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Delaware
to Missouri and Back in 1999
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Day #5 Wednesday 4-21-99 Fort Leonardwood MO. The rain had been heavy most of the night with lightening and thunder but we slept well in spite of the storm. Awoke at 7:30 AM and find that the rain has stopped. We wash up, get dressed and start breakfast. Have some ham, eggs, rye toast and hot tea then take a walk around the park to see what is here and to talk with a few fellow campers. The park is a Good Sam park that sets along Little Piney Creek, has large grassy sites with full hook-ups and picnic tables, clean but older bath houses with hot showers, laundry facilities, a playground, a swimming pool and although they have no fire rings at the sites, they do have some large group fire pits.  By
10:30 AM it is 70° out and we are on the road headed to Fort Leonardwood to
check in and find out what is going on as far as Elaine’s daughter's
graduation is concerned.
Traffic
is slowed down on I-44 this morning as there has been a major truck accident.
A tractor trailer has overturned going around a bend too fast. The speed
limit out here is 70 MPH but you need to slow down on some of the turns. Enter
the base and find the information center on base by using the map that
Kelly (Elaine's daughter) had sent us in the mail. Are told that there
is an afternoon orientation session at 3:00 PM at the theater for all the
guests and then a banquet at the Engineers club at 4:00 PM where you get
to meet with your graduating recruit and have dinner. We drive over to
the theater where we park and have some lunch. As we are having lunch,
the graduating class marches by and Elaine tries to pick out Kelly but
they all look alike in their uniforms. After lunch we drive past the Engineers
club so we'll know where it is then drive down to a small primitive campground
on the base. Turns out that it is just a grassy field along a small stream
where you can park. Not much of a camping area! Head back over to the theater
for the orientation at 3:00 PM and then over to the club at 4:00 PM for
the banquet. The recruits come over at about 4:15 PM and Elaine gets to
see her daughter, Kelly
for the first time. There is lots of hugging and tears of joy among all
the recruits and their families, having not seen each other for 9 to 12
weeks. We go inside and enjoy a good dinner
and some comedy skits put on by the drill sergeants to imitate the recruits
and some put on by the recruits to imitate the drill sergeants. By 6:30
PM we have finished dinner and are able to check Kelly out of her unit
for an overnight pass along with one of her friends whose parents couldn’t
make the graduation. The first place Kelly wants to go is the PX to buy
a few items for her long 26 hour bus ride to Texas tomorrow. They have
not heard any music for 9 weeks now and the first thing she buys is a miniature
battery powered CD player. Elaine has brought her CDs from home and also
her larger electric powered CD player. Both girls want to go to the grocery
store, buy some junk food and sodas then just go back to the campground
and relax. They sit outside at the picnic table all night listening to
CDs and eating junk food. They say the best part of the evening is not
being told by anyone what to do or how to do it. I’ve been through bootcamp
so I know what they are talking about. They have to be back to their unit
by 4:00 AM, so after spending some time with them Elaine and I try to lay
down and grab a few hours sleep before we have to take them back. This
gives them some time alone with each other as they have become close friends
but are going to different bases for their advanced training and there
is a chance they may never see each other again. We can’t really get any
sleep as we're afraid we will doze off and sleep past their 4:00 AM return
time. I can just see Elaine and I waking up at 7:00 AM to find the girls
asleep at the picnic table. The Army does frown upon recruits being AWOL!
Around 2:00 AM we convince the girls to head back to base so we can get
a few hours sleep before the 8:00 AM graduation ceremonies. Heading back
I notice that we are getting low on gas but can't find any stations open
until we get back onto the base, so we stop at the base station. I'm told
that I can’t buy gas there unless I have a military I D card so luckily
one of the girls have their card with them and are able to buy the gas
for us, 19.0 gallons at $1.04. We get the girls back to their barracks
by 3:00 AM then head over to the theater where the graduation is to be
at 8:00 AM today. Climbing into the camper, we go to sleep right there
in the parking lot. |
Day #6 Thursday 4-22-99 Fort Leonardwood MO. to St. Croix IN. Was woke at 7:10 AM by the sound of troops marching outside the camper. We jump out of bed, quickly get washed, dressed, then run into the theater for the graduation ceremonies. Can’t miss the ceremony after all this driving to get here! The graduation goes well and we take plenty of photos of Kelly and her friends as well as her drill instructors.  The
troops march over to their barracks and we follow them so we can see where
they have been spending the last nine weeks.
