Legend-ary Cross Country Trip - Day 23 Back in Ohio

 

Odometer Reading: 4563 - 4884

Departed: Marshal, Illinois 9 a.m.

Arrived: Mt. Gilead, Ohio 4:30 p.m.

Overnight: Mt. Gilead State Park Campground

We saw three deer on our way out of the park at Lincoln State Park. I suspect two of them were twins as they were small fawns of the same size.This was our last significant drive of the journey. We were going to be going from Illinois to Ohio. I had decided before we left that I wanted to stop near Dayton, Ohio at a Buc-ee's, a cult-like following gas station.  I absolutely love their brisket sandwiches. It was only an hour or two from our overnight stay in Illinois. When we arrived, we were greeted with lines in the parking lot, at the gas stations, and in the store like it was a free day at Disney World. We honestly didn't even know if we were going to be able to get a parking space. RVs and buses have their own designated parking spaces, but because of the crowds many cars filled those in. Bruce was determined that he was going to get me into Buc-ee’s and parked in a back-to-back space for cars. Did we stick out the front a little bit and the back a little bit? Absolutely! Bruce put the steps down and we put Kenobi in the trailer with the windows down as we usually do when we have a longer stop that he's not allowed in. 

We went in and I was almost instantly overwhelmed with the amount of people in the store. I was hoping to get Kenobi a Buc-ee's dog bandana but the shelf was bare. After using the restroom, I made my way into the men's section of the store to get out of the cowds. Interestingly enough it was the only place in the store that didn't have any people and it was Father's Day. I thought that was curious. I saw Buc-ee, the beaver mascot, as I was walking there and he gave me a sticker for our camper. I thought that was funny. We usually will purchase state magnets for our refrigerator and many stickers for the outside of our camper to display the different campgrounds we've gone to. Buc-ee’s would fit perfectly. I found some high ground within the store and was able to locate Bruce by some miracle. He assumed I was just laying in a corner in a puddle. He wasn't too far off. We grabbed our food and got in line and as we were talking about the incredible amount of people at the store some lady in front of me turned around and said hey just so you know it is not always like this. I was here Monday and there was you know just a few people. We all laughed and said how insane it was and vowed we will never go to a Buc-ee's again at 2:30 p.m. on a Sunday afternoon. 

We were back on the road headed to our last campground of the trip. We have been to many campgrounds in the state of Ohio so I wanted something different. I chose Mount Gilead State Park campground. It wasn't too long before I was regretting my choice. It is a very small campground, but I did not realize how narrow the roads were. Our site was near the camp host at the top of a small little hill. Unbeknownst to us, the rest of the lane was reserved and occupied by a family reunion. It was great to see all of the families together and see the kids playing together. It reminded me of when we would go camping with our extended family when I was growing up. The issue was that the location of our site was a convenient way to get to the restroom. We had kids riding their bikes and adults walking through our site to use the restroom. Bruce was almost taken out by a little girl riding her bike around the corner of our camper. I decided to spread big and pulled out the chairs and put them around the fire ring so that people would realize that the site was occupied. It did little to persuade people to go around. A group of kids came over to meet Kenobi, which is fine. He's a very friendly dog and loved the attention.

We had decided we were going to clean the camper top to bottom because when we get home we never want to clean it.  We are always too tired and fall hard back into life at the house. We took a couple hours and really scrubbed it down, vacuumed and had it ready for storage. It would be ready to go for our next trip.

We'd use the last of our firewood the night before. So instead of sitting around the fire, we decided that we would just go in and watch a movie. It was quieter in the trailer than it was outside. Our mistake was leaving the trailer door open as we were watching a movie. At around 10 p.m.,  a little boy aged six, maybe seven, popped his head into our door screen and said hello. Child where are your parents? Bruce and I said nothing, the little boy popped down. Bruce got up and closed the door. We were astounded at the ownership that this family reunion had taken over the entire camping lane.

Wildlife: deer

Trailer: no issues

Reflection:  This was the only bad experience we had at any of the campgrounds, ironic that it happened in our home state. Bruce talked to the camp host the next day and the topic came up and they too were astounded at the behavior of the large group of people and apologized for our stay. There was no need to apologize, things happened and we were headed home.  It only took us 20 minutes from getting out of bed to getting on the road and as petty as I can be, we were not quiet about it.