The Beauty Around Us

Weekend in Ohio – Day 1 and the Morning of Day 2

By Linda G. on September 18, 2014

We spent the weekend of September 6 in Ohio’s Amish Country.  The purpose of our weekend getaway was to attend a Central Ohio Vulcan Riders and Owners Club (VROC) motorcycle rally.

We departed our hometown of Warren PA on September 5th a little after 8:30 am en route Wooster OH. We followed U.S. route 62 most of the way, with the exception of Route 27 from Pittsfield to Oil City and Route 30 into Wooster.   Our original plan was to spend 3 nights at a hotel in Wooster and ride to Whispering Hills Campground, rally headquarters, located about 20 miles south of Wooster.  Every one attending the motorcycle rally was staying at Whispering Hills Campground, either in a tent or a cabin, except for Bob and me.  We do not have a trailer or room on our motorcycle for camping essentials such as sleeping bags, so a hotel stay was our only option … or so we thought.  Since Thursday a thought had been bubbling inside my head.  I wondered if the cabins at Whispering Hills campground included linens.  I had never checked out that possibility, had never given it a thought, when we made our hotel reservation for the weekend.  I didn’t act on my thoughts, until Friday, while en route Wooster.

I asked Bob to stop in Oil City.  I telephoned Whispering Hills campground to ask if bed linens were provided for cabin rentals.  I expected to be told that we would have to bring our own bed linens, so I was pleased to learn that bed linens were provided when renting a deluxe cabin.  An additional pleasant surprise was to learn that Whispering Hills campground was running a special – 2 nights for the price of one.  I attempted to cancel all 3 days of our hotel stay at Best Western; however, it was past the time for a no cost cancellation. I changed our hotel reservation to one night and made a reservation at Whispering Hills for 2 nights.

We made two more stops after Oil City.  We stopped for gas and a bathroom break at Sheetz in Mercer PA, and we stopped for lunch at Denny’s Restaurant in Hubbard OH.  We arrived at Best Western Wooster at 3:00 pm. I was so happy to stop riding. Temperatures were in the upper 80s / lower 90s.  It had been a long, hot ride!

We relaxed in the hotel for about 1 ½ hours. Relaxation time included a shower. The shower was very refreshing, after being so hot and sticky from the ride to the hotel!  Around 4:30 pm we left the hotel and rode to the Whispering Hills campground, located 3 miles south of Shreve OH, where we met up with our VROC friends.  We sat around in a circle and chatted for a bit. A picnic table was pulled to the circle so that Bob and I would have a place to sit. As I mentioned earlier, our motorcycle is limited in space. We had no room to carry camp chairs.  We are talking about installing a rack on top of the truck to add more space.

We left, as a group, and rode to the Iron Pony Saloon for dinner.  Dinner (bacon cheddar hamburger with fries for me; prime rib and fries for Bob) was very good, and the conversation lively.  If I remember correctly, there were 17 of us at dinner.  After dinner, Bob and I rode back to our hotel in Wooster.

It was a stormy night. The wind awakened me around 12:30 am. Then the rain hit hard against the window for a while. At 8:30 am on September 6th, it was cloudy but dry. We ate breakfast (complimentary) at the hotel cafe. Breakfast was excellent and included selections such as waffles, eggs, sausage, yogurt, hot and cold cereal, fruit, pastries, and a variety of beverages.

We checked out of the hotel at 9:30 am. We spent an hour in downtown Wooster photographing the courthouse, a monument and the farmers market. I used my iPhone to capture the sights.

 

After our short walk in downtown Wooster, we sat outside the Open Spoon Market and shared a chocolate and peanut butter cinnamon roll (delicious!).

We departed Wooster en route the Whispering Hill campground at 10:30 am.

Stay tuned!  I will be sharing more about our Weekend in Ohio in future blog post(s).