I can’t believe that it’s been four months since my last entry! I had intentions of updating much more frequently, and still hope to do so on a mostly weekly basis, but we’ve just been so wrapped up in life that I keep finding others things to do. Here’s what we’ve been up to since mid-May when I last updated:
We wrapped up a two seek stay at Mounds State Park, near Anderson Indiana, on May 18. We really like this state park. The weather was terrific, there weren’t very many campers there for most of our stay. Tom’s commute to work on Indy’s east side was not bad unless there was an accident on I-69.
On May 18th, we moved to Lieber State Recreation Area, just south of I-70, near Cloverdale Indiana, for the few days before Memorial Day. This campground is larger, and much more heavily wooded than Mounds. Our site, # 53, is our favorite site in the part- on a quiet more secluded loop. Severe weather, including hail storms, threatened but skirted around us – we were lucky!
We spent Memorial Day weekend at Starve Hollow State Recreation Area. This area is popular with fishermen and campers alike. On a previous trip last fall, we spotted a bald eagle, located her nest, and watched her off and on most of the weekend. This time, we did not spot her.
The last few days in May were spent at KOA, Greenfield (Indy East) it’s a nice KOA, with a mix of shady and sunny sites, both back-in and pull-thru. They had a pool, playground, laundry, Wi-Fi (reception was best in the store/office) and was right next door to Mt Comfort RV, which has a nice parts/accessories store. Compared to the state park nightly rates, KOA is pricey but the park was nice and facilities were clean. We’re glad we have the KOA membership which saves us 10% on our stays.
In June we were campground hosts at McCormick’s Creek State Park, near Spencer Indiana. This commute was longer for Tom.
Duties as host included greeting and assisting campers with rules and park information; keeping restrooms stocked with supplies; cleaning trash and fire pits after campers depart. Sundays were busy days. A benefit: as we cleaned up after campers we often found unburned, and partially burned, wood that we could take to our campsite. On Sunday afternoons, we had quite a woodpile at our site! A negative: too many campers are disrespectful in that they don’t pick up trash, and they try to burn trash in their campfires. I can’t count the number of fire rings that had partially burned trashed, trash that wouldn’t burn, or countless cigarette butts littered around the site.
McCormick’s Creek is Indiana oldest state park. It is heavily wooded with many trails winding through woods and along the creek. There are waterfalls and caves to explore. They have a large pool, an active nature center, horseback riding. The park is very near where my son and his family live. We saw our three granddaughters several times. I was even able to volunteer at Allison’s Girl Scout day camp that was held one week in the park.
We did not have a full hook-up site as host. We had electric only. We were across the road from the restroom/shower house and a water spigot. We filled our fresh water tank when we arrived. We tried to limit our indoor water use as much as possible, hauling what we needed as needed from across the road. We do most of our cooking and dishwashing outside anyway so that wasn’t too hard. We tried to use the campground restrooms and showers when possible to save our holding tank capacity. At the end of the month, we still had a little fresh water, and capacity (not much!) in our holding tanks.
Our friends, Greg and Linda Heuer visited us on 6/23, with their Silver Otter. It was a great evening of visiting and catching up.
July kept us very busy – lots of time with family and friends
From 7/1 – 7/3, we stayed at S & H Campground in Mt Comfort, east of Indianapolis. It’s not far from the Greenfield KOA. It is a large park, with pool, lots of planned activities. There were a lot of seasonal campers. It was OK for a few days – it had a bit of a worn feel; restrooms were not very well kept.
On July 3rd we headed to Robertsville State Park about an hour Southwest of St. Louis. It is one of our all-time favorite campgrounds. It is very small, only about 30 campsites. It is close to Augusta Missouri, one of the oldest recognized wine growing regions in the United States. We visited a couple of our favorite wineries, Augusta Winery, checked out a new one, Nobleis. By the way, one of Missouri’s principal grape varieties, Norton, produces a very dry red wine. Many people do not care for the Norton wine – we’ve tried many and believe that Augusta makes the very best in the state!
My folks visited and spent the night Saturday night. On Sunday, my mom came back to Indiana to spend a week with us. On the way through Indy on our way to Mounds State Park, Silver’Rita had a flat tire – not just one but two! The first one occurred on the east side of Indy- Tom was going to try to change the tire, but his socket adapter broke as he was trying to loosen the lug nuts. We waited about three hours for the roadside assistance to arrive – it was dark when help arrived and we got the spare on. Unfortunately, the spare blew out before we reached Anderson! We limped into Mounds State Park about 11:30, backed into our site and called it a night! Monday morning I drove very slowly across town to Modern Trailer Sales to get TWO new tires – good to go!
As soon as Mom’s visit was over, we hosted my niece Elizabeth from California. She’s 11 and this was her first trip alone and first extended camping trip. She stayed a week and aside from concerns about some of the bugs she encountered, thoroughly enjoyed the weeklong RV experience.
The following week we were back at Lieber for a few nights. Greg and Linda Heuer were back for another overnight visit on their way out west.
The last weekend of July was the Grandkids Rally with the Central Indiana WBCCI group. It was held at Turkey Run State Park. Granddaughters Allison and Ava spent the 4 days with us- we visited the Exotic Feline Rescue Center, enjoyed lots of campfire time, crafts and games with other kids at the rally.
By the end of July we were very thankful for all of the quality family visits, but were just a little anxious for some “alone” time. In August, we are once again campground hosts, this time at Prophetstown State Park, near West Lafayette Indiana. It is Indiana’s newest state park. Host duties here are different than at McCormick’s Creek. We don’t have to clean fire rings; we greet/assist arriving campers, inform of park and local activities, make sure restrooms are stocked, pick up litter, and sell firewood. Selling firewood keeps us close to our campsite most of the time. We are finding it relaxing and enjoyable. Tom’s commute is lengthy however, probably the longest one of the season. His days are long-I’m sure he’s looking forward to next May when his working days will be over!
Long Trailer, Long Trails 
What a great summary of an active summer! We sure enjoyed the time we had together. We will look for more opportunities this Fall, and the great fun we will have at the Canopener in January 2015, warm Florida. We’re headed West again on October 11th, ending up at Big Bend Natl. Park in Texas. Email me when you know where you’ll be that week. Perhaps we can “hook up” for a bottle of Norton from Virginia.