Begin Adventure...July 6th...Destination: Maumee Bay State Park

(Bill's perspective...)
Day 1
8am was the departure goal. We left at 1130. Didn’t matter though because we had nowhere to be by any particular time. So we took our time getting the rest of the stuff done that we needed to do, said our prayers, and off we went. Wow, is the trailer heavier than on our practice trips. I was actually a little worried by how different it felt but once on the road, we got used to each other again and with the exception of the first tank’s gas mileage, all turned out well. The boys were amazing. They just laid down and slept for the majority of the way in the back “seat” of the truck. We removed the 70 part of the 70/30 split rear seat so they’d have more room. Seems to have made them content.

We opted to stay on 68 and go out to 79 instead of getting right on the PA turnpike. That’s a horrible piece of road that should be avoided…and we did just that. We got on 76 in between the PA turnpike and the OH turnpike. Going through with the trailer was no big deal. Little more expensive than the car but not horrendous. Eventually, our gas mileage got better as we got out of Western MD and WV and into Ohio. Almost 10 mpg. Yay. Actually, the truck did great even in the mountains. It just takes a lot of gas to get that performance. But we knew that going in. I can’t wait to get to the real mountains.

The service plazas on the Ohio Turnpike are really nice. They are clearly marked and even have RV parking with electric available. We didn’t go inside because we had to make miles due to our delayed start but I’m sure the inside was nice too. We just got gas, went potty and got a move on. Maumee Bay State Park is really nice and it’s right on the southern tip of Lake Erie. The campground is extremely nice and large and very easy to maneuver big rigs around in including backing into spaces. Most are separated by about a 5 foot hedge at a minimum but many are actually surrounded by trees and the spaces are very far apart. There is a nice flat grassy area at each space and the space for the camper was so level that we had to make no modifications when we parked it. Nice.