First Day Of SUMMER... Travel Plans?

 Hey Y'all!

So, Summer travel plans? What are they?

https://perchance.org/ai-photo-generator

I think we're pretty decided on (our 2 weeks in TN, then) Ohio, then PA...

However beyond that, we've got nothing solid yet.

But I did a bit of research today, starting with just "western PA things to do" since from Ohio, you come to western PA first. Immediately a reddit post came up for Oil Creek & Titusville Railroad. That looked like something we'd be interested in, and it's in our price range for activities.

After checking that out, I searched things nearby, and came up with quite a bit in just a quick search-

After seeing how much there is to see and do nearby, I started looking for places to camp, these were the most promising-

This option was the closest to my search of Oil City, and one of the cheapest on this app.

The abandoned school looks like Chris' thing, and I'm totally up for a night or 2 out there.

 

Oil Creek Family Campground had a lot of amenities, and activities in the park, for a decent price.

There's also a decent amount of Forest Land, some free, some fee, and various amenities among them.

That's also a solid option.

In my search I also found there are several state parks within an hour or so. Always a good option for the day, or a stay:

Oil Creek (Primitive, Hike-in Camping)

Chapman {May have to visit this one, since it's Amanda's maiden name.}

Cook Forest

Clear Creek

Pymatuning

Maurice K Goddard (No Camping)

So we've pretty much decided where we're going after Ohio, we just don't have dates nailed down quite yet. Early to mid August until ????

In Ohio we'll be visiting family, and hanging around there. Maybe we'll go to a few more parks, have a cookout, just hang out. Plans there are loose, but I grew up there, and we lived there for several years together, so we know of a lot of activities we could do (and it's been awhile since we've done most of them).

After Western PA, either further east, or further up.

Erie seems cool, and it's not far from there to NY.

But the big cities in PA, and the coastal towns have a lot to offer too...

Looking at the map:

I think maybe Oil City-ish, to Erie, north to around Rochester, NY across and down towards Hershey seems like a decent plan...

Do you have any ideas? Any thing we must see? Let us know in the comments below.

Have a great day,

Craftin' Wife

Chris' Typical Daily Routine

 Hey Y'all...

This is a filler blog, I had a space to fill when I was creating the May schedule, and this is what I decided on. I know it won't be everyone's cup of tea, and that's okay.

*Pictures taken from several different places, and over a few days.*

Chris' Day:

Sometime between 7am-9am~ Wake up, go the the bathroom, etc.

In the morning~ Check email, etc, play on phone.

Between 8-9:30am~ Cook breakfast, if we're doing that. Some days we just have fruit or a protein bar.

As early as 9am, as late as10am~ Start whatever activity we're doing for the day. Sometimes that's going somewhere touristy, driving to our next location, working, or just hanging out.

Sometime between 12-2pm~ Lunch, which I usually make, and it's something simple like sandwiches, salads, applesauce or pudding, and maybe some chips. When we eat lunch it's usually on the go.

Around 5pm or so we try to be done with our activity for the day, find or get back to camp and get ready for the next day(s).

(This is moved to between 8 and 9 if we're doing the parking lot thing.)

6pm or so~ Prepare dinner, usually a joint effort, eat, then clean up. Followed by showers, daily chores, etc.

Afterwards- Move things around that need moved. (Soon to not be needed, as we are currently working on removing the old seats, and rebuilding our bed!)

Lastly, he will work on his computer some, watch TV, and get ready for bed.

Not all days look the same, but in general this is a more typical day.

Thanks,

Craftin' Wife

Yeah, Nope: Get UnReady With Me

 Hey Y'all!

I could have had a great blog here, but I forgot. Rather than do it after the fact and act like I remembered, I like to be real.

Get UnReady With Me:

Yesterday would have been perfect for this. We're staying at a campground in Berea, KY, and we've been the only people using the bathhouse. I could have easily taken pictures, or video. I'll still share some pictures I took today, but it's not the same.

Last Night-

First, I picked out my PJs, and got all my shower stuff ready. Definitely needed to wash my hair. (The first time since dyeing it blue!) So I gathered up all the soaps, shampoo, shampoo brush, towel, etc I'd need.

