STW1 Hop 5
216 miles via I-480 (south of Cleveland), OH 176, I-90, OH 2, I-280 (east of Toledo), I-75, I-275 (west of Detroit) and I-96. Cumulative tow miles: 1003. Truck miles: 303. Cumulative truck miles: 1576.
This was a relatively easy hop, aided by flat, mostly divided highway. Door-to-door travel time was just under 4 hours, which is an average of over 50 mph. Pretty good. Even the roads near Cleveland, Toledo and Detroit were relatively free-flowing. There was one accident west of Detroit that delayed us for about 10 minutes but otherwise it was uneventful. And the day was beautiful – mid-80s and sunny.
The swimming area
What positive things can I say about Woodside Lake Park in Streetsboro OH, our home for two nights? Two things come to mind: the owner was a peach and the swimming pond/lake was great. Kids had a wonderful time in the pond and it was one of the few campground swimming venues that we have seen that had a lifeguard. They seem to provide a variety of other kids activities as well. We were there for “Halloween in August” which featured trick-or-treating and hayrides.
Halloween hayride
Now the bad. The roads in the campground – and the road approaching the campground – were atrocious. I worried that the rig would shake itself apart just getting into and out of the site. The park had a lot of seasonal residents and many of the rigs were very old and unsightly. Strangely, very few seemed to be occupied, even on the weekend. There was no cable and no over-the-air reception so we spent two days watching Downton Abbey and movies on DVD. We didn’t need the restrooms, which was fortunate because in our area of the campground there were only outhouses – a first in our travels. Worst of all was the water, which was arguably the worst we have seen anywhere. It was only marginally drinkable. After our first cups of coffee we used bottled water. Even the toilets got a green stain from this “fresh” water. Yuck. We won’t be back.
But staying in Streetsboro gave us another state on our travel map – our 33rd.
Outhouse
#33 – Ohio