Want to see our Visited States Data, our State by State Bucket Lists or our Visited Parks and Campground lists?

Then click on the image above to go to our other website.

SENECA CAVERNS (OH)



SUNDAY - We've got a busy day today and it all starts at 8:00AM.

After enjoying another breakfast from the Panera Bread Restaurant, which we could see from our location in the Walmart parking lot, we headed south out of town and crossed back into the state of Ohio.

A short while later we were traveling on I-475 around the east side of Toledo where we landed in the Best Buy parking lot. When the store opened at 11:00AM I was the first one in line and headed straight for the Geek Squad service desk where I had an 11:20AM appointment.


Several days ago I made this appointment and explained what I needed done and the fact that I would have to basically wait for them to do the repair.

I had two issues that needed attention. My 8-year old iPhone SE was no longer able to detect the SIM card inside. So I had tried to eject the card to reinsert it thinking maybe it just became dislodged somehow. Well when I ejected the card only the tray that holds the card came out of the phone, leaving the SIM card stuck inside.

After unsuccessfully trying to "dig" the card out I gave up and figured the phone would have to be opened up and then remove the card from the slot. The person on the phone said they could handle that problem.


My second problem is that my brand new iPad that I bought from another Best Buy a couple of months ago has me locked out.

I've probably only had the iPad open 4 or 5 times since I bought it. It used to ask me for a PIN to login, but the last time I started the iPad it asked me for a password. I had never set a password on this device, only the four digit numerical PIN.

I tried all my usual passwords and eventually the iPad told me to reset it to factory settings, in other words, wipe out all my data and make it new again.

I followed the online directions to do just that, but had no success. I asked if that was something Best Buy could do and was once again told, no problem.


When I arrived at Best Buy and began speaking to the technician who would be doing the work I was informed that contractually Best Buy was not allowed to open up any iPhone and service it in any way. I explained my 8-year old phone was obviously not under any kind of warranty and that it had been opened previously to replace the battery by a non-Apple employee. He said he was sorry but there was nothing he could do for me.

On to problem number two, my iPad. That one he told me could be done, but I wouldn't get it back until the next day. I told him I would no longer be in Toledo after this afternoon and that I explained all of this to the person on the phone who made my appointment.

That's when he informed me that the person who made my appointment was not an employee in this store, as a matter of fact, they weren't even in the state of Ohio. It was a nationwide service that schedules all the appointments in all of the Best Buy Stores and have basically no idea what or how soon anything can be repaired. Why does that not surprise me!


He then went into the back of the office, out of my sight, and returned a few minutes later to inform me they could reset my iPad and have it done shortly after lunch. That was fine with me!

I left the iPad with him and exited the store to use Tricia's phone to try and find someone to take care of my iPhone problems.


I found that 8-miles away was an Apple Store inside of a large mall in the center of Toledo. Try finding a parking spot on a Sunday afternoon for a 20' truck attached to a 28' trailer in a mall parking lot. Their 5-story parking garage with a 7' clearance sign at the entrance was of absolutely no help, but we got lucky and found a spot to park.

On the way to the Apple Store we passed a phone repair kiosk in the middle of the mall corridor. After opening my phone up and removing the SIM card he was still unable to get the phone to detect the card. He tried a brand new card with the same results. He informed me that my phone was basically toasted and not worth repairing. He didn't charge me for the 15-minutes of work he did, but I gave him $20 and thanked him for trying.

So on to the Apple Store we went and found out they couldn't match the promotion that AT&T was running where if I were to finance my new phone for 36-months the rebates would offset the monthly payments down to just $1.99 a month. Basically I'm receiving a brand new $500 iPhone SE for $72 and will remain an AT&T customer for the next 3-years. I don't have a problem with any of that! The best part is I get to keep my old data plan that they no longer offer.

I did however have to walk another 20-yards deeper into the mall to find the AT&T Store.


After returning to Best Buy to pick up my iPad, at no charge by the way, we were back on the highway to complete our travels for the day.

An hour later we arrived at Seneca Caverns in the little town of Bellevue, OH to spend the night. Tomorrow morning at 9:00AM we'll be exploring our 67th cave.

Two weeks ago I had called the cave owner and asked if it would be possible to park overnight with the promise of the two of us taking their cave tour in the morning. Her response was, "No one has ever asked that, but I don't see why not".

So that's where we are tonight, at Seneca Caverns awaiting them to open in the morning so we can be on their first tour of the day.

All tucked in with an easy exit in the morning.

I hope we don't hear any eerie voices during the night.

The entrance to the cave is inside of the house.



MONDAY - We were awake early this morning and were looking forward to out 67th cave tour.

This one promised to be different than the previous 66 cave tours we've done. This cave was not created due to water erosion like every other cave we've visited, this one was actually created by gravity. There was a huge underground void on this property, probably there since the Ice Age.

Several thousand years ago there was a collapse of the ceiling above the void and the rock "cracked" when hitting the floor. It created a maze of different levels in the cave with broken rocks everywhere.

Today we climbed down seven levels in the cave and came to the modern day end of the cave, but there are several more layers below that which are normally filled with ground water.

The cave entrance at Seneca Caverns, "The Earth Crack".

A lot of the time you spent ducking your head to avoid collisions.

There were a few much appreciated places where you could walk upright.

Most of the time you were climbing through "cracks" in the rock layers.

Then we came to the unceremonious end of the trail.

I was happy when we arrived back at the stairs leading out of the cave.


