We set off on Road Trip #14. We skipped number 13 for luck purposes. This trip is a circular trip from North Carolina, up through West Virginia, over into Ohio, continuing northwest into Indiana, then north through Michigan and up and across the Upper Peninsula, west into Wisconsin, west into Minnesota, and then we head south through Iowa, and continue south and east through Illinois, Kentucky and back into North Carolina.

Our first stop was Hocking Hills State Park in Ohio. I always knew about this state park from my youth but have never been there before. I am glad that I included this stop in our travels. The trip from North Carolina to Ohio was super easy with very light traffic. It is good to travel on Wednesday’s when pulling an RV.

We stayed in the Hocking Hills State Park Campground, site 61, which was a full hookup. That is a real plus for a state park, full hook ups are king. The sites were a little close, but not too bad.

Hocking Hills SP site 61 patio

Hocking Hills SP Site 61 paved

Hocking Hills is a great place for easy to moderate hiking. There are trails everywhere and they are all very well marked. This park is a great example of what water and glaciers can do to sandstone. No geology degree required to figure out what went on here.

We spent our first day hiking at Old Man’s Cave and Ash Cave. 

HHSP – getting the laces tight

HHSP – First rate Visitor Center

HHSP – Hiking through the gorge

HHSP – onto Old Mans Cave

HHSP – Old Mans Cave sign

HHSP – Upper Falls

HHSP – Upper Falls Selfie

HHSP – quite the trail

HHSP – Old Mans Cave

Ash Cave was a very easy hike and quite scenic. Between Old Man’s Cave and Ash Cave, we completed two of the seven major hiking areas.

HHSP – Ash Cave Sign

HHSP – Ash Cave – very large cave

HHSP – Ash Cave – quite a site

Our second day was spent hiking at Rock House and Conkles Hollow, which was a good thing because the weather was perfect. It was very nice, sunny, and quite warm. It is supposed to turn rainy and cold over the next few days. Rock House was the site of a Hotel that closed in 1910 and was torn down in 1925. Rock House cave is the only truly enclosed cave we have encountered here at Hocking Hills.

HHSP – Rock House sign

HHSP – Rock House cave

HHSP – Rock House cave trail

HHSP – Rock House selfie

Conkles Hollow might not have been as scenic, but it was my favorite hike.

HHSP – Conkles Hollow Sign

HHSP – Conkles Hollow Trail Guide

HHSP – Conkles Hollow – view from Rim Trail

HHSP – Conkles Hollow – Nerak on the go

HHSP – Conkles Hollow Trail Head

HHSP – Conkles Hollow selfie

Our last hike was to Cedar Falls.

HHSP – Large Cedar Falls

HHSP – Small Cedar Falls

Our second stop on this road trip was Prophetstown State Park, located in Lafayette, Indiana. It is a restored grasslands park. Quite flat and perfect for riding bikes on the many miles of paved trails. I assume the area is named for Tecumseh’s brother, who went by “The Prophet”. During the Battle of Tippecanoe, The Prophet led the Native American forces against William Henry Harrison, the future President.

As far as campgrounds go, Prophetstown State Park is first rate. The campsites are thoughtfully laid out and the entire State Park is spotless.

Prophetstown State Park, Indiana

Prophetstown SP – arriving site 119

Prophetstown SP – Site 119

Prophetstown SP – the Farm

Prophetstown SP – miles and miles of bike paths

Our next stop was Indiana Dunes State Park, which is wrapped by Indiana Dunes National Park. It is located on the southern portion of Lake Michigan, with Chicago about 40 miles to the west. We camped in the State Park campground, which was perfectly located to easily hike to all of the sites.  We really hit the trails and did a ton of hiking. The trails in the state park are first rate. We started with “The 3 Dune Challenge”, which is only 1.5 miles but a grueling hike up and over three dunes.  It was vertical hiking in very loose sand. Nerak did great, but I won’t say she loved it.

Indiana Dunes National Park Sign

Indiana Dunes State Park Sign

Indiana Dunes – start of the 3 Dune Challenge

Indiana Dunes – Nerak working the first dune

Indiana Dunes – selfie on the last dune

Indiana Dunes – we made it

For our second day we hiked trail 10, which is about 6 miles up the shore of Lake Michigan with a return leg to the visitor center.  We wrapped up our stay with trail 2 which was an easy hike around a marsh. All our hiking was in the State Park, the only thing we did in the National Park was a site seeing trip to the Bailly Homestead and Chellburg Farm. 

