3 Days of "chillin" :-)

When we left the area around Matt, we had made a reservation at Windy Hill Golf Club And Camping Resort in Conneaut,OH. It's another Passport America park just before you go into Pennsylvania off of I-90.

The owners bought the place 2 years ago and have been focusing their money and work on the Golf course and not so much on the Campground section. They now have the golf course in pretty good shape and are going to start working on the campground more next year.

It's an older park with a number of seasonal people but has pull-through W/E sites with 50-AMP service which was very adequate for our needs. The people are very nice, and if traveling through that area again, I will definitely stay there.

The City of Conneaut (pronounced /ˈkonni-ott/) is located at the mouth of Conneaut Creek,which is the "number one steelhead trout stream in the country". Since I don't fish, I can't really tell you any more. hee hee

They have a Public Marina and park system on the banks of Lake Erie that is free to visit and very cool to see. We spent the better part of a day walking around that area and chatting with some of the locals. For those of you who enjoy watching people, and especially people trying to back up boat trailers, it's some time well spent. ;-)

The park has public beaches, picnic areas, and a couple of pavilions available to everyone. Really very nice to see, and when we were there, all the facilities were being used.

Windy Hill site	I did go down the steps-still panting ;-)
The beach.	She just can't stay out

When we finished at the beach, we did a little riding around the area and spotted some signs along US 20 about the Great Lakes Circle Tour and will probably seriously consider doing some/or all of the Route in the future.

There are also individual Lake Tours, but I haven't looked into them yet.

On our way here, I stopped at the Flying J in Ashtabula to fill the rig before we head into NY. I'd checked some prices at Fuelbuddy before we headed here and found Diesel at $4.09.9 and the cheapest I found in NY was $4.59.9 so I'm hoping we have enough fuel to get back out of NY without buying any more there. We'll see.

ttfn

next stop Greenfield Center (upstate NY)

Paul

Actual post 9/2/08

Kentucky to Ohio n more kids

We left Montgomery Bell around 9 AM to take the first leg of our drive to Ohio for a visit with our youngest son Matt.

We had a nice drive up I-65 out of Nashville and then to a small RV park in Bardstown,KY. It was about 4 hours of driving and put us just under 1/2 way to our Ohio destination.

The next day we headed for Lazy Dog Campground in Jackson,OH. This is another Camp Club USA park. I'm really glad we decided to join this club, cuz they seem to have enough different Parks in their system that we can find something if Passport America doesn't have anything.

We arrived around 2:30 or 3PM and after getting set up, the first thing Connie wanted to do was get the laundry caught up. (we're getting a Splendide washer/dryer combo in NY) It was a decent park with a fishing pond, a little crowded, but not bad for a couple of nights with full hook-ups.
Once done with the laundry, we called Matt to see what was happening. After a short discussion, it was decided it would be better if we drove into Athens rather than him coming to Jackson.


We spent a few hours that evening just chatting with the kids, Matt and Sara. Of course seeing Addy gave Connie her latest "Boston Fix", which never hurts.

We went back up the next day and pretty much just hung out with them, walked to the park to let Addy run, and then out for dinner at a local Mexican restaurant.

It was a very nice couple of days, and then we headed for our next stop in Conneaut,OH for 3 nights, to regroup for our visit in NY. ;-)

ttfn

Paul

actual post 8/23/08

Grandchildren are tiring!

We spent a wonderful week in Montgomery Bell State park in Burns, TN, about 30 miles west of Nashville.

We had a great time visiting with Jayson, Frank, Eian, Ella, Madison & Lexie. We went swimming, on a canoe ride, and just hung out and played. I was very pleased with how well Grandpa did on the canoe trip!! We got stuck in a real shallow area once and I had to drag us out, but otherwise he did most of the rowing.

I wish Jayson hadn't had to work so much - we just didn't have nearly enough time with him. I miss his great sense of humor.

We spent two nights near Matthew, Sara & Addy and pretty much just visited. We did go to the park once for Addy to play.

We're now in Conneaut,OH just relaxing before heading to NY. We need this time to rest!! Eian & Ella really wore us old folks out!

I did get a few decent pictures that Paul will post sometime, so everyone can "meet" the boys and grand kids.

Connie

Nashville revisited - :-)

On our way to the Park, I saw this sign not far from the entrance and just had to take a picture.

We got settled into the Montgomery Bell State Park in quick fashion and Connie called the kids to see if they wanted to come out or wanted us to go into Nashville.

Fortunately, they wanted to come to us. (I was tired of driving that day) :-)

All the kids and grand-kids came to our rig at the Park for dinner and just some chatting and hellos. It was good to see them, but all of them at the same time is a bit much in the rig. ;-)

So we stayed outside for the most part and grilled chicken and Connie made a bunch of food for all. Another success. hee hee

Grandma with Ella

The next day, we had some running to do in Nashville and decided to stop and see Jayson at one of the places he works. (he's a bartender at 2 places) After a really good lunch, we asked one of the waitresses to snap this picture. (Jayson's the young one in the middle *grin*)
The following day Connie and I went into Nashville to see Frank, Lexie, Madison, Eian and Ella. We wanted to see the house they moved into while we were out West. It's a pretty nice house in a decent neighborhood, and they seem to really like the room for the kids.

