From Newsgroup: rec.outdoors.rv-travel

We got back from the 10 day trip to Ohio Monday afternoon. No big
problems this trip, fortunately. We did have a couple small electrical
switch issues appear and I already took it in to get them fixed. The
road through Indiana (I-70) was all under construction and was ugly
driving. The view did manage over 14 MPG pulling the TOAD, and I was
pleased with that.

The ride out was not that bad having to go 450 miles to get to
Springfield Ohio. This trip began as a way to get my 86 year old mother
to her sisters for a visit together. After dropping her off, we stayed
the night at a place called Tomorrow's Stars.

<https://tomorrowsstarsrvresort.com/>

The place gets some nasty reviews, but to be honest we were just staying
the night and I found it OK. Hearing all the stories about Springfield
and illegals in the news, we didn't want to Walmart it, so this place
worked just fine. Some of the reviews spoke of bad oily water, but I
had plenty and didn't tap in, so I don't really know. Filled up once we
got to the State Park.

Next day we headed off to Hocking Hills State Park Campground. This is
the most popular place in Ohio, so we were lucky to get in, and had to
move sites once to get our 5 days in down there. Very clean and though
they said spotty wifi, we had 5G in there. I put up the Starlink anyway
and it worked great. The only thing I didn't like was the damn fire
rings. They were small rings, and up off the ground so to see the
flames yo either had to chock it full of wood, or sit right up on it. I
found them pretty annoying and they have them in all the Ohio State Parks.

<https://i.postimg.cc/rskBGv83/Fire-Ring.jpg>

The hiking in the area is very good, with well used trails of all difficulties. Being after labor day, it was not very crowded anywhere
so we had good times hiking. The entire area is gentle rolling hills
and the rich are buying up every piece of land you could see an putting
rental houses on them. Some are just huge, all look expensive. Kind of
sad really. We did drive one day and took the entire Triple Nickel, the OH-555. I had read about it in my Harley magazine, and it was a crazy
drive. To be honest, it would wear the hell out of you on a motorcycle
with all the clutch pulling and shifting you'd have to do. Lots of
blind hill curves, and places to stop were few and far in between. I
was also a little surprised at the rednecks in the area. When I think
of Ohio, you kind of thing middle class Midwestern folks. But the south eastern part of the state is actually in the Appalachian range and the
555 had none of the rich folks we saw in Hocking Hills, and was very
poor looking with many, many boarded up and abandoned places.

We left this area and went east to the Shawnee State Park Turkey Creek campground. Same type of setup as the last place, but we did manage to
get a space that was pretty separated from other people. Tucked nicely
in the woods.

<https://postimg.cc/gallery/CfpWW7X>

This place had no cell service at all, and being stuck under all the
trees we did not get very good Starlink with all the obstructions.
Enough to read webpages once they loaded, and I was able to download
off-line maps for our hikes and I was good with that. The Shawnee area
is much like the Shawnee Natl. Forest we have in southern Illinois.
Much more rugged, with higher hills than around Hocking Hills, and
that's probably why fewer people go there. Beautiful area, but much
poorer.

We did have a rough hike that was about my limit in the area. Called
the Day Hike, 7.4 miles and 1000 feet of elevation ascent, this one was
tough. It was all in the woods, and with few people doing this trail
you go through spider webs all day, have to cross over or go around
fallen trees, and keeping on trail was difficult at times for the first
60% of the hike. Once you finally get to the top, there are no
clearings or viewpoints to see the incredible scenery below. If they
would do that more people might do this hike. For us it was hoe (85*),
buggy, hard to follow, and just one tough hike. My knee was toast after finishing this one.

<https://postimg.cc/gallery/kmXvQWk>

Last night we decided to get closer to Springfield to not have a super
long last day driving so we went up and stayed at Buck Creek State Park
in Springfield. There is a mid sized lake there and the place is very
popular with the locals and also hard to get a spot. We wanted to stay
there on the way out but couldn't. Plenty of spots open after the
holiday and we found the place OK.

OK trip, but to be honest, I doubt I'll be going back to Ohio. I much
rather want to go west. Anywhoo, that's about it.

sticks
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From Newsgroup: rec.outdoors.rv-travel

sticks wrote:

We got back from the 10 day trip to Ohio Monday afternoon.-a No big
problems this trip, fortunately.-a We did have a couple small
electrical switch issues appear and I already took it in to get them fixed.-a The road through Indiana (I-70) was all under construction and
was ugly driving.-a The view did manage over 14 MPG pulling the TOAD,
and I was pleased with that.

The ride out was not that bad having to go 450 miles to get to
Springfield Ohio.-a This trip began as a way to get my 86 year old
mother to her sisters for a visit together.-a After dropping her off,
we stayed the night at a place called Tomorrow's Stars.

