have lived for years. We drove past horse farms (which were strangely lacking in horses for the most part), the University of Kentucky, Mary Todd Lincoln’s childhood home and more. We shared some lunch together before we were dropped off again at our campsite, saying goodbye in the pouring rain. Our hope is that Covid will give us a chance to see them again this winter in Jacksonville.
James E Pepper Distillery tour While sampling the local fare, we enjoyed some BBQ from Babe’s, an over the top Buckeye brownie from Desserts by Rebecca, some homemade ice cream from Crank and Boom, and a signature local pizza from Joe Bologna’s. However, we couldn’t leave the area without touring and tasting some locally distilled bourbon. We found our opportunity at James E Pepper Distillery near downtown Lexington. This craft distillery resurrected a storied Lexington brand and its recipes that dated back to the American Revolution. Situated in a small portion of the original multi-acre site, James E Pepper Distilling is making some award-winning bourbon and rye whiskey. We had an excellent tour guide, whose knowledge of the history and the distilling process made for an entertaining hour. By sampling the “low wine” result of the first distillation to the “high wine” result of the 2nd distillation to the finished product, we gained an appreciation of the flavors introduced by each process.
Dave studies his (our) new drone Flying High (sort of)
The bug bit back in May. After our son-in-law demonstrated his drone and how it could fly above the park and take some amazing pictures, Dave started doing research. A couple of months later, one arrived. However, the first one didn’t work so well ( and no it wasn’t just the operators). So, it wasn’t until our stay at Little Farm on the River that we had a working drone – a Holy Stone 175D. It is on the high end of the “toy” drones, but has a lot of features that the much more expensive DJI drones have.
The bug bit back in May. After our son-in-law demonstrated his drone and how it could fly above the park and take some amazing pictures, Dave started doing research. A couple of months later, one arrived. However, the first one didn’t work so well ( and no it wasn’t just the operators). So, it wasn’t until our stay at Little Farm on the River that we had a working drone – a Holy Stone 175D. It is on the high end of the “toy” drones, but has a lot of features that the much more expensive DJI drones have.
Cathy takes the controls for a bit Needing an open space far from airports to try it out, we weren’t able to put it to use until we arrived at Whispering Hills in Kentucky. We started small. Go straight up and try to land it where we started. You may laugh, but this wasn’t that easy. Next step was to trace a specific path around us and land at the starting point. So far, we aren’t climbing much about 12 ft or going much more than 50ft away, but we were making progress. Of course, we have a lot more to learn still. And there’s no risk we will interfere with any aircraft unless they are making a crash landing nearby.
View from our campsite at St. Albans park Roadside Park at the Port of St. Albans, WV
You might be scratching your head at the “port of St. Albans” reference. But West Virginia does have a navigable river, the Kanawha River. And this roadside park is a hidden gem along I64 . It has 3 pull-through sites with 30A electric – and they are all free. Since there are few to no campground options past this point until well into Virginia, we were pinning our hopes on an available spot. Although we did have a backup plan to boondock across the street in the old K-mart parking lot. It looked like the temperatures would stay cool enough to enable this to happen.
So, the good news was that there was one spot open when we arrived. In a lovely setting by the river, these are really lovely sites. However, the bad news was that the 30A outlet had no power. Deciding we could make do with a 15 amp extension cord for essentials like the TV and our computer outlets, we decided to stay put. However, as a courtesy, we called the town to ensure they knew about the problems with the power pole. Maybe the next camper would benefit from our having reported it.
You might be scratching your head at the “port of St. Albans” reference. But West Virginia does have a navigable river, the Kanawha River. And this roadside park is a hidden gem along I64 . It has 3 pull-through sites with 30A electric – and they are all free. Since there are few to no campground options past this point until well into Virginia, we were pinning our hopes on an available spot. Although we did have a backup plan to boondock across the street in the old K-mart parking lot. It looked like the temperatures would stay cool enough to enable this to happen.
So, the good news was that there was one spot open when we arrived. In a lovely setting by the river, these are really lovely sites. However, the bad news was that the 30A outlet had no power. Deciding we could make do with a 15 amp extension cord for essentials like the TV and our computer outlets, we decided to stay put. However, as a courtesy, we called the town to ensure they knew about the problems with the power pole. Maybe the next camper would benefit from our having reported it.
Parked at St. Albans To our surprise, not 15 minutes later, a city maintenance employee arrived to look at the problem. Discovering a bad breaker, he had one in his truck and was able to replace it before heading out 20 minutes later. So, we were able to use our AC again, making our stay much more comfortable. We took advantage of a Kroger across the street to stock up on groceries, and took a walk by the river in the evening.
Rain clouds forming on the horizon As we planned our next day’s travel, we decided to make a sudden change in plans. Tropical Storm/Depression Fred’s path was becoming clearer and was now supposed to pass between us and Pocahontas the next night. If we stopped as we had planned in southwest Virginia, we would be packing up and traveling in some heavy rains the next day. And to make it worse, our chosen spot was in a grassy park next to a river. We’d been stuck that way once before and weren’t going to let it happen again. So, we got going early the next morning and made a long day’s travel to Pocahontas State Park. Our summer vacation is over, so it’s time to get to work.
Parting Shot
Herb has possession of an artifact that has been passed down through his family for generations from the Civil War. Originally stripped off a Union steamship in 1864, the pilot house eagle was "confiscated" by his relative, Joseph Norsworthy at that time and handed down until it was passed back to the local museum. This cast replica now sits in Herb’s den.
Herb has possession of an artifact that has been passed down through his family for generations from the Civil War. Originally stripped off a Union steamship in 1864, the pilot house eagle was "confiscated" by his relative, Joseph Norsworthy at that time and handed down until it was passed back to the local museum. This cast replica now sits in Herb’s den.
