Day 4 New Stanton, PA

Nothing really to blog about today.  We are at the Fox Den Campground in New Stanton, PA...decent...very nice guy running it.  Great WiFi. 

We left Little Farm RV in Rising Sun, IN about 9:20 and got here at 4:00 p.m.  Just stopping for diesel and bathroom break.  (I LOVE having my bathroom right behind me!)  We went north around Cincinnati and I 71 towards Columbus.....the worst road we've ever been on.  I can't believe everything is still attached to the walls ...haven't opened the fridge yet...it may all fall on the floor.  From Columbus, we took I70 .  West Virginia and Pennsylvania roads are a bit better.  Very pretty countryside.  Traffic has been fairly heavy, but no congestion.  Just LOTS of big trucks and unfortunately, we use truck  stops often for gas stops (easy in and easy out) .  These truckers have an annoying habit of filling up their tanks and then pulling up just far enough for the next person to fill up, but not far enough to get by them .  So we had to back up between two other truckers getting gas and get out. 

The only pictures I've taken are of the State border signs...So far, we've gone through Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. 

Tomorrow we leave for Black Bear Campground in Florida, NY for three nights.  We will be watching the ballgame Saturday night, visiting NYC on Sunday and then just resting up and looking around the area on Monday...getting off the road for a bit. 

I am including a couple of videos from the Creation Museum that I wasn't able to upload last night...Just more proof of how fun it was. The sound isn't really good ( better with my original video), but you get the idea...the dinosaur is really roaring...with a half eaten animal beneath his feet...

Day 3 Creation Museum

Tug w/10 barges

Today ended better than it started….in the morning we will be leaving Little Farm RV Resort never to return again….lol.  As I mentioned, no one was in the office when we got here Wednesday night so we picked a spot.  There were 8 empty sites altogether on the river side of the park with 15-20 other empty sites along the drive.  We chose 164, sorta in the middle of the 8.  When we stopped to pay this morning for two nights, she informed us that site 164 was already reserved for tonight….we’d have to move.  She put us in 166.  I politely asked her if she couldn’t relocate the people coming in to another site and she said no, they were with others.  Ronnie then requested another site further up the road (with no trees…satellite, you know) She put us in 152…So…we went back (already dressed for the Museum visit) and broke camp as they say and moved up 6 sites.  So, tonight when we are back, there’s someone in site 166 (the one she originally moved us to) but no one in site 164—our original site.  We’ll see….but I think she was just being ornery.  It is a beautiful view of the river with barges going up and down it all day and all night, so I won’t complain too much.  Enough of that.

 

The Creation Museum

 

What can I say?  It was awesome, wonderful, really cool, great, extraordinary should do it.  I highly recommend a visit.  It took you through the Seven ‘C”s in God’s Eternal Plan….Creation, Corruption, Castastrophe, Confusion, Christ, Cross, Consummation.  The Museum is on two levels.  There are also many side “venues” with different short movies and musical performances (at least for today’s events) .  Some of the venues are extra $$, but we took advantage of the freebies.  We spent all day in the museum, but there is a huge botanical garden on the grounds, petting zoo, camel rides, ….much to do and see. 

 



Adam and Eve with the Serpent in the Garden of Eden

The graphics in the museum are really, really good.  The characters are so lifelike..they look right at you while they talk or roar, whatever the case may be. The theme throughout, of course, was salvation through Jesus.  But a lot was also directed at the Creationism versus Evolutionism.  Dinosaurs were prominent with the explanations of how they are included with the Creationism view.  They aren’t the pre-historic creatures that are so popular….they were on the ark and lived with humans after the Flood.  The fossils that have been found and labeled millions of years old…..found in the sediment left from the flood….not more than 6000 years old.  Very interesting.  And so easy to believe.  There are lots of replicas of many dinosaurs whose bones have been found.  Kids would love it.  Lots of interaction for them.  I pressed a button on a moniter in front of “Noah” for a question of how all the animals were gathered up and put on the ark and he looked up and said, “Oh, you want to know…..”  and he proceeded to explain to me that God brought the animals to the ark, they didn’t go get them.  “It was hard enough”, he said,”to get them through the door.”

I have videos that I can't seem to get posted....not much of a signal here.  So, I will try again tomorrow night to post them.  They are pretty cool.

 

One of the most interesting things I saw on display in the exhibits was a scroll of the Torah that was confiscated from Saddam Hussein during the Iraq War.  It was the entire story of Noah.

 

As we were leaving, Ken Ham, the Australian who built the Museum (first in Australia then here) happened by and signed autographs and we had our picture taken with him.  He’s going to be building an exact replica of the Ark near the site of the Museum, using the same techniques and methods that Noah and his sons used.  They are starting on it next year.  You can read about it at ArkEncounter.com.   

 

 Noah’s Café is a great place to eat..reasonable prices..and an outdoor patio overlooking the pond/gardens.  At the end of the day, we could text them and they would text us back with a coupon for a free drink.

 

This was great.  I encourage everyone to consider visiting it in the future.  And plan to spend the entire day.

 

We leave tomorrow towards the East.  I think our destination is somewhere in Pennsylvania. 

 

 



I 64 Indiana

Ok…not a good day.  At all.  Started off with rain, which wouldn’t be so bad, but we were trying to get things unhooked, etc.  Ronnie got pretty wet.  It was about 10 a.m. before we got on the road.  I 64 East to Louisville was a good interstate…at least the Illinois part.  Great road, in fact.  Indiana was not so good, but okay.  Pretty countryside. 

