Ohio to Florida

(PART 1)

DAY 1

   You know the saying, "Bad things happen in threes" that's what happened to us. Stay tune for the story.


     Today, is the start of our Full-time on the road. we woke up at 6:30 am with anticipation on what the day will hold for us. However, the excitement lasted less than ten feet. After packing and ready to start, we got stuck in mud right in front of our site. It was so bad we spun the wheels until we were a good foot or more deep. We tried putting the gravel from the site into to hole, we placed wood and towels under the wheels and nothing worked. I wanted to prove I could get things done even when they did not go as planned  I had to pull an ace out of my hat. I did what any smart man would do to save face in front of his wife ....I called my RV insurance with free road side service. After about one hour they showed up and we were freed from the mud. By the time we got the tow and car hooked up, dumped the tanks and hit the road to meet the parents one last time for our fair-well meal, we were already three hours behind our time table. The up side to the story is we can change the time table to our liking at any time.

     We met my parents at iHop and had our last meal together. After saying our goodbye we final got on the road. With the trusty GPS working we were finally off. After a few hour of jesters the nerves of driving the RV went away and felt normal, with the exception of the wind blowing. The rig would sway left and right on the road and our car that we tow started to sway too, I just let off the gas and regain control. In the past on our road trips with a car, I had a lead foot and passed everyone, now I drive the speed limit and other pass me like I'm standing still. The hill or slopes on the highway is something else I have to get use to. As soon as the upward hill or slopes the rig loses it's torque and I have to press the gas peddle harder just to get up the hill.

     Now, time for the last two bad things. They are not major, but never the less bad. After the sun set I plugged a car light in the power outlet and it blew a fuse. I hooked the GPS back in and I could not receive any power. I searched for the fuse box, but with no light I could not see. I would have to replace the fuse in the morning. Lastly, with the highway roads not having lights we did not see the road hazard until we were right on top of it. A truck must have lost some of it load and I hit it straight on. Soon, cars was driving up to us flashing their lights and pointing to the rear of our rig. I pulled over on the dark highway with flashlight in hand and searched for damages. I found two things. One, there was a wire strap that more than likely secured down what the driver was towing stuck under the car bumper and two, one of our outside storage doors was slightly bent. Probable from hitting whatever was in the road. I can still open, close and lock the door hatch. I will see if  can bend it back and hope not to snap it off in the process.

     We finally called it a day. Around 8:00 pm we pulled into a rest stop and parked next to semi-trucks.

                                                             Sun setting on Day 1 on I-71S.

DAY 2

     We hit the road around 9:00 am, with the sun behind us and open road in front we set off hoping for better luck than the day before.

     First, on our list was to stop by Jungle Jim's. This is an international food market place in a 6 acres
building. If any Country has it, so does Jungle Jim's. We spent about two hours shopping and looking at everything they had. Besides all the food, they have entertainment too. There is a movie theater that tell the story of Jungle Jim's starting as a outside corner market to what it is today. Their restroom are known as the "America's Best Restroom".  It was all over the news and If I find a link I will post it here, along with their homepage. If you are ever in Cincinnati, OH you have to check it out.

home page: http://www.junglejims.com/

Restroom Video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLdJ9yOqSCU (good link as of 04 Oct 12)



     After a long day shopping and stuffing our face with sushi, we had to take a nap before getting back on the road. We processed South to a small place in Kentucky called Hodgenville to visit the National Historical Site of Abraham Lincoln Birthplace. However, we arrive around 8:00 pm about 10 minutes away at a small shopping plaza where we have stopped for the night. I walked into two of the stores that was still open and asked if it would be OK if we spent the night. I was told as long as we are parked away from where the truck deliver in the morning there should be no problem. Two hours have passed and I can hear police siren going off to pull over car speeding on the main road but, no sign of the police knocking on our door... YET!

     Since we will spend the night and sightseeing in Kentucky, I will add it to the states we have visited.

DAY 3

     Woke up with no problems from the police or business. We soon arrived at Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Park. We watched the 15 minute video and when we walked out the theater there was a table with  lincoln logs. I have not built a log cabin since I was a little boy. There was a pile of logs and in a few second I build one. I felt like a kid again. Even though there was not a lot of pieces it still brought back memories of my boyhood. We then walked to the the monument where it housed a replica of the wood cabin house Abraham Lincoln was born in. There was 56 steps leading up to the door that represented Abraham Lincoln age when he was assassinated. The monument was built in 1909 to celebrate Abraham Lincoln 100th birthday. Also, for the National Passport to American's National Parks stamp was released in 2009 to celebrate his 200th birthday.

     After close to two hours, we left and got on the road for our next stop. We arrived at Mammoth Cave National Park. There we took the tour of Frozen Niagara Cave.  I was able to put two stamps in my National Park Stamp book today. The cost was $14 for two with retire Military discount.

With a timezone change where we gained a hour and had two hours before our tour started, so we drove around and soon found the campgrounds. There was no hook-ups at $17 a night. The campground is 1/4 mile from the visitor center and if you need to showers are $2 for 10 minutes. There is also free tank dumping and we will take advantage of that when we leave tomorrow. We'll dump our tanks and refill our travel water before taking off.
   
     When our tour finished, we charged our laptops and cell phone in the welcome center. Then we returned to our RV where we walked the campgrounds to see everyone setting up their tent or pop-up camper. We saw only a few other RV's or trailers. Since there is internet connection, I will try to update this blog and post before we depart tomorrow.  Sorry for the delay!

     We have looked up some ideas on where to go next, so stay tune to this blog and find out what's next!