I have always been a guy who loves to travel. Not just for the sake of going places, but for the adventure of the journey itself. Half of the fun is the trip to and from your destination. I have flown before, and it was a good experience, but I would rather drive. When my girlfriend Danielle decided that she was going to go on vacation with her family, but fly back early because she didn’t want to go for the entire duration, I took the opportunity to offer to come get her and drive her back to Ohio.
Tar Hollow State Park
I took off early from work and got on the road for a couple of hours to my first destination. I stayed the first night at Tar Hollow State Park near Chillicothe, Ohio. It was a nicely kept campground with tons of great spaces. The site I booked was off by itself, with the nearest neighbor over two hundred yards away. There was a little stream about fifteen yards behind my site, which babbled away and I was easily lulled to sleep by it. I scrapped the idea of using the air mattress on this trip, opting for a twin size four inch thick memory foam mattress topper, which I layed out on the floor of the truck bed. This worked out a lot better, as I slept really well with this setup. I also got to try out my new Coleman stove that I had picked up off Facebook marketplace. Brats for dinner and eggs and ham for breakfast and I was back on the road by 8AM the next morning.
Improved setup
Back on the road again with my destination set for Buck’s Pocket State Park in northeast Alabama. I really enjoyed the drive through Kentucky, making notes of all the camping spots south of Louisville and down to Bowling Green for a future trip. Then on through Tennessee and making a short stop to get out and take some pictures at a beautiful pull-off at Weathington Park in Section, AL. The beautiful overlook is of the Tennessee River, which flows into the Guntersville Lake.
Beautiful view from Weathington Park
Buck’s Pocket State Park is absolutely gorgeous and the campground there is immaculately kept up. The weather was perfect for camping, and the camp host let me pick any spot I wanted, as they were all full hook-up in the area I booked. There was a fire ring and also a grill provided, which I happily used to make myself a large ribeye steak for dinner and some macaroni salad I picked up at a grocery store along the way. I enjoyed the evening sitting by the fire and had a great conversation with the camp host, who was originally from Michigan. He was a great guy and we talked about fishing Lake Huron and the Mackinaw Bridge, which I remembered from camping trips with my dad as a child when we would go to the Canadian shore of Lake Huron and fish for perch and northern pike. I could not have picked a better spot to stay, and would highly recommend Buck’s Pocket State Park to anyone traveling through northern Alabama.
Buck’s Pocket State Park is so beautiful!
Perfect dinner for a fat guy who loves to camp
The birds were a very effective alarm clock the next morning, as I awoke just after dawn to a wonderful serenade of song birds. I decided to get up and do a little exploring of the park, and hiked down to the small river near by, that was mostly dry at that time of the year (late July). I made my way back to camp, ate some breakfast, showered and got back on the road for the short trip from the park to where Danielle was staying with her family.
Stackin’ rocks
Primitive hike-in site next to the small stream
Such an invigorating morning hike
We drove straight back to Ohio from Alabama, with the only stops for fuel and food. We were able to do it making great time, with our only miss step coming due to my navigator being distracted by Chic-Fi-La waffle fries. No big deal, and a few minutes and a U turn later, we were back on track. We decided to drive back through Lexington, KY, and it gave me an opportunity to see some parts of the state I had never driven through before. We arrived back just before 10pm, and we were both dog tired. I dropped her off and proceeded to drive home, reminiscing the trip and planning out the next one in my head. It had been a fantastic couple of days.
Such a great trip!
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