Take
a few photos in the barracks, then we all head over to the mess hall where
we get to eat lunch with Kelly. Wow, GI food, big treat! Although it really
has improved considerably since I was in 30 years ago. We
load Kelly’s large bag of things that she is not taking with her to Texas
into the camper, then drive over to the area where she will be getting
on the Greyhound bus. She is headed to Texas for 63 weeks of nurses training
and will then serve as an Army nurse for the remainder of her time in the
service. We say good-bye to Kelly, give her a big hug, wish her well in
her training, take one more last photo
of her waiting to get on the bus and then we start our long trip back home.
The odometer reading on the truck is 45,241 or 1437 miles more than when
we left home. It’s 1:30 PM and 74° out as
we get on I-44 east and bump our way down the cement road toward St. Louis.
Pass by a little town of Cuba, now we’re been to Paris, Rome and Cuba on
this trip. Stop at 3:15 PM for a pit stop and a cold drink, walk around
a bit to stretch our legs and then back on the road again. Pick up the
I-270 beltway south around St. Louis which is blacktop and a nice break
from the bumpy cement of I-44. That doesn't last long though as I-270 soon
turns into I-255 which is back to bumpy cement. Driving up the east side
of town, we can see the St. Louis Arch off in the distance. We cross the
Mississippi River and enter Illinois where we get onto I-64 east which
is a fairly smooth road. Not much scenery out here on the interstate as
everything is just flat farmland as far as you can see but we hope to make
some miles today and then spend our time in Virginia and West Virginia
sightseeing. Stop at Mt. Vernon for gas, get 30.2 gallons at $1.13 and
clean a zillion bugs off the windshield. Get a couple of Arizona brand
green teas with ginseng hoping that maybe the caffeine from the tea and
the ginseng just might help to keep us awake although we are doing great
considering we only had 4 hours sleep last night. It is now 6:00 PM and
74 degrees out as we get back onto I-64 east. The road surface keeps alternating
between bumpy cement and smooth blacktop but the traffic is really light
making for nice driving. Cross over the state line into Indiana and made
a stop at a rest area and visitor center. Although nobody is there it is
well stocked with literature and maps and the rest rooms are very clean.
Get off at exit 25B and go 1.5 miles to check out the Weather Rock Campground
but find it to be 100 yards from the interstate and lots of traffic noise
so we pass this one by. It is 7:45 PM as Elaine goes back to the campground
directory and finds two campgrounds in the Hoosier National Forest near
St. Croix about an hour away. Since we’ve entered Indiana the road has
been a smooth blacktop surface and easy driving. At 8:00 PM we start to
get some lightening off in the distance that really lights up the night
sky and gets closer as we drive eastward into the storm. We get off at
exit #79 and drive one and a half miles south on route #37 to the entrance
of the Hoosier National Forest Recreational Area. Nobody is here at 8:45
PM so we drive into the North Face of Lake Cellina campground and pull
into the first level site that we come to. Just get inside the camper when
the rain comes down so we'll settle up in the morning as for camping fees
or whenever someone comes beating on our door during the night. Fix a quick
dinner of sandwiches and hot tea then get ready for bed. It is now 10:00
PM. and being that we only slept 4 hours last night we should sleep really
well tonight. We drove 359 miles of interstate today in about 7 hours. |
Day #7 Friday 4-23-99 St. Croix IN. to Prestonsburg KY. Wake up at 8:00 AM after a great night’s sleep, get our showers, have some fresh fruit and tea for breakfast then take a walk around the campground to check it out. This looks like a very nice clean park with 63 well laid out spacious sites. Some of the tent sites are walk ins which give them more privacy from the road.  The
site
we're on has a nice level gravel driveway, a picnic table, fire pit and
a metal pole to hang a lantern on. It is very quiet in here and has a nice
mix of evergreen and deciduous trees on rolling hills. Fees are $4.50 for
a site without electric and $9.50 with electric for Golden Access or Golden
Age card holders. Sites are normally $9.00 for no electric. Stop to check
out the bath house which has hot showers and run into the couple that is
hosting this park, Alice and Paul. Today is their first full day in here
and they will be here till September and get free full hook-ups plus a
salary. They’ve been fulltiming six and a half years and live in a big
motorhome. We talk with them for quite a while
and they tell us of some of their adventures on the road. They say that
they love fulltiming and would never give it up. There are no phone modem
