Day 40 – (06/11) Columbus, OH (home again)

Weather – It was mostly sunny, temperatures in the mid-80s.

We had a relaxing morning and left the campground at 10am.

Site #56 at Natural Bridge KOA
(very rustic, lots of leveling was needed)

The day was pleasant; the road was good and the hilly (mountainous?) scenery was interesting.  We decided to head for home with intentions of stopping overnight along the way.

Our 372 mile route from Natural Bridge went north on I-81 to I-64, west on I-64 to I-77 at Beckley WV, north on I-77 to US 33 at Ravenswood WV and north on US 33 to Columbus.  We stopped in Beckley to see Tamarack (the WV center for arts and crafts) and have lunch. The products there are beautifully made and worthy of a look even if you don’t buy.

Entering Ohio at Ravenswood

Bridge over Ohio River
(from Ravenswood WV to Pomeroy OH)

Nice greeting!

We were slowed by highway construction at Nelsonville.  Two lanes of US 33 were merged into one and the resulting backed-up traffic crawled through the center of town.

Best laid plans and all that stuff … we arrived at our RV storage lot at 6:45pm.  The "smell of the hay" simply won out over the thought of another night on the road.

Reflections

This trip had a different “feel” than our three previous.  It was earlier in the year (May-Jun vs. Sep-Nov), in more populous areas, and involved more stops to visit friends and relatives.  We got to see places we’ve only heard about and met many nice people.

We’ve now been to the NW-most, SW-most and southern-most points in the continental US.  The NE point must be next.

Summary
6,198 miles driven (13.9 mpg)
4,869 miles towing the trailer
17 states

Preparations - pretty simple
Trailblazer - oil change and filter
Trailer - wash
Trailer - check and lube wheel bearings

Things Fixed – pretty simple
Trailer - replaced a few internal rivets