Traveling through Ohio was telling in itself.  The people in Ohio are very proud of their people and the things they have done to help society. I was all set to tour the Neil Armstrong museum but I was reminded by my last host, Woodpecker, that the Air Force National Museum was in Dayton and I must stop to see that.  Working from a budget, I decided to stop and see if it was worth it.  Driving
up, it definitely was.  Four HUGE hangars connected together, and FREE!  How could I have missed this gem.  After stopping and walking for several hours through out, I realized that this was the main attraction. 

Each hangar was filled with planes from the Wright Bros, yes North Carolina was mentioned on everything about them.  Yes, I was shocked about it too!  However I never did bring up the "First in Flight" thing.  lol  I was really impressed with the overall layout.  They not only had planes from US history but other counties too.  I saw a Japanese Zero from world war 2 and a Mig fighter from the USSR.  Being a big history buff on war history, these were the biggest finds. 

At the back of the museum, in hangar 2 was their newest plane, the actual Memphis Belle, in all her restored glory.  In hangar 4, they had several presidential planes including Air Force One from the Nixon time period where you were able to walk through it from front to back.
There was also the NASA space shuttle simulator that the actual astronauts used to train for their missions.
Now, onward North to see the Neil Armstrong museum.  Walking up to this place, was supposed to look like the moon was perched on top.  And it did.  I over heard someone say that on top of the dome, Neil's footprint was embedded, just like his first step on the moon.  It took you through the history of space flight and not just about Armstrong.  The theater, which was located in the dome, had a 25 min movie playing about his accomplishments and how were were able to get to the moon and back and a tribute to him after his passing in 2012.

Now on to my next camping spot.  When I booked this spot, I didn't realize that their name actually meant where I would actually be.  The Amishville USA campground was smack dab in the middle of the Amish county in Indiana.  I passed no less that 15 horse drawn buggies with families in them returning from church or visiting since it was Sunday.  Every farm and farm house looked very similar. Each one had a huge tall windmill.  Yes, some even had power lines going to them too.  Every buggy I passed, most every time they would wave hello.  The campground itself was attached to a working farm and they even sold Amish goods in the campground store. 

While there, I met this kind woman in her 70's, and proud of it, whom was traveling around the country with just her dog and a camper smaller than mine.  We actually met as I was leaving but I wish we had met the night before.  I stopped and we talked for a good 30 minutes or more.  Very kind.  One to the next stop...

Most people would look at the headline and say, wood or trees of course.   In this case no, I met both, so to speak on this leg of my journey.  I was driving up route 35 in West Virginia and came across Fort Randolph in Point Pleasant, WV.  I decided to give it a shot since I had never heard of it and was ready to walk a bit.  This place looked like it was just put into service yesterday.  It is actually a recreation of the original fort from 1776.

The original fort was burnt to the ground by the local Indians whom roamed the area after it was abandoned by the Army.  Rebuilt again and then once again when it was moved inland several 100 yards to avoid the flood plain.  I was fascinated by the craftsmanship that was used.  I know this is a replica but I was told by one of the caretakers that they tried to recreate it as closely as possible.

After leaving the fort, I got back on the road and was quickly back to reality when the truck/camper and myself decided to take flight!  You know all those signs that say "Dip" and "Bump" you may see along the way?  Well, I saw some but not for this particular one, it dropped and came back up that the front of my truck actually came off the ground.  And that was after I saw it and was slowing down.  Before you start thinking I was speeding, you can go ahead and think again.  I've found that driving 5 mph slower than the posted speeds means that I don't run into slow pokes in front of me and it makes it more enjoyable while driving this big camper rig.

Not what you are thinking.
It just catches people off their guard

Now, where do you think a Woodpecker comes into all this?  It just happens to be the nickname of the nicest man you will ever meet.  He and his wife, HootOwl, live in Chillicothe, OH.  I met/found them through this website/program called Boondockers Welcome.  Oddly enough, I never did ask them where they got their nicknames but it's still fun to come up with your own.  It is fellow RV'ers whom have made it possible to stay in their yards or driveway for the night on your journey in a safe and friendly place.  This was my first experience using the service but I couldn't have met a nicer couple and it just happened they are huge Nascar fans to boot. It was a good evening to relax after a day on the road...

East River Mountain Overlook, Bluefield, West Virginia

After all the planning and preparing, I am finally on the road. What started out as a 3-4 hour beginning, ended up being over 7. Everything went as planned until I made it to my first planned camping spot. The spot was an old Army camp near the New River gorge in West Virginia. It was an unkept area that had spots and grills. What it also had was several men whom looked like some scenes from the movie Deliverance! After 1 guy drove up to me in his truck that looked like Fred Sanford's store in the back to ask me a few questions about my camper, I decided this wasn't the place I wanted to be. I'm sure it would have been ok, well, maybe not.

