Day 77 – We got up at 6:30 a.m. & departed Hocking Hills State Park at 8:30. It had rained much of the night & the forecast was that it would rain most of today, too. The campground was almost empty as we left, 65 degrees. We drove North and East through Ohio; about half of the drive was on thruways, the other half on winding, two-lane highways. It was less hilly as we drove north, with beautiful Amish & Pennsylvania Dutch farms. I saw a barn with a large, colorful quilt painted on it. At that time we didn’t realize we’d see many more barns painted like that.
We passed by a sign for the Kent State off-ramp on a highway that was the “Vietnam Veterans Memorial Highway”. This brought back memories & we were reminded of the Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young song.
Four Dead in Ohio
It was windy with very heavy rain as we turned onto Pymatuning Lake Road, near our new campground. There were many signs for Pymatuning State Park & we saw Pymatuning Lake for the first time. The Park has numerous facilities on both sides of this huge Lake. It is located on the Ohio/Pennsylvania borders with part of the Lake in each State. A causeway crosses the Lake and travels from OH to PA. We are camping on the Ohio side and the closest town to us is Andover, OH. We weren’t far from the border to Lake Erie, and we were looking forward to a car ride to the Great Lakes during our stay.
We found our campground at 1:45 p.m. and checked in. The rain and wind were increasing and we couldn’t see the road ahead. As we searched for Site #177, we saw many sites were flooded and we pulled over until the rain and wind let up a little & we could find our way. At this time we found out that a tornado watch had been issued for our campground just before we arrived.
The site was right on the lake & it was very muddy out. The camping pad was short and we wondered whether we could fit both vehicles without sticking out in the road. But at least it wasn’t completely under water like some of the sites. The campground was almost empty & our site had some large, beautiful trees & the water view, so after jockeying the RV & car about and finding we could just barely fit, we decided to stay. A drive later through the campground found that except for a few pull-through sites, all campsites have relatively short driveways & some are not the least bit level (important information for future visits). We unpacked in the rain & mud, then sat inside and read all the materials the Park Rangers had given us. Turned out there was lots to do here & we were given a map to guide us to the parklands; the winery driving tours; boating, fishing, hunting (ick), hiking, biking; lighthouses of the Great Lakes; a barn quilt driving tour; scenic by-ways; and a driving tour of covered bridges in the area. YAAAA! We checked the weather forecast for the next several days – rain, rain, and more rain – took showers and made dinner. The cats immediately liked it here and we all settled in. It’s the end of Week Eleven.