Three Springs Campground in Corinth, Kentucky

We drove to a campground just off I-75 south of Cincinnati today with plans to visit the Ark Encounter and Creation Museum over the next few days.

I was using GasBuddy on my phone to try to decide where the best place might be to get diesel fuel for Miss Doozie - Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, or Illinois. It looked like Ohio and Kentucky had similar prices - I could find some really low prices, but when I looked at the satellite map, either the distance to get to the station would burn up the savings, or it looked like we'd have a difficult time getting in or out... so we elected to stop at a Flying J. For some reason, the pay-at-the-pump didn't work - so I went inside. Even though I didn't have the membership card with me, they could look it up with Dwayne's cellphone number which gives $.05 discount... and then she let me pay with the Sams Club Credit Card which gives 5% rebate. Unfortunately, I had to guess how much we would need to fill, and recommended she pre-charge me for $250. It was pretty close to full, but not all the way - oh well! We last filled up in Virginia between Richmond and Charlottesville, and have been driving in mountains and with the generator running (so we can run the roof air conditioners when it is so hot outside). According to the ProDriver, we've driven 667 miles, and I suspect we needed to put a few more gallons in to fill it, so we're averaging somewhere between 6 and 6.5 miles per gallon. Not great fuel mileage for a car, but really terrific fuel mileage for a house!

We've gotten settled in at Three Springs Campground in Corinth, Kentucky. I was having a really hard time finding any availability in this area, but happened upon this campground and really liked the "attitude" that they had online - really caring about the satisfaction of their customers.

Right behind Miss Doozie is a footbridge over a stream - maybe one of the "three springs"?

It looks like there are black walnuts on the ground, though I wouldn't expect them to be falling yet... I hope one doesn't fall on the top of the bus while we're trying to sleep tonight!

Around Dillon State Park

We had thought that we might drive over to "The Wilds" today (a reclaimed strip-mining area that is now a wildlife park), but we decided this morning to take it easy...

We had thought that we might take one of the hiking trails here near our RV...

The path to the walking trail was nicely mowed....

But the path when we got to the walking trail was pretty narrow and overgrown - the picture makes it look better than it was...

And I was not wearing appropriate shoes.

We saw some pretty wildflowers along the mowed path (there is a bee on the purple flower).

 So, instead, we walked around the campground.

The "sled hill" and archery range are not far from our campsite.

 Friends Jane and John came to visit us yesterday (I forgot to take pictures!), and they mentioned that we might want to visit the Longaberger Basket Building. I looked up information about it online and it seems that the company moved out of the building last year and that it owed at that time quite a sizeable amount it back taxes.
http://www.newarkadvocate.com/story/news/local/2016/07/08/longaberger-empties-famous-basket-building-next-week/86852322/
Apologies that the link wants you to subscribe to the newspaper - I just pressed the "X" in the upper right in two places and was able to read the article.

I guess the county may own the building now...  and it is uncertain whether they may want to tear it down, so we decided to see it now instead of planning to see it on another visit in this area.

The Longaberger Basket Building

There were geese on the little pond and they seemed to think either Dwayne or his camera might be edible...

Another view of the Basket.

There was nothing to prevent you from getting into the parking areas, really nothing to indicate it was empty - still signs to employee and visitor and tour bus parking. Maybe the county figures it will bring people around to visit even being empty! We ended up going to the grocery store in Newark (where the building is) - so it did bring business into the county in our case!

A busier day than originally planned

First... a picture from last night...

We got a reconditioned "Campfire" at Quartzsite in January, but didn't have the appropriate connections to use the bus propane. We got those while we were in Virginia, and it was barely cool enough to make the thought of having a campfire acceptable last night!

 Our plan today was, after live streaming our church service from the Dallas area, to go on a cruise on the Lorena Sternwheeler here in Zanesville. It had been recommended by our friend, Jane, and today was the only day while we are booked to be here that it was going to be running.

