Our trip was GREAT! Thank you all for the tips and recommendations.
LONG version below.
We stayed at Singing Hills RV Park. Simple, close spots, extremely clean and calm, VERY nice people- every one we met was friendly and relaxed.
The owners are WONDERFUL! I had a vehicle problem and needed a special tool, which he told me to hold on a minute and returned with just the right thing ๐ I tried to buy him dinner, but he wouldn't accept.
Interesting folks. If you get a chance to chat with them, they have a very interesting and impressive background. They really love having their campground and it shows! We'd go back there in a heartbeat!
Horseback riding about 10 mins from the campground.
Thanks, Rav for that great recommendation ๐ Places like this make us think hard about becoming GoodSam members again...
We took several tours of Mammoth Cave. My favorite was "Domes and Dripstones" with lots of steps and some narrow passages. Very "tour friendly" with no crawling or mud, though. It has lots of formations, Frozen Niagra (whose tour was fully booked and unavailable), huge holes down and up, and very relaxed.
An earlier tour by lantern the previous night was interesting, but run more like a forced march than a tour. The main guide was very friendly and interesting. The other fellow seemed irritated to be working the last tour of the night. No problems, but the difference between the tours was more than subtle. Both interesting, but the D&D was better, IMHO.
Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas was a very nice place to stay as well. We had a great spot facing the woods, which worked out great for us. Again, we met some nice folks walking their dogs who stopped and struck up a conversation.
But be prepared, if you want a Walmart, it is in Nashville, Arkansas, about a 2hr round trip from the park. Also the closest NAPA (friendly local folks), LOL.
It is H-O-T out there digging for diamonds. We have some screened gravel to go through, but haven't found any yet.
Went about an hour or so north to Wegner Crystal (Quartz) Mine. Fantastic place to go. Easy to find crystals, friendly and knowledgeable folks when you return and look at your "treasures" LOL.
We then went to Oklahoma and south to Texas, later back up through Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, WV and back to PA. Going there, we went south from Ohio through Kentucky and Tennessee into Arkansas.
We liked the return route better and found Casey, Illinois. Home of the "Largest" things. Worth the 10 minute side trip ๐
We overnighted at Boomland RV Park. Very simple, cheap, walking distance to the restaurant and pizza place, store, fireworks store. Bathrooms were...a very low standard, but $12 a night and we had our own facilities. Not the best place if you need a shower, though ๐ It had full hookups, but we only connected the electricity for the A/C, never even disconnected the camper.
A little more rocking with 6 people in the camper with no landing gear down and slides out, but no problems. Made for a really easy breakfast and then early start back on the road. The breakfast at their restaurant..."Cold and Old" would be a fair statement.
Cafeteria style and not cheap, but charming place. Bacon, sausage, eggs, all c-o-l-d. But the coffee was Hot! ...and NO DISHES in the camper ๐ Definitely convenient and the food was edible. Okay for one night.
Overall a nice stopover with easy access to meals and an interesting store with about 100 different kinds of hot sauces, lots and lots of souvenir things, snacks, honey, homemade jams, etc.
Our final stop was at "Tomorrow's Stars" They took us for an overnight at the last minute, met us at the office, had a FHU pull through ready, and were very polite. BUSIEST RV Park we've been to date.
It was late so we didn't get to try the pool and other facilities, but they looked nice. Must've been 100 RV's, both long and short term it seemed, and the guys on the golf cart...they are park security. If you're stopped at an intersection and giving them right of way so you can turn into that road, they are waiting and watching you if you haven't spoken yet to make sure you are supposed to be there.
Makes for a "Mexican Standoff Moment" LOL! They might have been motioning or something, but they had lights on the front and I had just driven quite a distance so I couldn't see them. Again, no problems and nice fellows, just thought you'd all appreciate the visual ๐
It was the LOUDEST THUNDERSTORM we've been in while camping. Actually set off my full vehicle alarm, which has never happened before. You know the impact alarm...yeah, no wonder it also took out the electricity in the park! Glad it was 74F overnight instead of the 85F-95F of the earlier places. We were fine with fans and no A/C.
...though I was awakened by some panicked teenagers when the power went out and they weren't sure what to do. They 'claim' they were concerned about the fridge with the power being out, but I suspect it was more about the AT&T Mobley was on the AC line. I accused them of panicking: "The Internet is..down! The world might end!..Facebook is Un-available...what do we do?!?!" It was fun for me ๐
Power was back on at some point and topped off the batteries. We stopped various places during our travels and extended the living room/kitchen slide. Not sure yet how much battery capacity it uses or how much we have yet, so watching that carefully.
The other really, really good choice we made was going with the more expensive and higher speed rated tires for the camper. It was nice to travel at 70-80mph when we could, without worrying about overheating the tires :C
