From Northern Kentucky to Cleveland Ohio Area

 

The drive from Berea Kentucky to the Northern Kentucky RV Park in Crittenden was short 90 drive and uneventful.  Yes, the RV Park is another old KOA...and it would have been peaceful except for the railroad tracks just across the street from our site.

Hey Dad...if you looked on Google Maps you would have seen the railroad tracks on the other side of that fence running along the road to the RV Park..

Yes Indy, "IF" I looked I would have seen them.  Didn't seem to wake YOU up though...

Seems like there are more and more full-time park campers now days.  This park was packed with trailers, a few 5th wheels, and even fewer motorhomes.  The large body of the full-timers was on the other side of the A-frame building, farther away from the trains, of course.  Many had very large propane tanks sitting outside, and some with the bottom draped off to protect from the cold.

We stayed here back in 2016 when we visited the just opened Ark Encounter (click here for that blog posting).

Thought about seeing it again, but wondered just how my knees (especially the right one) would feel after all that walking...it is 2 football fields long and multi-storied...so we decided not to visit this time.

Besides the trains which passed by now and then, and the high price of $45 per night (when you are 'full' all the time, you can get away with charging that price), the thing that I did not like the most was this "Doggy Area" (as they called it on their map) which is just grass on a slope with no fence in which you can let the dog roam.  "Hey...with all that money you are raking in, build a dog fence for this area, will you!"

Our trip from Crittenden to the Cleveland Ohio area was going to a much longer drive than we had between Berea and Crittenden.  We were on the road by 8:30...could have been earlier but I was monitoring the Cincinnati traffic and if we left any earlier, it would be that much harder of a drive.  As it was, it was stop and go as we got close to Cincy, and it was that way until we were well onto I-71 headed to Cleveland...mostly due to construction and ...

...bridge repainting. 

Just before you reach the bridge, you get a pretty good look at the city.

In one spot along the bridge, they had the sides opened up from the draping to protect from wind as they sandblast and repaint the bridge.  Marcia got this picture of the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge built in 1974.  There are four bridges across the Ohio River connecting Kentucky to Ohio right at Cincinnati.  

Both of the major pro teams, football and baseball, are along the river.  Here is a picture of Paul Brown Stadium, home to the Cincinnati Bengals.  

Our next large city to pass through was Columbus Ohio.  It was close to noon, and the traffic was not too bad...but they had major construction going alongside the Interstate and it was not easy to pass through at times.  By this time we had stopped for breakfast at a rest area, stopped for gas at a Flying J, and I had another rest area staked out in our GPS about 30 miles from Columbus.  We stayed at this rest area for about 20 minutes just to rest up and walk Indy, who was happy to do her duty.  We were still 100 miles from our destination near Cleveland, and the white-knuckle driving was taking its toll on me.  We stopped at one more rest area about half-way to Cleveland, and pulled into the Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds right at 3 pm.  

By 4 pm we were totally set up.  They only have 50 amp here, so you have to have the pigtail to convert 50 to 30 amp, which we always carry with us.  There is water and sewer.  Although the sign said to check-in before you set-up, I talked to the guy in charge of the RV area by phone weeks ago and he told me to set-up, then check-in when I was up to it.  They DO NOT take reservations, but he said he has never filled up except at fair time and for some special events.

A little after 4 I drive over to the Fairgrounds Office, where the nicest two ladies, Dorothea and Martha, who handled my registration.  Martha asked when we were leaving, and I looked on my phone to give her the date.  Dorothea holds up her phone, looks just like me flip-phone, and she says, "Kindred Spirits!".  I look and see her flip-phone and I said, "I HATE smart phones...if I want to use a computer, I will use a computer, not a phone!"  She said, "Exactly!"  We both laughed while Martha just looked at us like we were a couple of strange people who did not like smart phones.  Martha told me the price she was asking me to pay and I said, "But it is $175 for a week, $30 per night after that...and we are staying well over a week...are you sure that's enough?"  "I am in charge here, and that is what I am putting down!  Enjoy the wedding and I hope you can see some of the sights of the Cleveland area."   WOW!  (and NO, I am not giving the price, don't want them to get in trouble.)  All I can say is EVEN before she told me how much to pay, these two were as friendly and nice as could be.

I drove around the deserted fairgrounds and took the following pictures...I tried to imagine what they put where...

The fair has been held here since 1895, and held every year except for missing one year due to stock market crash, a few years due to WW2, and, of course, last year due to COVID restrictions. 

Hard to imagine that all of this emptiness turns into ...

I have heard a lot of 'bad stuff' about the carnival people...but you have to hand it to them, they can turn empty grounds that have electricity (and there are electrical outlets all over the place here) into a wonderful fair very quickly.  

During the 'non-fair' time, they try and keep those of us who use the fairgrounds for parking our RVs along the north side of the fairgrounds parallel to University Street.  Glad we came in yesterday because eight or nine more came in today so we got to pick a spot which has plenty of room for Indy to run around in.  And yes, many pictures show the hint of rain...which started about 7:30 tonight in earnest and will last till morning...otherwise we had a few sprinkles now and then today.  Oh, and there are no train tracks, although we hear occasional planes which fly out of the Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, but not directly overhead, and the sound only lasts for up to 10 seconds.