We’re on the road again. This time it’s to West Virginia and Kentucky, to meet up with some camping friends that we’ve camped with nearly every year for over three decades.
We were on the road at just after 8am, having done most of the packing on Thursday. So it was a matter of throwing the last of the stuff in and taking off. I chased the geese off the front lawn for one last time before we left, knowing that we’ll probably return to lots of goose droppings as our lawn is one of the few in our neighborhood that gets any water.
Today promised to be a hot one and it lived up to its promise. Right now, at nearly 8pm, it’s still 89 degrees out and we will probably run the generator all night to keep the air conditioning on. We will use the generator more in one night than we have in all of the five years we’ve had this RV.
There’s a reason we prefer to travel at other times of the year. First of all, it’s high season just about everywhere. Places are full and crowded, reservations have to be made, and you can’t just drop in somewhere and expect to have space to camp. During the “shoulder season”, things are much more relaxed and open. Second, it’s probably hot. It’s much harder to cool an RV than to heat it, and much noisier also if you don’t have shore power. Third, summer in Michigan is the best season of the year. And it can be so short.
So, yeah, we’re probably crazy to go south in the summer. But that’s where we are meeting so that’s what we will do.
We did stop once today (other than for meals). We spent some time in Deb’s favorite grocery store in Shipshewana, Indiana to load up on some supplies and bargains that can be had there.
Speaking of travel preferences, another reason we like to travel without reservations in the off season is that we like to stop at things that catch our eye. We passed the MVP Dairy on the way, would have been interesting to see a very large dairy in operation. I saw a sign for a pinball arcade in Dayton. We’ve been to a few of these around the country. Usually worth an hour or two of Pinball Wizard fun. And the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum in Auburn, Indiana. Looks worth a visit also. Maybe next time.
Sometimes it can take us many hours to go a relatively short distance. That’s how we roll. But this time we’re under a schedule. The only unscheduled evening was this evening and we had a rather difficult time finding a place to stay overnight.
We discovered when we got here that there is a greyhound racing track on this property. The parking space we are backed into overlooks the track. This is one of only two race tracks in the US and both are in West Virginia. Greyhound racing will be outlawed by 2026. We noticed a small group of people in the stands and a few people walking dogs around. As we were looking on, a tractor came out and groomed the track. So there were active races going on right now. We watched one race from the fence by our RV. A loop and a half around the track, chasing a trolley, and it was all over.
Not sure how long this will go on. The lights just came on and more races have been run. The noise of the trolley and the baying of dogs can be heard over the noise of the generator.
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