Trestle bridge New River Gorge, WV

As I was driving back to the main road, I ran across the wonderful old trestle bridge. It was just like some of the bridges I taught about in my engineering classes.  Civil engineering at it's finest.  I have seen several old steel trestle bridges in WV through out, it's like they get the steel locally or something!  haha  Speaking of which, it was sad to see some of the old mines that were closed along the way.  There were memorials outside each one that I could see from the road.  Kind of sad.
After leaving the gorge, I tried to make my way further north, but due to construction, I diverted and found myself at the top of the world, as seen above.  Very beautiful spot to just happen upon.  That's the cool part about this journey, I can stop whenever I want to since I really don't have a set agenda.  Most people that know me, know this isn't usually the case.  Just ask my wife Melanie, our trips to Disney are epically planned years in advance for just about every minute of the day.  This trip is different and I am trying to take myself out of the comfort zone so to speak.

View out my camper back door in Saint Albans, WV

I finally got back on track and drove a couple more hours up the road to find this quaint little free park in Saint Albans, WV.  I knew from previous research that they only had 3 spots that were provided to the public right on the river.  Since it was Friday evening, I didn't expect to get a spot but was pleasantly surprised.  It turned out to be a gem in the rough.  The views were fantastic and being free were priceless.
This day being the first of many turned around in the end.  Next stop?  Stay tuned!

Side trips are the best and spending time with my daughter and wife are the tops.  We decided to take a few days to visit a campground to see if my daughter liked to go camping or not.  Now to me, camping isn't in a camp-resort where there is a store and pool but we had to start somewhere and it was a selling point to the eleven year old.

Yogi in the Smokies campground is a Jellystone Park that is a chain across the US.  Over all, we had a great time.  They had many programs going on for the kids.  Mountain of bubbles, movies, arts and crafts, "Hey, Hey" rides and much more.  This campground was much bigger than anticipated with lots of campers but it wasn't too crowded.  The Raven Fork river ran down the side of the campground and many people were tubing down the river.  We didn't try it this time but it looked fun.

We took a 4 mile hike to a place called Mingo Falls.  Now I have never heard of them before and the walk to them was pretty tame until you started going up the stair trail, straight up!  These falls are mostly hidden but are fascinating.  The water comes down mostly on one side but the rest of the rock face looks like there are thousands of strings/tassels hanging down but is really small water streams.  The photos don't do them any justice but it is worth the hike to see for yourself.

The weather was great, didn't rain until the night before we were leaving and we never had to feel overheated.  The most important part is my daughter has already asked when we can go camping again so this side trip was a total success.

A few weeks ago, I was looking high and low for a new pair of hiking boots.  I tried the local stores but in this small community, there are very few options and if I were to find something I liked, probably wouldn't have it in my size.  I spent a few days looking from store to store, read a few online articles on recommendations and still wasn't having any luck finding something that I could easily try on.

I then jumped on Amazon, whom I know some will say that they take money out of the local economy but in certain circumstances, this is just about the only option.  After looking around, I found this strange logo pop up on some of the pages, Amazon Prime Wardrobe.  Now, I admit that I look on Amazon.com a lot to read reviews and such on things that I am interested in buying.  I also have several "lists" that I keep going from gifts to books that I would like to read as I come across suggestions from other places or tv.
I proceeded to click on the link to Amazon Prime Wardrobe to see what it was all about.  I figured it was something that had been around for awhile and I just had never seen it advertised.  Boy was I mistaken.  Somehow, I had gotten in on it before i launched just 6 days ago and I am here to tell you that you just may want to check it out.
How it works  Amazon Prime Wardrobe makes many items available for you to try before you buy.  You have 7 days to decide and if you want to keep 1 or all the items, it's entirely up to you.  They give you up to 8 items at a time per order and you can only have 1 Wardrobe order out before you can make another selection.  I found this especially easy to use.  I ordered 2 different brands of hiking boots in various sizes, including wide.  After I tried on each pair and got my hands on them for quality checks, I decided on the pair I wanted to keep.  Inside the box, or in my case boxes, were nicely displayed folders with return labels already printed.  The boxes themselves were specially made to be opened and then resealed without any additional tape.  After repacking the remaining items in the special boxes, it was just a easy trip online to let Amazon know which items I was going to keep and then off to the UPS store to drop off the box and I was done.
I found the experience easy and I am surly to use the service many times to come if needed.  I suggest if you are having trouble finding a certain clothing item or pair of shoes and you don't mind waiting a couple of days for it to arrive to give Amazon Prime Wardrobe a try, you won't be disappointed.

Amazon Prime Wardrobe - Click Here
Merrell Moab 2 Mid Hiking Boots
*** The incorporated links are through Amazon's Affiliate program and does not represent a paid endorsement.  I shared because I cared!