Chesterton, Indiana

Good morning, my friends. It's been a while since I've been able to get a blog post up...one with pictures anyway. We're going to have to do some time traveling over the next couple of days to catch up. For now, let's just talk about our time on the road. We find ourselves two states over and one hour earlier, now that we're in the Central time zone. So, let's start with backing up to our previous driving day, after leaving Babcock State Park in West Virginia, and then heading over to Hocking Hills State Park near Logan, Ohio. 

After leaving Babcock State Park, we crossed over the tall scary bridge over New River Gorge for the final time. The sky was looking threatening.

This next picture isn't a great picture with the guard rail blocking the view, but I was hoping to give you an idea of the depth of the gorge here. Look in the middle of the picture, and you can see the New River below.

We passed through a toll booth, where they nicked us for $5.25...not bad as tolls go, but then we passed through and paid again a little way down the road.

We backtracked over the roads we'd come in on, only we were on the opposite side of the river, which was kind of interesting. Here, we got another view of the state Capitol dome in Charleston, West Virginia. I've seen a lot of state capitals, and this might be the prettiest dome in my memory. Ours in Oregon is interesting too, but less traditional.

I guess as long as I'm bringing it up, I should show you a picture of Oregon's state Capitol dome. Ours has an Oregon pioneer on top.

Moving on, we crossed the bridge over the Ohio River to reach the great state of Ohio for the second time this trip. I think Ohio might be the only state we'll visit twice before we return to Oregon.

There we go...Helllllllloooooo, Ohio! Nice to see you again!

It's a big river...Click here to read a few "quick facts" about the river itself.

And then is was a drive to reach Hocking Hills State Park.

When I planned this trip, I planned it to stay in as many state parks as possible along the way. As we've reached these parks, we've really had no idea what we would find there. This one happened to have some wonderful hiking. We did three hikes in the two days we spent at the park. I'll tell you about those in some separate time traveling posts. You're going to be amazed by the things we saw.

Well, and let's face it...no internet access leaves plenty of time for slow stitching. I finished up Block #4. I really like this one.

And then, I prepared Block #5. As I'm writing this morning, it's nearly finished. I'll show you a picture of my stitching when it's all done.

Smitty was able to get out for a short walk, but there were too many woofies and people around. We did resample some of that Ohio grass. 

We're still favoring the grass we found in West Virginia. So far, we haven't tried Indiana.

Sadie kept an eye on the woofies from her secret spy perch.

Smitty was ready to move along when the time came.

Okay, and so moving up to yesterday's drive, we left Hocking Hills, on our way to Indiana Dunes State Park. There is an Indiana Dunes *National* Park here too. We're at the southern tip of Lake Michigan, but so far, haven't done any sight-seeing. Along our route yesterday, we saw lots of barns. Some of these seem to have become billboards for advertising and political signs.

I nearly missed this next one. And, there were way too many barns to photograph all of them. Occasionally, I put the camera down for an hour or so, and then picked it up again down the road.

Yesterday's drive was long...with very moody skies. Despite the blackness of the clouds, we only got into a few short downpours.

Our drive was long yesterday. It was made longer over worries about a motor that drives the hydraulic jacks and slides on the RV. When we tried to put the jacks up yesterday, nothing happened. There was a click, and then that was all. Using the "get a bigger hammer approach," Mike was able to get them to work. Then...the slides wouldn't come in. So, he got an even bigger hammer, and we got that taken care of. We didn't know if we'd be able to operate anything when we reached our final destination. 

Coincidentally, we happen to be traveling through the same areas where our RV was manufactured. We stopped at a rest area and spent about an hour calling parts manufacturers, and finally were able to locate a motor that can be overnighted to an RV center just about 20 miles away. It should arrive today, but we're not sure when. We'll either go get it today, or pick it up along our route tomorrow. For now, slides and jacks are operating, but the problem hasn't been fixed...just delayed from causing us grief for the time being. 

After many miles, we crossed into Indiana, where there is road construction. It is ever thus.

And we encountered more moody skies. It rained last night, but the sun is shining this morning, and the forecast is for no more rain today. We've been pretty lucky that way.

Here are some Indiana barns:

We crossed back into the Central time zone after passing through the tiny town of Donaldson, Indiana.

This barn gave us a bit of a chuckle. It looks like one could pretty easily push it over with a single finger, and it would be a pile of rubble.

Here's a constellation of outbuildings in much better condition.

Finally, late in the day and many miles later, we found our campground for last night and tonight. Sorry for the blur. It was late...and dark.

This morning, Mike and the kitties are enjoying some excellent lap time.

So today we're going to do some sight-seeing at both the state and national parks. It's still up in the air whether we'll travel to nearby Schererville (on the Indiana/Illinois state line) to pick up the part we need. It depends on how late it comes in. It only adds a few miles to our drive tomorrow, and so I'm in favor of waiting and picking it up along the way. If need be, we can always use an even bigger hammer to get things moving when we pack up tomorrow morning.

Okay, so that's all I have for you this morning. I'll be checking back in intermittently over the next day or two and we'll do some time traveling about our three hikes in Hocking Hills State Park. There was a lot to see there. Until then, please stay safe, my Florida friends. What we're reading about Ian doesn't sound good. I wish I could do more than send these well wishes to you, but we'll all just have to wait and see what happens when the storm passes. Just know that I'm keeping you in my thoughts and hoping for a good outcome for your neighborhood.