Shawshank Redemption (Pittsburgh & Central OH Trip, Day 3)

We leave the Berkshire Lake Campground, north of Columbus, at about 8am and head north on I-71 to Bellville, just south of Mansfield, where there is a beautiful bike trail. 

At the parking lot, we meet a biker finishing his ride who tells us to go south and back to experience the most scenic part of the trail. He also tells us the best route to Malabar Farm where we want to have lunch, and about the Shawshank Trail.  The movie Shawshank Redemption was filmed around here and now there is a self-guided tour of the sites, including the prison (the former Mansfield State Reformatory) and the road and tree where “Red” found the money Andy left him. 

We ride about 10 miles along a shady trail through farm country and at the turn back point, stop at an Amish farmer’s produce stand and buy tomatoes and banana peppers that fit into our packs. When we return to the RV, on the windshield is a plastic bag holding a Mansfield area map, flyers on the Shawshank Trail and Malabar farms, and hand-written directions from our friend on the bike! 

We have a fabulous lunch of farm fresh food prepared in country French style at Malabar Farms Restaurant, out on the porch. I love this area with its rolling hills, fields of corn and gardens of lilies and vegetables. We are home by mid-afternoon.

Relaxed and Rushed (Pittsburgh & Central OH Trip, Day 2)

After Mike takes a long run, we “break camp”– just pull the electrical plug – and head to Black-Hand Gorge Nature Preserve just east of Newark, which we read on a biking website has a 4.2 mile bike trail through a stunning gorge.  We eat lunch at the trailhead, sharing a picnic table with a woman and her 10-year-old daughter who bike this trail often. Because the website warned about rough pavement we decide to walk instead of bike. It is a hot day, but the shaded trail follows the Licking River, which cut the gorge.  A huge outcropping of black rock forms the “Black Hand.”  At the turnaround point a group of young guys set out to tube the river. Faced with walking back the 4-plus miles in the heat with little water left, and seeing that the pavement isn’t that bad, I wish we had ridden our bikes. But we enjoy the view from the Quarry Rim Trail and make it back.

Mike goes into the camper to get his soap so we can wash poison ivy off our legs, but he quickly comes back out, saying we have to go back to Salt Fork.  He hung his wet running clothes on the picnic table at the campsite and then put his toiletry bag there, too, so he wouldn’t forget them. We left it all. It is 3:00pm, the drive back to Salt Fork is 80 miles, and we have dinner plans in Columbus for 6:00om. While Mike drives, I call Salt Fork and the woman at the office kindly offers to go see if the things are still at the campsite.  When I call back 20 minutes later, she says she is holding it all for us at the office. We grab the stuff, get our friends to change the reservation to 6:30pm, and fly to Columbus.

We make it to “M”, one of Columbus’s finest restaurants, just in time to wash our faces and throw “dress-up” clothes over our hot, sweaty bodies.  The valet lets us park the RV ourselves on the circle in front. As Mike gives him the keys, he jokes that the valet could take a nap in the RV while we eat dinner. 

Salt Fork State Park (Pittsburgh & Central OH Trip, Day 1)

We leave home at 9:30am in our RV, heading to Pittsburgh to have lunch with an old friend and visit a cousin who has been ill.  From there we loop back into Ohio on Rt. 70 and camp at Salt Fork State Park, Ohio’s largest state park, set in rolling woodlands and meadows bordering Salt Fork Reservoir. The campground is huge and well maintained, with excellent bathroom facilities. We camp next to a group of nurses from Akron, out for a long weekend of camping with their families. Pop-up campers and tents and kids on bikes are everywhere. This is old-fashioned family camping, with few RVs. It is a quiet night. 

Homeward Bound (Grand Forks ND Trip, Day 6)

After an early morning appointment to look at window shades for RVs, we head toward Cleveland.  I drive while Mike catches up on e-mails and makes phone calls.  We stop in Toledo to see Mike’s 96-year-old uncle who just moved into assisted living. We have lunch with a cousin and his wife.  Then, we push on, arriving back at the office in Willoughby around 4:00pm.

This trip was a lot of driving, but we made some good business contacts, caught up with friends and family, and discovered more of this big, wonderful country.

Whistling Gophers (Grand Forks ND Trip, Day 5)

This is a heavy driving day. I drive the first leg, while Mike works on his computer and makes phone calls. We enjoy Sirius Radio news, political and music stations. For lunch, we stop at a travel plaza and get iced tea and cookies to supplement our sandwiches in the RV.

We keep on to Elkhart, Indiana, where we have a beer with a young salesman from the company that is molding some plastic parts for Advanced RV’s motor homes. He told us that he understands the appeal of designing and manufacturing motor homes; as a kid, he loved making forts and designing spots for all his favorite things. Who doesn’t love making forts? He also told us about a friend of his in RV sales. After a recent RV show, he asked the guy, “Did you sell any RVs? He said, ‘No, just a bunch of whistling gophers. They ask What does this go-for? When you tell them, they just whistle.’”

After the beer, Mike and I stay on to have a light dinner. We camp at the Elkhart Campground, a burned-out flat grassland that’s nothing much to speak of. But, it is five minutes from our 7:15am appointment the next morning. It’s still 100 degree this evening, so we make a quick walk around the campground to see all the RVs before retreating to our motor home with the air conditioner blasting.

Mississippi Headwaters (Grand Forks ND Trip, Day 4)

We start the day with a yoga class led by our friend at the local fitness club, before breakfast at the downtown artisan bakery, Dakota Harvest Bakers. We decide to take Route 2 East across Minnesota to go see the headwaters of the Mississippi at Lake Itasca State Park. 

The park has a welcoming stone visitor center, with a wooded path down to the lake where a tumbling, clear 15-foot-wide brook flows out of the lake to create a small stream flowing North, before it turns South building to become the great Mississippi.  We take our turn with a bunch of kids, walking across a log at the headwaters. 

Then, we drive the 17-mile Wilderness Drive and Bike Route around the park, stopping to examine a giant 300+ year old white pine, 112’ tall and 178” in circumference. Next time we stop here, we’ll bike the route instead of driving it.

Continuing on Route 2 East across Minnesota, we descend toward Duluth, enjoying stunning views of the blue waters of Duluth Harbor and Lake Superior. From there, we take Route 53 South to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and then I-94 for about 30 miles to the KOA at Hixton. This is a peaceful campground with large pines and beautiful gardens and landscaping.  In the bathroom, there are vases of fresh daisies and Black-Eyed Susan. At our site’s picnic table, we eat salad and the leftovers from last night, and work on our computers, connected by Wi-Fi, until almost dark.

Mixing Business and Pleasure (Grand Forks ND Trip, Day 3)

In the camp restroom this morning, I chat with a woman who is traveling with her husband in their motor home. They are going to Alaska this summer, but have to be back home to Canada (across the lake from Sandusky, Ohio) in August for the tomato harvest; the husband hauls tomatoes for a living.

We push on to Moorhead, Minnesota, where Mike meets with customers, and then to Crookston, Minnesota where we stop for sandwiches in a city park. While Mike meets with more customers, I hang out in the motor home, catching up on e-mails and my journal. It’s 90 degrees out, but there’s a breeze and I am comfortable with the camper windows down.

Late in the afternoon, we meet friends in Grand Forks, North Dakota at their new home, built on a lot where the former house was destroyed in the Red River flood of 1997. Their new house faces a dike about 50 feet high, with a running path and the river on the other side. We go out to dinner with them in downtown Grand Forks and settle in for the night at nearby Grand Forks Campground.