Unfortunately when we got to the park where it is moored, we were greeted with this sign, "Closed Today due to High Water" - bummer!

We got to see the boat anyway.... Lorena Sternwheeler

Then we headed across the Y-Bridge to Putnam Hill Park which gave us an overlook of the Y-Bridge. This bridge provides a crossing of the confluence of the Muskingum and Licking Rivers. It was on the National Road. It is said to be the only bridge that you can cross and remain on the same side of the river.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Road

The park also gave us a good view of the town of Zanesville.

One of my Facebook friends had just recently posted about leaving painted rocks... and I saw this one at the overlook so took a picture of it!

We crossed the bridge (and remained on the same side of the Muskingum River) - which led to this overpass under the railroad - that's 9'7" where we are driving in the Jeep. There is a 12'6" section over there to the side, but only in one direction. Glad we weren't in Miss Doozie!

We stopped and took pictures at the Muskingum County Courthouse.

We were contemplating heading back to the bus, but looked at one of the brochures we had picked up at the Welcome Center on the interstate yesterday, and realized that two of the places we were interested in seeing would not be open on Monday or Tuesday, so we had better visit this afternoon!

We drove out to New Concord to visit the John & Annie Glenn Museum, and we're glad we did!

The museum is largely composed of the house that John Glenn lived in as a boy up to college age. The interpreter that we had was re-enacting "John Glenn's father", John Hershel Glenn, Sr. He told us many interesting things - the house was ordered from Sears Roebuck, and was a large model as they planned (and did) board students in the rooms upstairs.

He showed us this small table that John Glenn had made for his parents (I think in shop class).

There were also a number of displays in the boarder rooms upstairs that one of the "current day" ladies took us through. She had grown up in New Concord and reminisced about the parade in the town to celebrate John Glenn when he returned from his successful orbiting of the earth.

This was the "calculator" that John Glenn took on his Mercury mission.

A view of the front of the house.

John Glenn's birthday was July 18, 1921. He passed away just this past December, on December 8, 2016.

 We would have liked to see another museum, National Road / Zane Grey Museum, but it was too late by the time we were done at the John and Annie Glenn Museum (and it is closed the next two days). A reason to return to this area!

On our way back to Zanesville, we drove to the S-bridge, another of the bridges on the National Road.
 S-Bridge
Coaches, Conestoga wagons, herds of livestock, pioneers on foot or horseback, peddlers, soldiers, beggars - these and many others have crossed this bridge on the National Road since 1830. Escaping slaves sought shelter beneath it.
Like many others on the road, the bridge was built with well-cut stone and good mortar in the shap of an "S" because it was easier to erect than one thrown straight across an oblique stream.

Here is the S-Bridge. Information at the bridge indicated: "The Fox Creek "S" Bridge is one of a series of such bridges which lined the path of the National Road. All but a handful were destroyed during the construction of U.S. Route 40. The National Road, completed here in 1828, "Opened wide the doors to the West." Every township crossed by the Road doubled its population in a decade. The entire National Road from Cumberland, Maryland, to Vandalia, Illinois, was bricked during World War I to accomodate Military traffic."

My honey was down below taking pictures...

He got this shot from down below the S-bridge.

So, we didn't get to do what we were planning to do, but had a great day anyway!

Moving on up the road to Zanesville, Ohio

We had planned to take two days to travel from Beckley to Zanesville, but I checked the campground availability this morning and found that they had sites that could accommodate us tonight, so we decided to press on through.

We passed through Charleston, WV, where Dwayne took this picture of the capital building as I was driving.

At a rest area, we stopped next to a truck carrying this contraption - looks like the base for something large! Dwayne said, "Take a picture, ask your brother!"

Now we're settled in at Dillon State Park, just outside Zanesville, Ohio, for the next few days.

