The Maine and Eastern Seaboard Trip, Just the Facts, Maam!

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Prophetstown State Park
5545 Swisher Road
West Lafayette, IN

We pulled into Prophetstown and were amazed at what a nice park it is. We wound up staying in two different sites during our stay. The first 4 days we were in an electric only site that looked over a huge field. There was plenty of room between sites, and the plentiful grass was neatly mowed and trimmed. The site was a gravel back in but there was a nice size rock patio attached. The electric only sites are in the second loop, and are not as heavily treed as the full hook up sites.  We paid $30 a night for the electric only site.

The last 3 days we moved to a full hook up site.  They are much more private than the electric only sites, as they are surrounded on 3 sides with tall trees and shrubs. While is is good for privacy, the tall trees tend to block the much needed afternoon breezes that help out with the heat and humidity. The full hook up sites were about $10 more a night. Interesting though, when we moved sites it was nice having  full hookups, but our internet service dropped to near zero.  I was able to raise the mast on the WiFi antenna and recapture our lost cell signal.  We are camping, but we still want to be connected!

There is a large field in back of the sites that has hiking and biking trails running through it. We walked and ran on the trails several times. At night it was fun to come out at night after the sun had finally set (after 9 PM) and gaze into the field at the thousands of fire flies hovering just about the marshy grass.

At this site we were at the end of the second loop, and the Verizon air card worked well. I took advantage of the park restrooms/showers. They were top notch, private with closing and locking doors on  the showers, and all the free hot water you could want.  All facilities are handicapped accessible.

This park is highly recommended.

Maumee Bay State Park
1400 State Park Road
Oregon, OH
We rolled in Ohio to see some of Diane's family in the area, and stayed at another state park. This one is in the north west corner of the state,  just northeast of Toledo. This is also a very nice state park.  All sites are electric only, but there is water and a dump station available.  The sites are long, narrow and paved. Unfortunately there are no patio's though to set up your chairs on. There is great space between the sites though. 

This is a full featured state park as well. Besides the usual hiking and biking trails, there is fishing, golf, boat rentals, and  even a full on water park that features water slides, pool and various kid themed soaker attractions.  There is also a lodge with a full restaurant and bar. We ate there one night with family and it was pretty good.

All facilities are handicapped accessible as well. Our Verizon air card worked here, but again I  needed to extend the antenna mast to get a strong reliable signal for the WiFi. The only real drawback was that the sites are only 30 amp electric. Normally that is sufficient, but when the heat kicks in it would be nice to run both AC units. We paid $29 a night.


Geneva State Park
4449 Padanarum Road
Geneva, OH​

After leaving northwest Ohio, we headed to northeast Ohio to see my family. Again we stayed at another state park. This place had some similarities with Maumee Bay, the sites were paved back in's and a lot grass surrounding the pads.

Lots of tall trees required breaking out the portable satellite dish to get Direct TV signal. However, I discovered an app for my Android phone a while back that makes finding the satellites in the sky pretty easy.  It's called ?Satellite AR?. It's pretty easy to use. It has a menu that lists about 30 different satellites. You select the one you want to find, in this case Direct TV. It loads the intended satellite(s) by  showing them on your phones screen.  Tap the one you want, then point the rear camera towards the sky and follow the directional arrow until you see your satellites on the screen. Since you are using the phone's camera, you will see if anything is in the path of the satellite.  If so, just move your position until you can see the satellites with no obstructions.  Using the app I can usually have the portable set up in about 5 minutes. 

This state park is set up in 2 loops. The first loop has just a restroom, but the second loop has restrooms and a shower house.  If you stay in the first loop, it's a bit of a hike to the shower house.  Here once again, the cell signal was pretty bad.  Even raising the mast only allowed weak WiFi signal at best.  It was better in the early morning and late evenings though. The restroom and shower facilities are handicapped accessible. 

There is a beach area not far from the campground and a walking/biking path that goes there. Dogs are allowed on the west end of the beach area. It was pretty popular and busy all during our stay.

We paid $31 a night for the site. All are back in's. There are some sites that are set aside for ?walk in's only? and not reserve-able.  We were here over Father's Day weekend. As expected Friday and Saturday were packed, but on Sunday the place emptied out and stayed that way up til we left on Wednesday.

From here we move on to Pennsylvania to meet up with a buddy of mine I used to work with. He was born and raised there and will show us around a bit.



 

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It sounds like you are making good progress and having some fun to.
We finally got on the road. Tonight we are at the Amana Colonies campground in Amana IA. Large place carved out of a corn field with 450 campsites.
Had a little change of plan and will be going East to Erie for a short visit with family. Going to visit the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library tomorrow then head East. Next stop is Hickory Hollow Campground not far from Lasalle Illinois. Then on to Johnny Appleseed Campground,Fort Wayne, IN. Then on to Virginia?s Beach west of Erie.
Looking forward to hearing your updates and reviews.
Bill
 
Bill, you'll drive right by me today on your way to LaSalle.  Then I'll pass you EARLY tomorrow morning as we are starting our eastern trip. I'll wave on my way by Hickory Hollow.  You'll see a little bit of road construction on 80 today, but its not too bad. You can avoid a lot of it if you take 280 around the south side of the Quad Cities instead of 80.
 
Sounds like a good trip Bill. It's good to get out on the road and get rolling. 

jagnweiner said:
You'll see a little bit of road construction on 80 today, but its not too bad.

That's one thing we have hit lots of on this trip is TONS of road construction everywhere. Many states much be playing catch up after the winter.
 