 

Now comes the stress which lasted for most of the afternoon.  We chose to go off the interstate and follow a Scenic Byway along the Ohio River.  Would lead right to our destination.  And I thought our GPS had the route on it.  But it ended up taking us along another scenic route (not along the river, but through the center of the state).  Okay, not really a problem until the rain, thunderstorms came through and the road became a corkscrew of narrow country roads up and down hills.  It was very stressful (and we’ve pulled this RV in some pretty tight situations and up through the Rocky Mountains).  The heavy rain made the limbs, already hanging over the road, dangerously low (visions of replacing the roof again)  Finally found another road to meander on to get to a decent highway.  Still raining.  Got to Rising Sun, Indiana and the GPS took us down to the center of the town to a mobile home park and said “you have arrived at your destination”….NOT.  Finally found the RV Park…no one was in the office.  They had instructions for sites to take for late arrivals for YESTERDAY……We just took a spot and hope no one throws us out before morning.  That is the simplified version of this afternoon.

 

Now, we got this new GPS this summer.  Only used it once when we went to Branson, so this is really the first test.  It’s a Rand McNalley…made especially for Rvers.  Until he had earned his trust, I kept the atlas in my lap.  He has a decent voice and DOES NOT RECALCULATE!!  When we decide we know best, he nicely tries to get us to do a U-turn, but quietly gives up after 2 or 3 tries.  Then he realizes that he doesn’t know everything and accepts our way.  However, just as we entered Louisville KY and there were 5 Interstates to choose from, he freezes.  Just sits there…nothing.  Thank goodness, I had the paper map in my lap and we knew where we were going.  I stuck a ballpoint pen into his Reset and he jumped into action.  Then, when we ended up in the mobile home park trying to reach an RV park…..ummmm…he’s on borrowed time.    We do have the little Nuvi with us just in case, but she’s limited and she does RECALCULATE.  Except for those two times, it functioned perfectly and we “think” we like him.  But the Atlas stays in my lap. 

 

Just a few pictures today…but will have some tomorrow.  We are backed up to the Ohio River and there are barges going up and down it…makes for a nice Kodak moment…but it was raining when we got here and didn’t take pictures.

 

The Courtyard, Rising Sun, IN

Rising Sun Indiana is the cutest, quaintest town.  I’m sure there’s lots of history and will try to look into it tomorrow.  We went into town to find something to eat and ran upon the Courtyard Inn right on the banks of the river.  It was an old house/inn built in 1827 and has been turned into a restaurant/inn.  After asking a few questions about it, our waitress brought us a scrapbook with pictures and proceeded to give us a little background on this HAUNTED house.  In 2008, the Indiana Paranormal Society did a study there and commented, “there is definitely something going on here.”  Room 12 in the upstairs Inn had the most activity, when noises and voices were recorded.  Our waitress said she’s seen a little girl dressed in white while she was in the restaurant working. And has heard voices in the upstairs.   Made chills up my spine!    We just ate…have no intention of spending the night there. 

 

Tomorrow we go to the Creation Museum….pictures tomorrow night.

 

After months of anticipation and preparation, we have FINALLY left for our vacation.  Destination:  Nova Scotia.  But, who knows if we’ll really get that far.  We plan to enjoy the journey no matter where we end up.  We’ve got our bank loan for the diesel we will be burning through for these next six weeks and are ready!  LOL.

 

It’s been a nice, leisurely day.  We left around 9ish and with one fleeting thought of what have I forgotten, decided it didn’t matter; there was no more room.  Closet and fridge can hold no more.  So, I’m sure Walmart will be in my future.

 

We did mostly two-laners up through Northeast Arkansas on the Rock ‘N Roll Highway. In the 1950’s, clubs and joints along this stretch of highway from Newport to Pocohontas played host to Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Conway Twitty, Sonny Burgess and Billy Lee Riley.  Bob King’s in Swifton still stands. We’ve actually danced to Sonny Burgess-live and in person-great rock ‘n roll music.  Stopped at the Missouri State line for diesel, lunch, and bathroom break—how efficient is that! 

 

About all we  saw through Arkansas was cropdusters and farmers cutting their fields.  Missouri and Illinois was fairly non-eventful.  The roads were good most of the way, with construction only on I-57 and one-lane of traffic, but not too bad…we were moving. 

 

We got to the Gun Creek Rec Area on Rend Lake near Benton, IL around 3:30 for our overnight.  It’s still hot (91*) so that willl give the A/C time to cool down the RV before bedtime.  It’s a beautiful park with very spacious sites. Drove into town to get diesel so we won’t have to find a place tomorrow while the RV is attached.  Then we took a quick, steamy walk around the park.  Dinner was chicken/sausage gumbo over brown rice.  That stuff is good.  Tonight will be w/o satellite because of so many trees, but we do pick up a lot on the antenna; however, we’ll probably do a movie or read….

 

Tomorrow morning we leave via I 64 towards Louisville then north to Rising Sun, Indiana where we plan to stay for a couple of nights and visit the Creation Museum near Cincinnati.  Have heard good things about it and we’re anxious to see it.   

 

Until then…..

The summer is winding down...everything except the temperatures.  It has been the hottest and driest summer that I can recall.  And this summer has been the busiest that I can recall.  It started off on Memorial weekend when Ronnie accidently shot himself in the arm and progressed from there.  Trips, visitors, functions, parties....it was busy!!  So, most of the activities are now over and it's time to concentrate on our vacation to Nova Scotia.  At least, that's where we plan to go....we'll see what lies between here and there.  The truck is getting maintained this week...oil, tires, shocks...; groceries are being bought; menus planned. 

We plan to leave the Tuesday after Labor Day (only 1 month away) and drive north to the Cincinnati area.  There we plan to visit the Creation Museum.