Northern Indiana from Central MD

[Martsing]

Heading for northern Indiana for a friends wedding this weekend. My wife works a 12 hour shift today and will be home at 8pm so we will be on the road by 9pm. I plan to drive (towing the TT) for about 200 miles and find a place to stop. We will look at a travel plaza stop, truck stop, or a Cracker Barrel somewhere around New Stanton on the PA Turnpike. We will finish it up tomorrow and hope to arrive early/mid afternoon. We will stay at a small RV park in Fremont, IN. Sunday afternoon we will head for an overnight at a KOA in Streetsboro and finish the trip on Monday.

So we have the PA and Ohio Turnpikes (I have EZPASS) and about 500+ miles.

I am open to some suggestions or SPINS (special instructions) from any veteran turnpike travelers.

Marty

[ependydad]

There's really not a whole lot to tell about that stretch. I've driven from Columbia, MD to both northwestern Indiana and north eastern Ohio. Prepare to pay quite a lot for tolls and definitely don't check the "avoid tunnels" box.

Technically you're supposed to have propane OFF for the PA tunnels, but no one checks.

With overnighting at a rest area, will it be cool enough without A/C? Or do you have a generator?

[Martsing]

Originally Posted by ependydad

There's really not a whole lot to tell about that stretch. I've driven from Columbia, MD to both northwestern Indiana and north eastern Ohio. Prepare to pay quite a lot for tolls and definitely don't check the "avoid tunnels" box.

Technically you're supposed to have propane OFF for the PA tunnels, but no one checks.

With overnighting at a rest area, will it be cool enough without A/C? Or do you have a generator?

Thanks. I do have a generator but it will not be making this trip. I have been looking at the overnight temps and I am hoping that it will be cool enough for a few hours.

Thanks for response!

Marty

[dblr]

Pa turnpike only has rest areas, near New Stanton we use Fox Den Acres campground. Ohio turnpike some rest area have rv electric spots for $20 a night

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by Martsing

Thanks. I do have a generator but it will not be making this trip. I have been looking at the overnight temps and I am hoping that it will be cool enough for a few hours.

Thanks for response!

Marty

My problem is- my rig heats up during the day and holds that hot for quite a while. Even with windows open and whatnot, it doesn't cool down well.

Originally Posted by dblr

Pa turnpike only has rest areas, near New Stanton we use Fox Den Acres campground. Ohio turnpike some rest area have rv electric spots for $20 a night

I've stayed at Fox Den Acres before- decent place.

If I recall correctly, I tried parking at the RV spots on the Ohio Turnpike, but they were only about 40' long.

[RetiredAF1955-1981]

At the last Service Area, before Indiana, on the Ohio TP there is a camping area with a dump station right to the right as you enter the service area. I found this very handy on my last trip from Buffalo,NY to Shipshewana In. Also in Shipshewana there is a large flee market that is open only on Tues & Wed that has about 40 full hookup sites at $30.00 a night. The area is Amish and there is a excellent dinner theatre there. For $57.00 you can get a all you can eat family style dinner and see a great show after dinner. We had meatloaf and fried chicken that was excellent.

[MCTroy]

Good luck with your trip. We had some nasty winds in central Ohio this evening so I hope don't run into them. Not sure why you are taking the turn pike unless it is a much short route. I 70 through Ohio and Indiana are open and mostly clear now.

[Martsing]

Stopped in New Stanton after a very uneventful drive. We are in Fox Den CG. Just pull into a pull through and either put money in an envelope or checkin in the morning. $35. Beats any other option we had at 0100!!

[dblr]

Originally Posted by Martsing

Stopped in New Stanton after a very uneventful drive. We are in Fox Den CG. Just pull into a pull through and either put money in an envelope or checkin in the morning. $35. Beats any other option we had at 0100!!

Glad Fox Den worked out for you, we really like it for our stop over nice long pull thru site.

[Martsing]

Well, after the longest trip yet (1200+ miles) I'd like to give a quick run down.

We left Fox Den CG at 0900 on Friday and finished our trip to Fremont Indiana. We stayed at the Fish Lake Resort. Resort is a stretch but they have high hopes for the future. Great owners and very attentive. We left on Sunday at 1400 and coordinated a visit to Streetsboro KOA with some friends who were heading west at the same time. The CG was able to get us into sites right next to each other so we had a GREAT impromptu visit Sunday night. FANTASTIC owners and great customer service. I did a nice review on KOA. Monday we were on the road again by 0900.

We averaged about 65MPH at 10MPG for a total of a little over 1200 miles. EZPASS is definitely the way to go. The Ford EB did fantastic. We had zero issues with tow vehicle, camper, or highways (all toll roads).

To say that my DW and I were happy with our weekend would be an understatement. I did learn that 300 miles is about my limit for a day of travel. We had a GREAT time!

We love it!!!

Marty