The campground is pretty crowded today/tonight, but we took a walk around the loops closest to us and most have departure dates posted for tomorrow (7/16). Lots of tent campers - at least half of the sites, I would estimate. Miss Doozie is a bit large for the site, but we are letting her hang off in the back a bit...

The weather here is gorgeous - humidity is not bad, temps cooling off into the 60s at night!

Beckley, West Virginia

We made a short drive (135 miles) from Buena Vista, VA to Beckley, WV today, and in so doing, have another state to add to our "states visited" map! This is the first new one since we were in Oklahoma in October, 2016 - we've been spending the last several months in places we've been before.

We had debated taking US 250 across from Staunton into West Virginia, but decided that (1) it was too warm to boondock in the Walmart parking lot in Staunton, so we headed to a Passport America park (50% discount) in Buena Vista, and (2) we didn't want to feel pushed by others wanting to travel faster on a 2-lane road, so we'd be better off on interstate where there were lanes for faster traffic to easily pass us.

While looking for a campground in this area, I discovered the Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine (they have a campground too) so when we got here, we decided to head over to check it out. I decided that we could boondock at "Tamarack: The Best of West Virginia" so we parked there, unhooked the Jeep, and drove over to the Exhibition Coal Mine.

One of the features of the coal mine visit was a trip into the mine.

Our guide told us that miners would fill 10 of these 1-ton cars each day. If a miner could not keep up that pace, he did not remain employed.

10 tons, contrary to Tennessee Ernie Ford's "16 Tons" - but our guide definitely related that the miners "owed their soul to the company store".

Our guide indicated that he had worked in the mines for 41 years. Here he is demonstrating the use of a "chest auger" - except the part that is closest to us, a flattened curved bar (hard to see), would have been pressed up against the chest of the miner to provide the push into the oar. After drilling a hole, they would put explosive charges in to dislodge the coal.

Outside the mine, there were various buildings that had been part of different mining company facilities in West Virginia.

This was the kitchen in the supervisor's home - the sink cabinet reminded me of the one in the house where I grew up. The supervisor's house was 3600 square feet on 3 floors.

This was the living room in a representative "family worker" home - a 3 room house. The couch and chair reminded me of ones we had at home too!

Ours did not have the side tufting, but it was this green color!

Behind the worker's house was an outhouse.

As mentioned above, each of the buildings was brought to this site from a coal camp somewhere in the state, not necessarily from the coal camp at this location.

Front of the church

Church at the coal camp

Then we returned to Tamarack to see what they had inside the building where we were parked outside. There were many items made by local artisans. https://www.tamarackwv.com/about-us/history/

It is a bit cooler here - supposed to get down into the 60s with rain overnight... so we think we'll be ok without having electric hookups tonight.

Beckley, WV has turned out to be a nice place to stop!

Leaving and missing....

After almost 7(!!!) weeks, we left the farm this morning. My family took us out for breakfast this morning to celebrate my birthday and say goodbye...

Kendra, Joseph, and Ricky - Joseph is such a cutie! He was enjoying scrambled eggs, grits, and a little bit of hashbrowns!

We thought he would want to have a nap as soon as he got home (he kept his mom and dad up late last night), but he was still wide eyed and waving goodbye!

Even with our long stay, we're missing family here on our first evening away! It is so nice to be with family!

For tonight, we've made it as far as Buena Vista, VA. They have a city campground that has half-price rates for Passport America. We are essentially in an open field, and it is not anywhere near as cool in temperature as I was hoping for coming to the mountains!

We are thankful that this campground is nowhere near as crowded as it evidently sometimes can be! See: aerial shot of Glen Maury Park when it was crowded
For tonight, we are one of only 2 RVs in that kinda crescent shaped area.

Settled in for one night...

The Maury River is a little ways behind us - there is a mural type carving of a horse-drawn riverboat in the wall of the facility across the river (it looks like a wastewater treatment plant from the satellite map).

The new hookup for the Jeep looks great - very level, and seems to work well through the hills and terrain we've covered so far.