connections in the park but they can go to the guard’s gate at the park
entrance after hours and hook up to the phone line there. The only site
in the north face area with any hook-ups is the host’s site. The electric
hook-up sites are on the south slope of the park. We pull out of the campground
at 10:30 AM under partly sunny skies. At St. Croix there is a scenic route
#62 that runs alongside the interstate so we decide to take it for awhile
and see how it goes. There is a road just north of here called Wabbit Twax road
on the map. Makes me again wonder where they get some of these names. Pass
by the St. Croix post office that looks to be a 10 x 10 metal shed. My
garden shed at home is bigger than that! Route #62 turns out to be a winding
little 2 lane blacktop road that really gives you a feel for this part of
the country. It's very scenic with flowering trees, rocky formations and a
small stream following the road. They call this route the “Lincoln Heritage
Trail”. Looking out on the interstate from a hilltop we see traffic stopped
completely and backed up for a few miles so maybe we made a wise choice
coming this way. Pass by many little shacks, shanties and what looks to be a
small one man sawmill operations. This is certainly better than driving on
the interstate and there are many places where you can get back onto the
interstate if you so desire, but I don’t know why anyone would want to. In
the little town of Leavenworth there is a place called the Overlook
Restaurant that has a beautiful view from a hilltop above the Ohio River.
Looks like an ideal spot to eat a lunch or dinner and enjoy the view.
Leavenworth looks to be a really nice small town. At 11:00 AM it is up to
78° already. Pass by the Wyandotte Caves State Recreational Area which the
locals say is a real nice area. We follow the Blue River for a ways and pass
by a canoe livery so they must float this stream. Stop to top off the gas
tank at Corydon with 17.9 gallons at 99 cents. Looks like another nice small
town that would be fun to check out if we had more time. The “Lincoln
Heritage Trail” ends at Corydon but the road continues to be rather scenic
beyond that as the land becomes rolling hills dotted with farms rather than
mountainous. Just east of Edwardsville route #62 goes back onto I-64 about
nine miles west of Louisville. We cross over the Ohio River into Kentucky
and take I-64 straight through Louisville hoping traffic will not be bad
around noontime. Lots of tricky lane changes going through town but the
traffic isn’t all that bad. I-64 in Kentucky is alternating between cement
and blacktop and not quite as smooth as it was in Indiana but not that bad.
Pull into a rest stop and welcome center at mile post #29 and find it to be
a well kept area with clean restrooms. The temperature by 1:15 PM has
climbed up to a warm 80 degrees. At Frankfort we run into a traffic backup
due to road construction, but just as we are about to pass the exit we
notice a sign for an I-64 detour. Jump off the exit, drive north on route
#127 for a ways but don’t see any more detour signs then just as we are
about to turn around and fight the traffic on I-64, I notice a small detour
sign. Turn onto #676 east which takes
us to #60 south back to I-64. Pass by Lexington on I-64 at 1:50 PM and turn
our clocks ahead one hour to 2:50 PM as we cross a time zone. Just east of
Lexington I-75 splits off from I-64 and I-64 becomes a nice smooth blacktop
roadway.
Get off of I-64 at exit #98 and head southeast on the Kentucky Mountain
Parkway, a 4 lane divided highway which goes through the Daniel Boone
National Forest and shows to be a scenic route on the map. At milepost #19
the road begins to climb up into the mountains. This road is much more
scenic than either the Bluegrass Parkway or the Western Kentucky Parkway as
we are now in the mountains with many long range views out across the
hillsides. Look for the exit for
Natural Bridge State Park but somehow miss it and have to get off at the
next exit and double back on route #15 and #715 north. This is a very scenic
drive along a winding, twisting mountain road which just goes to prove that
some of our most scenic drives can be found by mistake or maybe they aren’t
mistakes after all but were given to us for a reason. Like I always say, we
are never lost, sometimes we just take alternate routes. Exit #33, route #11
to Slade is where we should have gotten off the Mountain Parkway for Natural
Bridge State Park. As we drive through Slade there are many little shops
with all kinds of things for sale and signs everywhere advertising things to
do. Looks like a typical little tourist trap sort of place but we’ll see. We
pull into an area that says “trails to the bridge” and park in a parking lot
alongside a nice scenic little mountain stream. It is now 4:00 PM and
the temperature is up to 82° as we grab a late lunch consisting of a
sandwich, an apple and a cold drink.