It was a very long walk to the bathhouse {sarcasm}:

Once inside, there are 4 toilets, the first being handicapped, however I can't see a wheelchair user being able to use this without leaving the door open...

And 4 showers, again the first being handicap accessible, and a bit better than the toilets.

The other 3 showers are identical and look like this, the one I used:

From the other end... The bathrooms are a pretty good size.

I had to include this hand dryer...

It's horrible. I never think these do the job, but this one is especially bad. It gets plenty warm, but takes at least 2 cycles to dry. Usually I give up and just walk away wet.

I appreciated the separation of the shower and the little changing area, nothing got wet! Huge plus.

While shampooing, the suds turned blue, no surprise there. I was glad to see that it didn't stain the shower curtain, or my towel. I dried off, got dressed and headed back to the van.

Once inside I combed my hair, I always forget the comb and leave it behind. Then I did my old lady creams, and got in bed.

I played on my phone for awhile, then watched some YouTube and went to sleep.

Who's your favorite YouTube channel? Share in the comments below!

Have a great day,

Craftin' Wife

Photo Share!!

 Hey Y'all!

In this blog, which I admit is behind, I'm going to share some pictures of our recent travels... These probably wont make it into any vlogs, however a few have been shared on TikTok.

Enjoy!

KY really is beautiful too...

The KFC museum really was neat, there will be a video about this in the coming weeks. Neither of us are big on KFC, except those mashed potatoes and gravy, and it wasn't a go-to for either of our families growing up. But it was on the way, and we had never stopped before, so we thought why not? I'm glad we did. It was cool, and we both had fun looking at all the old ads, and other memorabilia.

This was a quick 2 day camp at Warriors' Path to 1) take showers, and 2) go to my doctors appt.

It rained the entire 2 days, and was a bit cooler than it had been earlier in the week, but we still enjoyed some time outdoors, and then we moved on..

The camp store was hard to catch open, as they are low on staff. Eventually we figured out it was open on the half hour every hour for a few minutes. Everyone was super friendly, and because it was raining, and still the off season it wasn't very busy.

Everything was good at the doctor by the way, so clear until July's scan.

Nothing like cold pizza dinner in a Cracker Barrel parking lot.

Shout out to CB. They were the sweetest the next morning, and we were able to dump our trash, use the bathroom, get ice, and some coffee. It probably helped that there was only maybe 2 other overnighters (us, another van, and a man in a older Buick) and that we were up and out of there by 7:15am.

We've already stayed at another CB and it was one that has an RV lot. Quiet, good nights sleep, and PACKED. Everyone was packing up or gone by 7:30am though.

Rest stop signage...

We thought these only existed much farther west. There's a YouTube channel we watch and the guy really loves Whataburger, so we ditched our picnic lunch plan when we came across this.

It was good, and for how crazy busy they were it was pretty clean, and fast. Not anything I'd rave about, but for a fast food burger it was better than most, and priced about the same.

That brings us to where we are currently...

Middle TN. Lebanon to be more exact.

Cedars of Lebanon State Park

There won't be a video on this state park, even though we spent 3+ days, and 2 nights here.

Most of that was just relaxing, and catching up on chores. Like laundry, the state parks are far cheaper than any laundromat.

We did do quite a bit of bird and squirrel watching, and we did see a small snake, we walked a few trails, and then just chilled, and charged all our electronics.

The spots here were huge, and the park and it's history are neat, but so much of it was closed. Either for renovation, or seasonally.

Only one of three campgrounds were open, two of them being under renovation... looked like plumbing and electrical to us. So that left the remaining one pretty busy, however everyone was pretty quiet, and stuck to themselves. Not near as friendly as other places we've stayed.

The Nature Center and any other buildings and programs, as well as the cave were also closed.

However both the Park Office and Camp Store were open daily, all day.

 

We leave here in the morning, with no real plans for camping yet... but we do have a destination and fun stuff planned. Just not sleep, lol.

Have a great day,

Craftin' Wife