Indiana Dunes Lake Michigan

Indiana Dunes – visit to Bailly Homestead

Indiana Dunes – Chellburg Farm

Indiana Dunes Pavilion in the State Park

Indiana Dunes – Nerak making her way along trail 10

Indiana Dunes – Trail 2 over the marsh

We deviated in our search for the world’s best pizza and tried Val’s “award winning” stromboli’s in Chesterton. The stromboli was very good. We also hit the Port Drive In for burgers and chocolate shakes. As we continue up through Michigan, we are going to be on the lookout for a great Walleye sandwich, and for a Michigan pasty when we visit the Upper Peninsula.

On our travels up through Michigan we paused in Covert MI for two days due to rain, snow, and very high winds. Hard to believe it is May. We pushed on and traveled across the Mackinac Bridge and camped for a couple of days in St. Ignace at the KOA. They call the 5 mile bridge the “Mighty Mac”. It opened in 1957 and is the fifth longest suspension bridge in the world. I am not really a fan, pretty windy up there pulling an RV. 

St Ignace KOA site 28 pull thru

St Ignace KOA Site 28

Mackinac Bridge – Lake Michigan – Lake Huron

From there we took the ferry to Mackinac Island for a day and followed that up with a trip to Sault Ste. Marie.

Mackinac Island Ferry

Mackinac Bridge from ferry

Fort Mackinac – established in the 1780’s – had to be brutally cold in those days

Fort Mackinac overlook

Mackinac Island town

Mackinac Island – Cars are banned

Mackinac Island Post Office

Mackinac Island – Doud’s Market – operating since 1884

Anyone interested in STEM should make a visit to the Soo Locks in Sault Ste. Marie. We have learned quite a bit about the Great Lakes in our RV travels and have now visited all five.

Soo Locks – Sault Ste Marie

Soo Locks – 2 working locks – 3rd lock under construction

Soo Locks – travel times

Soo Locks – MacArthur lock full – construction barge passing

Soo Locks – dropping the water to head to Huron

Soo Locks – 21 foot difference St Marys river – Lake Superior to Lake Huron

Soo Locks – MacArthur Lock gates opening

Soo Locks – freighter entering Poe Lock

Soo Locks – Freighter heading out of Poe Lock

Of course, we are always looking for good pizza, but sometimes Google pushes you in a different direction with their social engineering. We were lured to the West Pier Drive In, located in Sault Ste. Marie, and stumbled on what might be one of the best burger joints in the country.

Sault Ste Marie – West Pier Drive In – Thank You Google

Sault Ste Marie – West Pier Drive In – thats a double – doesn’t get any better

So far it has been rainy and cold in the Upper Peninsula. Rain jackets really work. We will continue west toward Pictured Rocks and hope the weather warms up a bit and stops raining. 

It was an easy drive across the Upper Peninsula, from St Ignace to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. Not much up there in the UP. We were able to reserve a camping spot at Superior Times Resort & Campground in Au Train, MI. It was about 10 miles from Munising and the western gateway to Pictured Rocks. We have been eager to try the pasty, a staple of the UP. It has been around the Upper Peninsula since the mid 1800’s and was considered a traditional miner’s food. 

Superior Times Campground Site 13

Upper Peninsula – Beef Pasty

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore Sign

Pictured Rocks Lakeshore Map – no open visitor center

Pictured Rocks – Munising Falls upper level

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore – selfie

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore – Falls

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore overlook

Pictured Rocks – Trail to Miners Falls

Pictured Rocks – misty Miners Falls

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore – blue water of Lake Superior

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore – Miners Beach

After a few days of exploring Pictured Rocks, we continued west into Wisconsin. We had no real plans for Wisconsin, other than to camp for a couple of days. We landed at the KOA in Hayward, WI. 

From Wisconsin, we continued west into Minnesota. We stayed in Bemidji at the KOA. A really nice little town on Lake Bemidji. With 10,000 lakes in Minnesota, I guess all towns are on a lake of some sort. The weather was really starting to improve. It started to feel like spring. Itasca State Park and the headwaters of the Mississippi are about 40 miles from Bemidji. 

Hayward WI KOA

Bemidji MN KOA

Itasca State Park sign

Itasca State Park Visitor Center

Nerak at the Mississippi Headwaters

Mississippi Headwaters

This is it – the start of the Mississippi

You can across the Mississippi here

From Bemidji we headed due south to our next stop in Jackson, MN. From there, we dropped down into Iowa for a few days at Clear Lake State Park. 