Some
people are leaving as we finish our lunch so we ask them how far is it
to the bridge. They
give us a map of the area with all the trails on it that says the shortest
trail to the bridge is three quarters of a mile each way. We debate over
hiking up to the bridge as it's getting late in the day but decide to go
for it because we can always camp here tonight if it gets too late as there
are two campgrounds in this park. We take trail #1 which is the original
trail up to the bridge and it turns out to be a rather steep climb. We
both have to stop a few times on the way up to catch our breath but use
the excuse that we are stopping for photos instead. Good thing I brought
the camera along! Reach the bottom of the bridge
then climb up a narrow little trail through a rock crevice to the top.
No room here for any wide bodies! |
 The
view from atop the bridge is well worth the hike to the top. We take a
few photos then
just enjoy the view for quite a while. Decide to take trail #2 called The
Balancing Rock Trail back down. This trail has many, many steps but is also
very scenic. The choice to take trail #1 up and trail #2 down worked well as
had we done it the other way around, the steps would have been a real
killer. Either way it is a rough hike and we are tired by the time we reach
the truck. This is a very
scenic park with about 20 miles of hiking trails, a natural bridge, many
rocky cliffs and a mountain stream and is well worth a visit. Now to find a
campground for this evening as it is 6:50 PM. We top off the gas tank with
14 gallons at $1.06 in Slade then get back onto the Mountain Parkway heading
southeast. Elaine finds a campground in Jenny Wiley State Park just outside
the town of Prestonsburg which is 65 miles or just over one hour away. At
mile #43 the parkway goes from a 4 lane divided highway down to a good 2
lane blacktop road but becomes more winding and twisting. |
 The parkway ends at Salyersville so we pick up route #460 east to #114 east
where we see our first sign for Jenny Wiley State Park 23 miles away.
Following the signs to the park, we enter the park on route #302 where we
pass a boat marina with many very large houseboats and get our first view of
Dewey Lake. There are lots of very scenic pull
off picnic areas along the lake shore as route #302 follows the shoreline
for a scenic five mile drive to the Pines Camping Area which turns out
to be not on the lakefront. The utilities are shared in this camping area
which makes for some of them being quite a distance from your camper. Many
of the sites are not very level but the sites are rather large with some
being pull through. We find a fairly level pull through site with water,
electric, picnic table and fire ring for $14. Hook up to the utilities,
fix some dinner then look over the literature on this area which includes
the story of Jenny Wiley for whom the park is named. She was an early white
settler who was captured by the Indians and endured many years of hardships
with the Indians before she was able to escape back to her own people.
