Buck Creek State Park
Springfield, Ohio
Dayton Hamvention
and the Tall
Timbers KOA Campground
Brookville, Ohio
- Mileage Start 28,451 --
End 28,925
- Attended:
- Dad -- 21 years old
- Gracie -- 3 years old
Click any of the images for a higher resolution
picture (about 1 meg each)
May 10, 11, 12
We started off at Buck Creek State Park. The
weather was great. It was sunny and warm. Grace and I had a
wonderful time reading, taking walks, and, for Grace, wading in the
lake. This trip was accented by whole trees full of flowers.
Click on the trees above to see the many flowers each had. The
whole park was perfumed.
Most of the campsites are well leveled and any could
be reserved with ease. Site 14, the one I'm on, is very level with
water across from me. Even with that, I won't need the water and
am glad I chose this site. A well-placed tree provides all the
shade I need without having to deploy my awning.
May 12
We were able to get into the KOA early and have a
nice spot in the front. Site 67 is really not long enough.
The CJ is short enough to allow for our parking it on the site. We
took a walk and found the campground as nice as it always has been.
Gracie met some goats, a gyro on-the-hoof and some donkeys. She
was not impressed that they didn't cower in fear on her approach.
Megan and Matt's dam they built MANY years ago, is
still in place. I can still see my 1971 campsite!
The KOA is at 39.51.536 by 84.23.216.
We
went for a car ride to Sycamore State Park. Sycamore State park
would better be described as "Snake State Park" as there were an
abundance of snakes along the paths. The park has GREAT groomed
trails. Take Wellbaum south out of the KOA until it dead-ends.
Turn left to the first stop sign. Turn right on Diamond Mill Road.
Pass the park office and follow the sign to the picnic area (turn right
onto Providence Road. Drive straight to the end and park.
Walk toward the playground and you will see a trailhead that will take
you as far as you care to walk. You will be taken by a lake that
hosts a beaver lodge on the shore of the lake. We didn't stay too
long as it was quite hot but I bet you'd see a beaver if you have some
patience. Gracie took a cue from our grand-pug Persiphony and took
numerous dips in the lake to cool down. Consider taking water as
much of the trail has you in the sun.
Consider taking a
GPS receiver with you. The coordinates for the parking lot are
39.47.992 by 84.22.533. There are many interesting side trails and
finding your way back could be a challenge.
May 13
Gracie got tail
slapped! A big old beaver swimming in a Sycamore State Park lake
came about ten feet in toward shore where Gracie was two feet out in the
water. He SLAPPPPPEED his tail hard at her. She just doesn't
understand why these animals are not respecting her for what she is!
It rained quite a bit and we got SOAKING wet when we tried to take the
Jeep out (with the bikini cover on it).
A trip to
Mendelsons brought the following booty:
May 14
The first day of
the Hamfest was GREAT. The booty:
-
A new Yaesu VX-7R
handheld radio
-
Two rapid chargers
-
A wall wart for the
other rapid charger
-
A BNC to SMA
adapter
-
Some SMA and BNC
plugs and jacks
-
Three six foot
RG-142 N jumpers
-
20 test lead
jumpers
-
A new battery for
the VX-1R
-
Repeater
directories
-
20 rolls of tape
-
Tweezers,
hemostats, and scissors
-
probably a bunch of
other stuff I don't remember!
We came back and
had ourselves a long walk to meet the donkeys, visit friends (Tom,
WD8EFF, and Heidi, WD8EFK), and we met two pugs.
May 15
It rained all day
long! Phooey. But, all the stuff I needed was inside so
other than being crowded, the objectives were still met. The
booty:
-
More connectors and
adapters
-
Antennas for the
car -- big (BIG) and little
-
A collapsible 33
foot fiberglass mast
-
A telephone DTMF
decoder kit
1500 hours and it
has FINALLY stopped raining. Hooray! Poor Gracie needs a
walk! I've been playing with all my toys, I best get back to
attending to my poor puppy!
The picture below is of the auditorium at Hara Arena.
May 16
On Sunday I stayed for the drawing but
did not win anything. I picked up a couple of MFJ antennas.
The antennas had magnificent engineering but on arriving home they
didn't work worth a bean. Phooey!