To Kentucky

 Today was mostly travel. We did a load of laundry at the park where we were because they had reasonably priced washer and dryer in the showerhouse!

Then we hit the road! Crossed the Ohio River 3 times as the interstate swings into West Virginia, back to Ohio, and then finally into Kentucky. Here's the middle of the three bridges.

We drove right along the Ohio River for part of the way. This was the best picture I could get from the car.

We stopped at a Denny's for lunch. That was a nice break from camp food. We did have dinners at the Trail Fest, and they were good, but this was just a nice stop.

We stopped to replenish supplies at a store, which Bill and Diane did while I drove to make sure we could leave a vehicle at the end point for hiking day 1. It will work fine. The Sheltowee blaze is a turtle, but this is the National Recreation Trail sign.

We arrived at our campground home for the next few days on Cave Run Lake. We have sites right across from each other. Two tents and a trailer. That's us.

OK, it's dark and the skeeters are out. Tomorrow is a day off to reorganize our gear and our brains. Hiking starts Tuesday. It's going to be a brutally hot week, so we're working on a plan to try to hike early in the day.

Gotta go. I'm being chewed!

See Ohio Trail Fest- Saturday

Ohio Trail Fest- Saturday

  Last day of the Trail Fest in Ohio. Started with a hike to two locations of interest within the park. There was also a good place to get a picture of the actual reservoir- Salt Fork Lake.

We walked to a shelf cave called Hosak's Cave that has a little waterfall flowing over the top. Well, it's not TOO small- probably 25 feet high.

The other place is Stone House. This was built in 1840 and belonged to one family until it was sold to the state when the reservoir was built in the 1960s. It's made from blocks of local sandstone.

In the afternoon, I attended a workshop about the American Chestnut that was very interesting. I learned some stuff. Then I got in on the second half of another workshop about land protection.

Next up, the Buckeye Trail recognized those who finished hiking the entire 1440 miles of that trail this year.

And I gave a short presentation about the Long-Distance Hiker Recognition program for the North Country Trail.

Then we finally had dinner! Tacos and stuff. After that was the actual awards program. Organizations such as the NCTA and BTA depend strongly on volunteers and giving them recognition is a big part of keeping that morale up. One thing the BTA does is to give out scholarships. You may remember that I stayed with a family in the Dayton area on my big hike.

Their oldest daughter, Oakley, won one of the scholarships!

It has been a whirlwind of activity. Nearly everyone knows me, and I do nonstop talking, hugging, joking, and answering questions at these events. Great stuff, but exhausting.

Now, I'm going to bed!

Miles walked in 2026: 323.8

See Ohio Trail Fest-Friday

Ohio Trail Fest- Friday

 Started the day with the longest hike that is offered. It was about 7.75 miles total with 5.25 of them being Buckeye/North Country Trail, and the rest a connection to loop back to the cars. It was hilly, muddy, humid and buggy. Perfect! There was a pretty good sized group, but I didn't get any pictures that show how many.

We took a snack break at one point where there were fewer bugs. The two younger women were our hike leaders. And Juki the pup.

I had a lot of trouble identifying where exactly we were. I didn't realize the BT maps weren't installed on this phone. (They are now.) But I think this is Salt Fork Creek.

One couple that was on the hike were Kim and Bob Rosatti from New York. Bob is the volunteer who has taken over Mary Coffin's role in trying to complete trail through the Adirondacks. Between him and Will Brazill- the NY/VT Regional Trail coordinator that Bill and I met last year things are really coming together.

In the afternoon, I attended one of the workshops on some Ohio history. I didn't know that Salt Fork State Park is the largest SP in Ohio.

Then I had to finish my presentation for tomorrow on the Long-Distance Hiker program. Got that done!

Nice short talk by Mary Mertz the Director of the Ohio State Parks. She really supports the Buckeye and North Country Trails.

After dinner, they showed an award-winning movie called Ohio- Wild at Heart that was really beautiful and worthy of awards.