Elaine falls asleep as I am reading her the bedtime story of Jenny Wiley
so I turn out the lights at 11:15 PM and go to sleep. We drove 275 miles
today and hiked about three or four miles. |
Day #8 Saturday 4-24-99 Prestonsburg KY. to Sherando, VA. Wake up at 6:00 AM and turn on the heater to take the chill off the camper as it is 50° outside. We get showered, dressed and decide to go out for breakfast this morning. Spend a half hour talking with the campground hosts. They have been fulltiming for 5-6 years now and have been hosting this campground for the last three summers. Their site has full hook-ups including a phone line and they seem like nice friendly people who may possibly let you use their phone line for a quick modem connection. We dump the holding tanks and head down the road, following route #302 north along the shore of Lake Dewey which is a very scenic drive. There are numerous pullovers along the lakeshore available for picnics or just enjoying a view of this beautiful lake. There are many boat ramps that allow access to this 18.5 mile long lake which has 52 miles of shoreline. Take route #302 to #3051 to #3 north and start looking for a place to grab some breakfast as it is now 8:00 AM. This southeast corner of Kentucky has been the most scenic part of the state in my opinion but then I'm partial to the mountains. The roadways are really clean in Kentucky but that may be in part to their “$500 fine for littering” signs that are posted all along the roads. Route #3 is a nice smooth 4 lane blacktop road. We turn onto route #645 south toward Kermit, WV about 10 miles away. The closer we get to the West Virginia state line, the more cars we notice in people’s front yards. I think people in West Virginia use old cars as lawn ornaments. Pass by a small diner called the Country Kitchen that has lots of cars out front and that is always a good sign. These cars have wheels on them and are not up on blocks so I know they are not just lawn ornaments. Turn around and try to find a place to park but there isn’t any room available in their tiny parking lot for the camper so I just drive on hoping to find someplace else real soon. Route #645 turns into #40 east which is a mountainous winding 2 lane road with no shoulders. Pass a small wooden structure that looks to be a shelter for kids to get out of the weather while waiting on the school bus. Inside of it were numerous empty beer bottles stacked along the wall but I guess the kids need something to do while waiting on the school bus. Pass through the small town of Beauty, Kentucky which is anything but beautiful. Lots of run down little shacks on both sides of the road and one mobile home with the big letters “KKK” spray painted on the end of it. Drive through Warfield then cross over a bridge into the town of Kermit, West Virginia. Pick up route #52 south which is a fairly smooth blacktop but winding two lane mountainous road. Get onto route #119 north which is a very scenic 4 lane divided highway ablaze with redbud and dogwood trees. It is 9:30 AM and we are still looking for someplace to eat breakfast so we get off at the Logan exit and drive into town. After taking a scenic tour through the town due to some detours we finally find our way to a Shoney’s restaurant. We order the breakfast bar @ $5.49 along with some hot tea and orange juice. Warning! Don’t ever order the large orange juice. I got a glass that looks to be 16 ounces and tastes like concentrate. I order a glass of water to mix with the juice till it is drinkable which gives me about a quart of OJ. After drinking half of it I still leave a full glass behind. Head back to route #119 north which cuts right through some mountain tops and makes for a scenic drive. At 10:30 AM the temperature is still only 50° but the sun is trying to peek out through the clouds. Pass by a sign for “Big Ugly Creek Road” which is another interesting name. Just past Danville we pick up route #3 east towards the town of Racine. This is a winding scenic little 2 lane road that climbs up a mountain and down the other side through a series of switchbacks. We reach route #94 and head north up over another mountain. Springtime is a great time to travel as all the azalea, wisteria, redbud and dogwoods are in full bloom. |
 Pass
by an interesting house
that is painted two tone redbud and matches the trees in their yard. Follow
route #94 through some small towns till we reach I-64 east. Get on at exit
#89 and get off at exit #85 which is more than enough for us on this b-b-bumpy
cement interstate. We cross over the Kanawha River and pick up scenic route
#60 east. This route comes highly recommended by a camping friend, Carl
from New Jersey.
The
road follows the Kanawha River through numerous small towns including the
town of London where there is a dam and a set of locks for the barges and
boats traveling the river. Many coal barges travel on this river. |
 Now
we have visited Paris, Rome, Cuba and London on this trip and never left
the country. Stop at Glen Ferris where there appears to be a power
generating station and a small but scenic waterfall. Take the opportunity
to grab a cold drink and stretch our legs here at this little park which
has a picnic area and a boat ramp. Leave Kanawha
Falls Park and continue east on route
#60. Pass by the Glen Ferris Inn and restaurant overlooking the falls.
Our next stop is in the town of Gauley Bridge at the visitor center to
pick up some literature on the surrounding area. |
 There
is an old bus that was made into a fishing cabin many years ago and sits
out on a rock in the river. This was done way before the river became a
scenic waterway and they have allowed it to remain there. It is now 1:00
PM, 64 degrees and sunny out. Leaving Gauley Bridge the road climbs up
into the mountains and winds it's way up and down through numerous switchbacks.
Route #60 through this area is called the “The Midland Trail”. Stop off
at Hawk’s Nest State Park and enjoy the view of Hawk’s
Nest Lake in the New River gorge far below.
Stop for 26.8 gallons of fuel at $1.13 and pick up $20.02 worth of groceries. |
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