Day 1 - Columbus to Oregonia

We started the journey today.  There was a lot of collecting, loading and unloading and reloading going on.  We got on the road a little after 11.

We spent the winter squeezed between these big guys.
Let's get out'a here! 

We're loaded and ready to go.

The 80 mile route was simple ... I-270S to I-71S, I-71S to exit 36, east on Wilmington Road to Olive Branch Campground.  We're between Dayton and Cincinnati, about 30 miles northeast of Cincinnati.  

The weather was beautiful.  It was partly sunny, with no wind and a high of 77 degrees.

Entrance to Olive Branch Campground

Site #40

Campground office

So, why pick a private campground when we're supposed to be visiting state campgrounds? We needed a full-service site to de-winterize the trailer.  Very few Ohio state campgrounds have full-service sites and most are reserved for camp hosts.

We got set up, flushed the water lines, reset valve positions, did some maintenance and then went exploring.

We drove to Lebanon to check out The Golden Lamb Restaurant menu, then had lunch across the street at The Village Ice Cream Parlor.  We may try The Golden Lamb later.

Caesar Creek State Park Campground was our first stop.  It seemed like we almost couldn't get there from Lebanon.  We did ... after passing the Caesar Creek Visitor Center, Caesar Creek Dam, Caesar Creek Lake, Wellman Meadow Area, Pioneer Village, the Nature Center and then crossing I-71 twice.  Our observations are posted separately.

We got back to the trailer at 8:15pm.