There was a campfire after that with Bigfoot stories. I skipped that. I'm pretty overwhelmed with people stuff. All good, but I think I'm at my limit for the day. Back in the tent.

Milies walked in 2026: 319.8
NCT miles hiked in 2026: 128

See Arrived at Salt Fork

Arrived at Salt Fork

  I am at the Trail Fest at Salt Fork State Park, Ohio, and all is well. Bill and Bob are in the Lyme Lounge (Bill's camper), Diane has the aqua tent, and I'm the orange one. Arrived in time to get it up before the rain started. Not serious rain... it would be nice if it stayed that way.

I did miss dinner, but they saved me a container. So, I got to eat about a half hour ago. Bill checked me in, but I signed up for the wrong hike, so I hope they let me change that. It doesn't return until 4 pm and I have something else I have to do in the afternoon.

Working backwards on the day... the closer I got the more iffy the weather looked. Here's a storm cloud coming in over the hills we are camping in. The car got a brief but nice bath.

The bulk of the day was spent dealing with this. The picture is after I threw the ruined tire back in the car. So you can see I did not exaggerate about shredded. The wheel was OK. Thank goodness for that.

I will not expound on the day. Bill and Diane got to listen to me rant on the phone quite a bit. Bill made the mistake of calling me at the apex of my irritation. It was not one of Joan's better attitude days. However, I have 4 new matching tires of the right size which are hopefully a step or two above crap (jury is still out on that). And I was able to make it to the Trail Fest yet today. Finally left Toledo area at 3:30 pm.

I have not missed an annual Conference, Celebration, Trail Fest or whatever other name it has gone by since 1995, and I wasn't going to miss this year's because of a stupid tire problem.

And now I am going to stop and go to bed.

See At Mariannes's

At Marianne's

 I think you are just going to get one picture. I am safely at Marianne's for the night, but not without one little adventure.

First of all I left home 4.5 hours later than I wanted to. OK, that's not too bad for me. But it did meant that I wouldn't quite make it to Marianne's before dark.

So, I'm under 10 miles from her place and one of my tires decides to expire. Not just go flat... it shredded. Now, I'm on the side of a 4 lane highway in the dark. I can see the Welcome to Ohio sign from where I am. But... what town should I call for service? And should I choose Michigan or Ohio? Didn't matter. The only numbers Google would give me were 800 numbers that just dispatch someone to wherever.

However, the guy I got spoke Spanglish so bad I couldn't understand him. When I finally figured out what he was saying, they can't take you anywhere unless you know where you want to go. What? I'm on a trip... I have no idea what places are in the area.

I called 911 thinking they might at least give me a couple of local numbers. I explained that there had not been an accident, and there was no health emergency, but I couldn't seem to get assistance. They said they would send someone, but wanted to know the address of where I was. Now, this seems odd to me. Last time I called 911 in a much more rural area, and I tried to tell them where I was, they said they just pulled the coordinates from my phone. So they can't do that in the greater metro Detroit-Toledo area? Weird.

But, it was easy to explain where I was. Southbound on US 23, right at the state line. I could literally see the sign. I offered to give them the coordinates, but they said they'd find me.

OK, let's clarify something. I know how to change a tire. But I wasn't interested in doing so in the dark on the edge of a busy highway. I am aware of way too many people who have died that way.

A huge SUV with flasher-flinger blue and red and white lights pulls up. I couldn't see a thing, but the guy finally comes far enough away that I could tell it was a Sheriff deputy.

Can you believe it!!!! He changed the tire. I had emptied the back of the car and gotten the tire out while I was waiting for them to come. Of course the car is loaded for a month of camping, right. But I succeeded. He said, "We don't usually do this..." Maybe looking like a little old lady was good for something tonight.

With the lights from his vehicle, we could see what we were doing, and the flashers kept traffic away from the edge of the road.

Anyway, I got to Marianne's an hour later than expected, and then we chatted for a while.

I'll deal with the tire in the morning. I hope I didn't ruin the wheel.

See On the Way to the Train