The last day we were going to be in Nashville, we did a Canoe trip down the Harpeth River. If you're ever in the area around Dickson,TN it's a great way to spend some time.

We rented Canoes at Canoe Music City. They offer a variety of trips depending on how long you want to be on the river.
We opted for a 7 mile trip, that is shown on their website to last for 2-2.5 hours. All I can say is I was really glad we finished in less than 4 hrs.

Frank n Lexie with Ella and Madison in the Kayak.

Grandma and Eian

It really was a nice day on the River and I'd really recommend it to anyone.

After we finished the canoe trip we again fed the kids and got ready for our ride to Ohio to see the last of the boys before we head for our Upstate NY Park, and the rest of the family.

ttfn

Paul

actual post 8/21/08

A Different State Park System - Tennessee

July 5- July 11,2008

Folks, I have to tell you, Tennessee restored my faith in the State Park Systems that are out there. Colorado was our first State park visit, and if you follow this blog, you kinda know how that went.

I was hesitant to go to another State Park, but the proximity to Nashville and the distance from our stop in Missouri made Montgomery Bell State Park in Burns,TN a good location for us to visit the kids for 3 days before we went to the Nashville Country RV Park where we were planning to stay for a week.

We stayed at that park in October of last year, also visiting the kids to drop off some stuff from our house. The park was a little bit small, but well maintained and nice folks, and it's a Passport America Park where we could save a few bucks.

I made the arrangements before we left Turkey Creek, and was pleasantly surprised, that they accepted my National Access Pass and gave us a discounted (50%) rate.
While we were riding to the park, Connie and I decided to stay longer if the Park was nice.

It was nice enough that we signed in to stay a full week in a pull-through water and electric site. We parked right by the restroom/shower building (in the background), so it eliminated having to dump tanks for the whole week, by using their showers.

We had taken the pull-through site because I just didn't want to unhook the tow dolly and we were only planning 3 days. In hindsight, it would have been a better stay if we had gone deeper into the park where we could take advantage of the trees for shade. (next time) ;-)

Next post will be some pics of the kids we went to visit in Nashville.

ttfn

Paul

actual post 8/21/08

Alfred Hitchcock is alive!!

Well, OK, so he's not REALLY alive, but his movie Birds sure came to mind tonight.

We got up and running in good shape today and left the Escapees Turkey Creek Park at just before 9 AM, which is some kind of record for us now.

Our normal day doesn't really get us moving too much until after 9 AM and usually, at least for me, it's around 10 AM or there abouts.

We did a cross country trip today that my GPS program said was 200 Air Miles from start to finish. By road it was 287 miles and about 6 hours of driving. The first 3 hours was twisty windy up and down roads, that weren't real bad roads, but the going was slow.

After that it became a good road and easy drive.

Our destination today was the Lady Luck Casino in Caruthersville,MO. Not that I wanted to go to a Casino, but there aren't too many RV Parks in this area and it was the best place for a mid-way overnight on our way to Nashville.

We got into our site around 3 PM and hooked up in about 30 minutes. It was a balmy 97 degrees while I was getting hooked up, so I had to do nothing but sit for about 20 minutes and cool off with both AC's going full blast.

Here's our site.

We went into the Riverboat Casino to get something to eat, and all they actually had on the boat was a snack bar. No one told us that the main restaurant was back in the registration area, and that was an uphill walk from the boat about 500 ft.

We just stayed in the boat and had burgers for dinner. Not the best, but tolerable. We did try (very briefly) our hand at some quarter slots for about 20 minutes. They didn't have any table games open in the non-smoking area, and the smoking area was very poorly vented, so we didn't want to stay there.

We got back to the rig around 6 PM and after another break to cool down, I went for a short walk around the RV Park and took the pictures. As I was walking around (before the 2nd picture) I noticed that birds were starting to gather. I had no idea what it was all about, but it was definitely noisy.

See what you think.

That's the registration building in the background, and a nice sunset along the banks of the Mississippi River.

Next stop Montgomery Bell State park in Burns,TN.

ttfn

Paul

posted 8/7/08

My two cents

Well, since Paul has us pretty much up to date I thought I'd make my first official post. He will still be in charge of the pictures, but I may just comment once in a while.

We haven't been doing much here at Turkey Creek other than relaxing. We've been to dinner that the park has hosted twice and I've gone for a few nights of entertainment. We needed this time to catch our breath before going to Nashville. I expect the grandchildren will run me ragged, but I'm so looking forward to it! :-)

We both really like this park. It's not too big and not too small and it's very pretty. Summer isn't the best time for US to be here - it's VERY hot and humid, but I expect we will enjoy some springs and falls here. Maybe next time we'll even go to some shows in Branson.

Don't expect many posts from me, (since this is my first in 10 months!) but I may just surprise y'all on occasion.

Connie