Albuquerque to Binghamton

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Albuquerque to Binghamton

Postby Tom&Shelly » Tue Jul 13, 2021 8:28 am

Finally took the cross-country trip we'd been planning since planning the teardrop! We had our cat with us, so had to make it a fast, straight-through, trip, unfortunately. Someday, we'll come back and see more. Hope the details on the sites, below, will help readers decide on places to camp (or not--though we didn't have a really bad spot the entire trip).

Shelly did most of the driving, but I'd take a shift in the afternoon while she checked the interwebs and called around for a campsite. As we cruised through the north part of Texas, I noticed Oklahoma had a state park in about the right place: Red Rock Canyon, just west of Ok City. After some checking around, it was the one we picked. Had flush toilets, and coin operated showers. Bit higher priced than the ones we found later: $30/night for a 30 Amp spot. (We needed the air conditioning that night, so I'm glad we had shore power.) Beautiful place

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We did find that the air conditioner leaked a little into the utility compartment, although most went down a rubber hose we'd provided. Not sure if it leaked around there, or if that was simply condensation that wasn't collected in the drain pan inside the conditioner.

We made it to just west of St Louis the second night, and stayed at Robertson State Park MO, in the Ozarks. Only $19/night (with a veteran's discount) for a 30 A site; also a must for us as we still wanted the air conditioning. Flush toilets and free showers. Also a beautiful place

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We'd planned 6 hours of driving a day, but made more like 7 to 8 the first two days, but lost it all due to road construction around Indianapolis :x

Ahh, well. As we approached Ohio, on Friday afternoon, we had trouble finding a campsite available. A nice lady with the Ohio state parks suggested Heuston SP, something like 20 miles south of the interstate. We found some roads from Indiana down to there more-or-less in the right direction and so we snuck into Ohio on a road that had a quarter mile jag between the two states. When we got to the place, we found it was a large well mowed grass field

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OK, not so bad, since we got in late (but before dark). We gave a few tear tours here. It was $30/night with a 30 A post, but we found we didn't need air conditioning there. Had flush toilets and free showers. The next morning I discovered a new way to find out where we left hard points in the walls (look carefully)

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I should also mention, the next day we had lunch lake-side at Lake Milton SP in Ohio. Day use is free! Shelly even had the cat out (in a back-pack) and she didn't seem to stressed.

From western Ohio, our original plan was to drive to Cleveland, take I-90 through Erie Pennsylvania, and then jump on I-86 (formerly NY state 17). A route I was very familiar with from my younger days stationed at Wright-Patt AFB and driving home to visit my folks. But that is a ten hour trip, and, with the cat, and camping duties, we didn't want to push it. We looked at Allegany state park in New York, but with fees, etc. it was looking like maybe $40/night! :shock: Instead, I decided a more direct route through some back roads in Pennsylvania were in order. So we spent the night in the Allegheny (note the spelling subtilties!) National Forest near Tionesta PA. We were in the "Overflow" area, which I thought referred to campers, but Shelly says refers to floods along the Allegheny river. Nice site, evidently run by the Army Corps of Engineers

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I was a little worried about following all the rules, but it turns out most of those have to do with constructing buildings on the site (no joke--that's what that thing says! Glad to see the Army bureaucracy is as efficient as the Air Force!) The site also had flush toilets and showers. (Maybe that's the norm in the East?)

The site was $20/night. No power, but we didn't need it at that point. We did run the battery down to 96% by watching a DVD, but after 4 hours of driving the next day, it was back up.

There is a little industry left in the small towns in that part of PA. Factories made machine fasteners and so forth. Mostly though, the National Forest is a haven for hunters and fishermen.

Finally, we arrived at a very exclusive campsite in Upstate NY. It only has one site, and when I was younger, called it the back yard! :D

We followed a brief rain shower into the site in Oklahoma but, other than that, saw no rain until the last day's drive in Pennsylvania and New York. Now that we are here, it's rained more or less constantly. On the other hand, I don't think we could have used the solar panel anywhere east of the Mississippi, judging from the cloud cover.

Tom
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Re: Albuquerque to Binghamton

Postby MtnDon » Tue Jul 13, 2021 9:15 am

That is a long drive.

My wife is from the Binghamton area. Vestal.
Our 6x12 deep vee nose cargo trailer camper conversion... viewtopic.php?f=42&t=58336

We have a small off grid cabin we built ourselves in the NM mountains; small PV solar system; 624 watts PV, Outback CC & inverter/charger ... http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=2335.0
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Re: Albuquerque to Binghamton

Postby M C Toyer » Tue Jul 13, 2021 1:19 pm

Camped at Red Rock Canyon a couple of times, the last about 2 years ago. Since then the management has been assumed by a commercial operation, hence the vastly increased prices. Looks like you chose the same place to camp - the small loop among the cliffs. No electricity at those few sites then but water nearby and central restrooms with pay showers. Was the swimming pool open?
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Re: Albuquerque to Binghamton

Postby Tom&Shelly » Tue Jul 13, 2021 3:49 pm

MtnDon wrote:That is a long drive.

My wife is from the Binghamton area. Vestal.


Our high school rivals! (Union Endicott '80)

Whole place has had a lot of rain this summer and looks green! (Especially compared to NM). I can't believe how big the trees have grown since I left.

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Re: Albuquerque to Binghamton

Postby Tom&Shelly » Tue Jul 13, 2021 3:50 pm

M C Toyer wrote:Camped at Red Rock Canyon a couple of times, the last about 2 years ago. Since then the management has been assumed by a commercial operation, hence the vastly increased prices. Looks like you chose the same place to camp - the small loop among the cliffs. No electricity at those few sites then but water nearby and central restrooms with pay showers. Was the swimming pool open?


I confess I don't know. We didn't see it until our way out the next morning. No one there, but that was probably about 7:30 or so.

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