Clear Lake State Park Iowa sign

Clear Lake State Park site 99

Clear Lake State Park empty on a Wednesday in May

From Clear Lake, IA we headed southeast to Amana, Iowa, the home of the Amana Colonies, which are made up of seven villages. Not to be mistaken for the Amish, the Amana colonies were established by Germans in 1855. They first started in Buffalo NY, before settling in Iowa because of the availability of farmland.  The Amana Colonies are one of America’s longest lived communal societies. A really neat place to visit. True craftsman.

Amana RV Park Sign

Amana RV Park site E2

Amana Colonies – great place to visit in Iowa

Nerak Heading into High Amana General Store

One of several restaurants for German food

Millstream Brau Haus Beer Flights and great Pretzel

We tried the dandelion wine at Ackerman Winery

Nerak at the wine tasting – Amana Iowa

Schanz Furniture and Refinishing Shop – South Amana

Amana Meat and Smokeshop – picked up some real German brats

Amana Millstream Brewery

Amana Millstream Brewery Sample

We had a great stop in Amana. Never heard of the Amana Colonies before but a really nice RV stop. On our way to Springfield, we made a brief stop at the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site and made our first visit to a presidential library. We didn’t know much about the 31st president, other than he seems to get the blame for the great depression (of course Wall Street had nothing to do with it), but it is an excellent museum and historical site.

Herbert Hoover National Historic Site

Herbert Hoover – West Branch, Iowa

After our brief stop in West Branch, Iowa, we headed southeast to Springfield IL and the land of Lincoln. Springfield was Lincoln’s home during his adult years where he practiced law and  began his political career. We visited the Lincoln Home and the Lincoln Tomb, both located downtown, and then we stopped for a late lunch out on old Route 66. 

Lincoln Home National Historic Site

Lincoln Home – Springfield IL

Lincoln’s Privy – Springfield IL

Lincoln Tomb outside – Springfield IL

Lincoln Tomb inside – Springfield IL

Lunch stop Springfield IL

From Springfield we continued our swing heading south and east. We stopped for a night in Paducah KY, and then headed across the state and stopped for two days in Corbin KY. From Corbin we explored Cumberland Gap National Historic Site and hiked up to the point where KY, TN, and VA meet. Many pioneers and explorers pushed west through the gap, and of course Daniel Boone was one of the best known. 

Cumberland Gap National Historic Park

Cumberland Gap Overlook Selfie

Cumberland Gap Pinnacle Overlook

Cumberland Gap – way through the mountains

Cumberland Gap – standing in KY VA TN

Cumberland Gap – where KY TN VA meet

After leaving Corbin, we continued heading south and east and eventually wound our way through the mountains and stopped for the weekend at Fort Hamby Army Corp of Engineers campground. Can’t beat the rate at ACOE campgrounds. 

Ram Pulling the Cougar heading back to NC

Breakfast of champions

Army Corp of Eng Ft Hamby site 20

This road trip has been quite an adventure. Total diversity with regards to weather. We experienced high winds, buckets of rain, May snow showers, blazing heat, followed by freezing nights. No matter what you believe regarding global warming, our weather is pretty screwed up in this day and age. For a trip concentrated in the far, far north, we were probably two weeks early on average. When places say “seasonal”, they mean mid to late spring. But we made the best of it and didn’t let the weather or things being “closed” bother us.

For this trip, we stayed off the interstates as much as possible and really loved driving the backroads of OH, IN, MI, WI, MN, IA, IL, and KY. If you don’t get out much, let me tell you there are many, many, many farms out there. It is sad to see the obviously struggling rural, small towns, and crossroads, in America. On occasion, it was nice to see very clean and vibrant towns out in the middle of nowhere. I am guessing a lot of bordered up buildings in old downtowns were caused by the boom in shopping malls, and now, most of the malls are being boarded up.

We ate well and enjoyed the pasty of the Michigan Upper Peninsula, and the best burger I have had so far in my travels from the West Pier Drive In, located in Sault Ste Marie. I wish I would have had a scale to weigh that thing. We had a very good deep dish pizza at the Green Mill, and I really enjoyed the authentic German food in Amana, such as the Jagr Schnitzel. 

I am a little behind on my planning for road trip #15, which will be Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and Southern California.