Our destination was the Finger Lakes, in New York, about 800 miles from home. We got the house closed up and were on the road before 11:00 am. Five (six with the time change) hours later, we decided to take advantage of free overnight parking at the RV/Motorhome Hall of Fame and Museum in Elkhart, Indiana.
For free parking, our spot was fantastic, with the trailer door opening onto a nice grassy area. The grounds were nicely landscaped, with plenty of room for the dog to wander. We ended up being one of four RVs that stayed overnight. The only negative was traffic noise from I-80, which was fairly loud with the windows open.
We had never been to the museum before, so we spent a couple of hours checking out the exhibits once it opened the next day. It was nicely done overall. It had a few new units in a small hall, but the bulk of the exhibits were of vintage trailers and motorhomes, starting in the teens and with the newest from the 80’s.
We felt the museum was well worth seeing if you have an interest in RVs. Looking at the older units (and even the models from the 70s & 80s), I really appreciate the modern amenities we have. Makes you wonder what RVs will be like 50-100 years from now.
After the museum, it was back onto the tollway. Road quality was okay on the Indiana toll road, but we were really disappointed with how many of the service plazas were closed. They also did not do a great job of letting you know – we were unpleasantly surprised to find out that every plaza in the eastern half of the state was closed. If you have a smaller fuel tank, treat the Indiana tollway like Alaska and fill up at every opportunity – there won’t be many. My impression of Indiana is that it’s not traveler friendly now.
We booked through northern Ohio (still traveler friendly) and overnighted near Erie, Pennsylvania. We followed a Prevost motorhome (they currently go for nearly $2 million) off the freeway and parked near them at the Presque Isle Downs and Casino. (They parked with several other $500,000+ motorhomes.) The casino parking lots had plenty of room for us, although they were not as nicely landscaped as the RV museum. It was nice and quiet though, with no freeway noise, so it worked out to be a great overnight spot.
In the morning, we made our final decision on where to stay in the Finger Lakes region and headed back onto the road.