Finally! We had made
reservations last year to arrive in Byron, NY on May 1st, but with
all of the little issues that popped up on us, we never left NM until Thursday,
April 30th.
Our first stop was at the AOK RV Park (a fancy name for 13
spots alongside the interstate near Amarillo, Tx). We had stayed here last year on our way home
for just $12.50 and discovered even inflation hits small RV parks! This year the price was $15.00. This “park” is near an airport, active train
tracks and the busy interstate. What
more could you ask for?! I also
discovered that on a small strip of land between the interstate and the park
lived a burro, two llamas and an emu.
And just the first of many coincidences this year, two of
the rv’s parked nearby were our neighbors at the RV park in Tijeras AND the
couple (Carl and Rosa) that pulled in next to us was heading to Hamlin, NY
(where he had grown up). (For those of
you who didn’t know, we lived in Hamlin for over 10 years!)
 |
| That's a look at the whole park! Like I said, nothing fancy but has electric and water and a place to pull over!! |
 |
| The burro and two llamas. I was too slow to get the emu. |
Friday, May 1st:
We got lost following the GPS directions to our next stop, Terra Star RV
Park in Checotah, Oklahoma on Lake Eufaula. (Mike & Chris, you would love it here!) We had gotten off the interstate and were on a
small secondary road where Bruce was (in my opinion) traveling just a tad too
fast considering we didn’t know the area.
We went around a bend, and he yelled "Whoa!" He had almost plowed into a gate that was
cordoning off the road. While he was
hitting the brakes, I was watching many items in the RV grow wings and fly. Not good!
After we quit raising our voices to each other and took a deep breathe,
we discovered that the gate was not locked; a blessing in disguise! Won't have to unhook the car in order to turn around. We opened the gate, drove a bit down the road
to this huge empty parking lot (in the middle of nowhere), turned around, drove
out, closed the gate, and went back to the interstate to start over.
Some of the reviews for this park said that
it wasn’t a “destination park” but merely a place to park for one night. I guess it all depends on your
perspective. It was very peaceful and
the river was pretty. If we had a pole
and a worm, we might have gone fishing.
But we were on a mission!
 |
| The entrance |
 |
| This is not us but very close to where we parked. |
 |
| This is a storm shelter! |
Saturday, May 2nd: We had originally planned to stay in Branson
for one night but realized we should save it for when we had more time. One night would never be enough. We headed up Route 69 to Interstate 44 and
motored on. We were trying to find our “free”
parks but they didn’t seem to be on the route that we had chosen. We made it as far as Lebanon, MO and stayed
at the Forest Manor Motel & RV Park.
We thought the AOK park in TX was our low, but I think Forest Manor now
ranks first! But, it was cheap, and we
only needed it for one night. It
appeared that we had one neighbor – Joe- who came over to help supervise the
hooking up part. He was a soft spoken
man of color missing his front teeth who had been a truck driver for years,
recently divorced (in her favor) and was impressed with our rig. Dinner that night was one of my great
concoctions - left-over scrambled eggs with chicken and chop suey
vegetables. 'Course a margarita (for me)
made it taste even better! We
discussed our route for the next day and the fact that we should try and make
reservations, but Bruce likes to "wing it."
 |
| Our view - the back of the motel! |
 |
| We were parked in front of this RV; Joe's house is in the background. |
Sunday, May 3rd:
I had been trying to target our drives to be less than 5 hours each day
but Bruce wanted to drive until he really didn’t feel like driving any
further. So we were heading toward St.
Louis and then Terre Haute and then Indianapolis (now we’re getting into 6
hours of driving) and of course, no reservations anywhere. While I’m frantically checking out Passport
America, Good Sam, Coast to Coast on my phone as we're driving trying to find us a spot in a town that’s
ahead of us, I read somewhere that there was RV parking at the state
fairgrounds in the middle of Indianapolis. At this point, it was getting time to stop so
I think we said ,“Let’s give it a try.”
This is what I read: Indiana is known as The Crossroads of America, and this location makes
the Indiana State Fairgrounds an ideal event site for event planners and
visitors. To accommodate our guests, we have an "Official
Hotel" nearby and an on-site RV Campgrounds ideal for those visiting
Indianapolis and the surrounding region.
Conveniently located on the 250-acre
Indiana State Fairgrounds, the RV Campgrounds features spaces that accommodate
full hook-up requests and those needing primitive sites. We offer 170 sites at our campground
facility, with 80 sites with full seasonal hook-ups (water, electricity and
sewer) and 90 sites using electricity or water.
Rates for sites requesting hook-up are $30 per day.
After at least an hour, while driving on streets that we were
not supposed to be on because of our weight, we finally arrived. It was then we realized that someone hired by
the fairgrounds had been a prolific writer who could certainly weave a tale. The RV spots were dismal and neither of us
was very happy about the whole place.
So, we turned around and headed back to the interstate having a few
words about “winging it” and not pulling over soon enough!
We drove back through the city, got on the interstate and drove almost an hour more before we finally found an overpriced Yogi Bear Jellystone Park near
Knightston, IN. (A mere 6 hours and 42 minute drive for the day.) We hooked up, ate hamburgers** for supper,
took showers, and went to bed!
 |
| We were at site 85. It got dark before we could investigate! |
 |
| Took a picture of the moon before going to bed. |
Monday and Tuesday, May 4 & 5th: We decided to give ourselves a break and
spend two nights at the Rocky Fork Ranch in Kimbolton, OH, and we are glad that
we did. On the way, we discovered that
the mud flap on the RV was dragging on the ground, so we took it off and thank
heavens it fit in the car. The road to
the campground was a little rough as well as winding. Again, I thought that we were going a “tad”
fast for the conditions; Bruce and I seem to have different opinions about speed but when I mention it, he always asks me if I want to drive. I bet you can guess the answer! At one point, we had a really tight right
turn which later caused some concern.
We relaxed that evening and the next day we each did some “chores.” I cleaned house and made us a tasty meal of
meat loaf while Bruce discovered that the back right fender was coming off the
car – most likely due to the sharp right turn.
He got that fixed, and we also put the mud flap back on.
After dinner we took a walk around the park. We were parked in the lower part of the park
and we wanted to see the higher part.
Well, that was quite a hike – down a hill, up a huge hill, down the huge
hill, and back up the first hill. My
pictures do not do the hills justice.
**Hamburgers for supper
These Angus hamburgers are frozen, available at Costco, and come with a bun. You pop them in the microwave for about 4 minutes, and they are super-delicious! I've even served them to guests. We love 'em!
Places we stayed on our trip from Albuquerque, NM to Byron, NY:
Terra Starr RV Park, Checotah, OK
Forest Manor CG - no website
Almost Indianna State Fairgrounds,
Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park, Knightstown, IN
Rocky Fork Ranch, Kimbolton, OH
June 14th
8th post
No comments:
Post a Comment