In conclusion, are we happy we took the tour? Absolutely!
Will we ever do it again? Absolutely not!
Do we recommend you visit this cave? Only if you're as interested in caves as we are.



Would you like to be notified of new blog posts?



WE'RE BACK (for 1 night) IN MICHIGAN? (MI)



SATURDAY - Some of you may be wondering, "What are they doing back in Michigan"?

Well I'm not ashamed to say we're here for only one reason and that is to collect another state border crossing. This time it's the one between Ohio and Michigan.

That makes 93 out of 107 and we still have two more planned at the end of summer when we are back near the Atlantic coastline.


Some people may think it's cheating if you just drive across the state line and then return a few minutes later. I would have to agree with that, but we're spending the night in Michigan and not leaving until early the next morning.

Our only rule is we have to tow THE POD over the state line, or in the case of our crossing #62 between Kentucky and Missouri, we had to ferry THE POD across the Mississippi River because there are no bridges between the two states.

So in my book today's travel counts as a bonafide crossing, besides we are only 15-miles north of the route we had planned anyway.



Would you like to be notified of new blog posts?



CHAIN O' LAKES STATE PARK (IN)



WEDNESDAY - Today was our third moving day in a row that we traveled less than 100-miles. Though today was different from the others, because we travel 57-miles south through the Indiana countryside along some winding and twisting 2-lane roads.

We had some time to kill between campsites so we found a Walmart in the town of Goshen where we could park for several hours. Luckily there was a Panera Bread Restaurant on the edge of the parking lot, where we not only ate breakfast when we arrived, but after we shopped in Walmart we went back for lunch.

A short while later we were all set up in our new campsite at Chain O' Lakes State Park for the next 3-days. Indiana charges an entrance fee at their state parks, $6 for Indiana residents and $9 for all others. When the check-in person asked if I was a resident I replyed "no, but I was born in Indianapolis, does that count"? She replied, "It does with me and for the next 3-days you're once again a Hoosier". I thanked her for saving me the $3 and no I didn't make that up.

Thanks to the opening in the trees behind our campsite we were able to use the Starlink dish.
It couldn't have come at a better time because the cell phone service way out here is weak.



FRIDAY - In case you haven't figured it out by now we are camped at Chain O' Lakes State Park in Albion, IN.

The park gets it's name from the 13 lakes that are located within the park, 9 of which are "chained" together by a small waterway named Forker Creek.

The lakes in this chain are called "kettle lakes", formed 16,000 - 19,000 years ago when the Ice Age glaciers here were still huge blocks of ice. Rivers of water, resulting from the melting ice, carved the channels which connect the lakes in the park today.

CLICK on map to see a larger image.

You can rent canoes and kayaks from an outfitter on Sand Lake, the largest lake right in the center of the park, and then paddle to see all nine lakes, but that's not something Tricia or I was intersested in doing during our visit.

Instead we drove around the park, checked out the Nature Center, an historic 1-room schoolhouse and a few of the lakes located closer to the roadway throughout the park.


CHAIN O' LAKES STATE PARK


SLIDE NUMBER
1OF20

Norman Lake is the first lake inside of the park.
It's also one of the four lakes not connected to the chain.
SLIDE NUMBER
2OF20

For those reasons it doesn't appear to see to much boating activity.
SLIDE NUMBER
3OF20

Miller Lake is right across the parking lot and is connected to the chain...
SLIDE NUMBER
4OF20

...but is too doesn't appear to be very popular with the boaters.
SLIDE NUMBER
5OF20

Maybe it's because it's at the western end of the 9 Lake Challenge
and 5-miles from the far eastern end where the trail begins in Sucker Lake.
SLIDE NUMBER
6OF20

The largest lake in the park at 47 acres is Sand Lake.
SLIDE NUMBER
7OF20

It has an "easy to launch" kayak ramp attached to the dock for people with their own boats.
SLIDE NUMBER
8OF20

This is the beginning of the trail that connects Sand Lake to Weber Lake.
SLIDE NUMBER
9OF20

I would much prefer paddling these skinny channels than the wide open lakes.
SLIDE NUMBER
10OF20

Looking back towards Sand Lake from the roadway bridge.
SLIDE NUMBER
11OF20

Also on Sand Lake is where you'll find the boat rental facility.
They appear to not only rent kayaks, but canoes, peddle boats and row boats.
SLIDE NUMBER
12OF20

This couple don't appear to be interested in boating, they're fine right where they are.
SLIDE NUMBER
13OF20

This is the 1-room Stanley Schoolhouse, named after Henry Stanley, a nearby landowner.
SLIDE NUMBER
14OF20

It's only open to the public on Saturdays and Sundays, so we had to peek in the windows.
SLIDE NUMBER
15OF20

Curiously the datestone high above the door has he digit 9 reversed in the 1915 date.
SLIDE NUMBER
16OF20

All over the park we keep seeing these huge webs high up in the trees.
SLIDE NUMBER
17OF20

A little research informed us they are webworm nests, which will eventually become moths.
SLIDE NUMBER
18OF20

Outside of the Nature Center was a beautiful planter filled with Black Eyed Susans.
SLIDE NUMBER
19OF20

Right next to the Black Eyed Susans were these flowers, but I'm not sure what kind they are?
SLIDE NUMBER
20OF20

While the Nature Center was mostly geared towards educating middle schoolers,
being a map guy I found this relief map of the park especially interesting.



Would you like to be notified of new blog posts?