Buck Creek SP

This was another three state day, with one of the states winning soundly in the “Least Favorite” category. After leaving Illinois, we hit the border of Indiana. We’d heard jokes that Indiana’s state flower is the orange traffic cone, and now we know why that is funny/not funny.

The construction itself might not have been so bad if the condition of the roads not under construction had not been so obscenely awful. Going through Indianapolis, I’m frankly shocked we did not blow a tire, or even lose a wheel. There are huge chunks of concrete missing from the road at regular intervals. It was especially bad around areas where traffic was being rerouted due to frequent major highway closures. In some of the wider gaps, it was obvious someone had been paid to lay material that was supposed to help the situation. In fact, the globs of gap filler either created bone jarring bumps, enormous pot holes hardly any better than the missing concrete, or a fun combination of the two. The only thing that could have made Indiana more fun was driving that mess in a rainstorm.

Oh that’s right, we did drive that in a rainstorm. And while I can’t blame the weather on Indiana (I do though), I will note that if you are going to put up concrete barriers in construction zones, thus forcing cars to drive in the shoulder, you might want to first improve the shoulder, at least to the point where it is on the same general plane as the rest of the road.

We really did not like Indiana. Looking back at my blog post from three years ago, it appears I didn’t like it much then either. On the plus side, the rage created by this obvious undervaluing of essential infrastructure kept me alert through most of the 377 miles covered.

This was me as we crossed out of Indiana and into Ohio.

Ohio really rose to the occasion in offsetting the frustrating road conditions. When we got to the state park, we were greeted with a lush and manicured entry road that took us around a lake to the campground office. The people at Buck Creek were very friendly and even though there were lots of campers already, they had many hookups sites still available. And bonus – we didn’t even need to unhitch because the site was so level.

As Richard was making dinner, I watched the fireflies come out. There are no such things in California, so this was a magical experience for both of us. After dinner, we walked in the dark down a short path to the lake. All the while, the fireflies twinkled in the bushes and trees as though the whole place had been wired with holiday lights. Standing there on the beach, under the stars, surrounded by bioluminescence, we could just make out a little show of fireworks being set off by someone across the lake.

Nice job Ohio. Way to redeem the day.

Total miles: 377.6, 17.4, 7 hours 22 min. Electric site, bathrooms with showers, LTE for both of us. Walking trail to beach.