<https://tomorrowsstarsrvresort.com/>

The place gets some nasty reviews, but to be honest we were just
staying the night and I found it OK.-a Hearing all the stories about Springfield and illegals in the news, we didn't want to Walmart it, so
this place worked just fine.-a Some of the reviews spoke of bad oily
water, but I had plenty and didn't tap in, so I don't really know.
Filled up once we got to the State Park.

Next day we headed off to Hocking Hills State Park Campground.-a This
is the most popular place in Ohio, so we were lucky to get in, and had
to move sites once to get our 5 days in down there.-a Very clean and
though they said spotty wifi, we had 5G in there.-a I put up the
Starlink anyway and it worked great.-a The only thing I didn't like was
the damn fire rings.-a They were small rings, and up off the ground so
to see the flames yo either had to chock it full of wood, or sit right
up on it. I found them pretty annoying and they have them in all the
Ohio State Parks.

<https://i.postimg.cc/rskBGv83/Fire-Ring.jpg>

Looks like a peculiar way to make a fire ring.

The hiking in the area is very good, with well used trails of all difficulties.-a Being after labor day, it was not very crowded anywhere
so we had good times hiking.-a The entire area is gentle rolling hills
and the rich are buying up every piece of land you could see an
putting rental houses on them.-a Some are just huge, all look
expensive.-a Kind of sad really.-a We did drive one day and took the
entire Triple Nickel, the OH-555.-a I had read about it in my Harley magazine, and it was a crazy drive.-a To be honest, it would wear the
hell out of you on a motorcycle with all the clutch pulling and
shifting you'd have to do.-a Lots of blind hill curves, and places to
stop were few and far in between.-a I was also a little surprised at
the rednecks in the area.-a When I think of Ohio, you kind of thing
middle class Midwestern folks.-a But the south eastern part of the
state is actually in the Appalachian range and the 555 had none of the
rich folks we saw in Hocking Hills, and was very poor looking with
many, many boarded up and abandoned places.

We left this area and went east to the Shawnee State Park Turkey Creek campground.-a Same type of setup as the last place, but we did manage
to get a space that was pretty separated from other people.-a Tucked
nicely in the woods.

<https://postimg.cc/gallery/CfpWW7X>

This place had no cell service at all, and being stuck under all the
trees we did not get very good Starlink with all the obstructions.
Enough to read webpages once they loaded, and I was able to download off-line maps for our hikes and I was good with that. The Shawnee area
is much like the Shawnee Natl. Forest we have in southern Illinois.
Much more rugged, with higher hills than around Hocking Hills, and
that's probably why fewer people go there.-a Beautiful area, but much poorer.

We did have a rough hike that was about my limit in the area.-a Called
the Day Hike, 7.4 miles and 1000 feet of elevation ascent, this one
was tough.-a It was all in the woods, and with few people doing this
trail you go through spider webs all day, have to cross over or go
around fallen trees, and keeping on trail was difficult at times for
the first 60% of the hike.-a Once you finally get to the top, there are
no clearings or viewpoints to see the incredible scenery below.-a If
they would do that more people might do this hike.-a For us it was hoe (85*), buggy, hard to follow, and just one tough hike.-a My knee was
toast after finishing this one.

<https://postimg.cc/gallery/kmXvQWk>

Last night we decided to get closer to Springfield to not have a super
long last day driving so we went up and stayed at Buck Creek State
Park in Springfield.-a There is a mid sized lake there and the place is
very popular with the locals and also hard to get a spot.-a We wanted
to stay there on the way out but couldn't.-a Plenty of spots open after
the holiday and we found the place OK.

OK trip, but to be honest, I doubt I'll be going back to Ohio.-a I much rather want to go west.-a Anywhoo, that's about it.

sticks

--
bill
Theory don't mean squat if it don't work.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: rec.outdoors.rv-travel

On Sat, 20 Sep 2025 11:23:39 -0500,
sticks <wolverine01@charter.net> wrote:

We got back from the 10 day trip to Ohio Monday afternoon. No
big problems this trip, fortunately.

Good deal, no hail!

I've seen that type of fire ring too, and don't care for it one
bit.

As I've said here before, my max tolerated daily towing distances
are much shorter--probably in the 200-300 mile range.

We've stayed in eastern Ohio a couple of times en route to Maine,
and the Cambridge area has the nice rolling hills you described in
the hocking hills state park area. Much farther east and it
starts getting a lot more rugged.

Thanks for the report, it' really great to get a feel for the
goods and bads of various areas. Like you I will be aiming for
westward ho trips for the most part.
--
Ted Heise <theise@panix.com> Gretna, NE, USA
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