Road construction is just a fact of life in the north where they only have a few months to get work done. Hopefully they can fix some of the bridge transitions. Apparently that is a lot harder than it look's.
Bill
 
Allegheny River Campground
Roulette, Pennsylvania 
1737 US-6 W
We were looking for a campground near our friend Mike's place in Couredersport, PA. This was the most fully equipped park near the town. It is about 8 miles west of town along the Allegheny River.  The campground is on the river, and you can fish or tube the river right from the campground property. It is a family owned park, and the owners take a lot of pride in keeping the facilities in good shape.

There is tons of grass in the campground, but the owners mow at least twice a week and it always looks sharp.  The RV pads themselves could use a healthy dose of fresh gravel though. The gravel is a bit sparse, so the grass is taking over most of the parking pads.  There is a dirt/gravel area next to the sites that would be a patio area, but it too needs some more gravel.

Curiously the 50 amp full hook up sites are at the front of the park near the road, and there is 10-12 of them. Most of the rest of the sites are W/E only, and are accessed through a remote control gate that are closer to the river.  Even many of the seasonal's which are close to the river have no sewer access. 

There is a decent size pool that looks to be new up by the 50 amp sites. The restrooms are clean and handicapped accessible. Again I needed to raise the antenna mast to get a usable signal for the WiFi to work well. The campground does offer free WiFi for general surfing and email. We paid $40 a night, which was a bit pricey for the amenities offered.

With all the activities and hanging out with my buddy, we forgot to get pics of the campsite. One interesting note though. When we were on Highway 6 headed for the campground, a pickup truck following me pulled out to pass us.  As he came back in our lane he was moving pretty fast, like 60+ mph.  As I am watching him pull back in front of me, a black bear about 200 pounds darted from the opposite side of the street running full speed.  It cut directly across our path, in front of the speeding pick up, which didn't slow down a bit.  The bear made it to the side of the two lane road, ducking under the guard rail with the truck bumper inches from it's rear end. I guess if you live surrounded by animals, the stray streaking bear is not too unusual. 

Cooperstown KOA
565 Ostrander Road
Richfield Spring, NY 13439​

We picked another KOA for our visit to Cooperstown. This particular KOA is under new ownership and the new owners are trying hard to make some improvements.  There is a ways to go though, the sites are pretty un-level both side to side and back to front. They are also in need of new gravel to cover the dirt.  There is no dedicated pet walk area, but there are large fields adjoining the park that I saw others walking their pets in. It's not RV park property, but may belong to a nearby farmer.  The gravel on the interior roads is a bit better, but not all of them have been finished. We paid $50 a night, which included the typical KOA discount.

The park has handicapped accessible restrooms, and offers free Wifi. However our Verizon air card worked well without having to raise the antenna mast. We did get an end site, #60 that gave us quite a bit of room on our patio side.

They do try to have activities for the kids though, like a tractor ride, and a bounce house for the little ones.  On weekends an Amish woman comes into the office with fresh baked bread and pastries for sale.  This probably is one of the best locations for visiting Cooperstown and the Baseball Hall of Fame (HOF). As expected, when the new ?inductees? are added to the HOF in July, the park is sold out.

This park is only about 8 miles from Cooperstown, and there is a lot more to see and do there than just the HOF. It is a very interesting little town with a variety of shops, restaurants, and attractions. All though many are themed with various forms of Baseball content, it is still an interesting town to explore.  We of course also toured the HOF, which was a bit pricey.  Adult admission was $23 each, but a hand stamp allowed egress in and out of the hall all day long.  We probably spent a few hours looking at all of the exhibits, from baseballs humble beginning to current day players and everything in between. And we are just baseball fans, I am sure the hardcore fans or fanatics could spend hours. I did have to buy a new baseball hat for my favorite team, go Angels!! 
 

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Thanks for the pics Marty, especially of Cooperstown.  That's a bucket list item for me if we can ever get that far east.  Probably not till retirement.  Appears we are crosstown rivals, Go Dodgers!

Steve
 
Well I made it to the Chautauqua Lake KOA in western NY. After this we head west. Hope you have a great 4th and remember our military and all first responders.
Bill
 
Steve N Dee said:
Appears we are crosstown rivals, Go Dodgers!

Actually I am a Dodger lover too. The boys in blue, and the boys in red! 

WILDEBILL308 said:
Hope you have a great 4th and remember our military and all first responders.
Bill

Thanks Bill, you too. Be safe out there on the roads this 4th of July weekend.  We are planted in Massachusetts for the long holiday weekend.  The weather is beautiful right now!
 
Where in Massachusetts? We are staying put till after the 4th then start west.Can't complain about the weather here as the hi was 72 nice breeze.
I was reading your wife's blog and Thought you mite find it amusing that we spent some time in Ashtabula. They have done a good job renovating Bridge street. I thought the lift bridge was a design I don't think I have ever seen before. By the way Grindhouse Gourmet Burgers is a good place to eat.
Down in Conneaut at the harbor try Breakwall BBQ.
It was fun exploring the area. I have a sister in Erie so we spent some time there to. 
Bill
 
jagnweiner said:
Bill, you'll drive right by me today on your way to LaSalle.  Then I'll pass you EARLY tomorrow morning as we are starting our eastern trip. I'll wave on my way by Hickory Hollow.  You'll see a little bit of road construction on 80 today, but its not too bad. You can avoid a lot of it if you take 280 around the south side of the Quad Cities instead of 80.
Thanks for the heads up, took 280 and didn't have any problems.
Bill
 
One thing to see is the USS Constitution better known as "old ironsides".
http://www.thefreedomtrail.org/freedom-trail/uss-constitution.shtml
Some place else is The Old South Meeting House.
http://www.osmh.org/
and the Freedom Trail.
http://www.thefreedomtrail.org/
Downtown Boston is a National Walking Park. If you go to the park service office next to The Old South Meeting House you may be able to get a free touer. When you face the meeting house the parkservice office is in the alley to your left.
Have fun
Bill
 

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