Friday, September 16, 2016

The Next Stop--Vincennes, Indiana

After perusing the map, checking Roadside America and plotting a route, we decided to make a visit to Vincennes, Indiana. As we were pulling out of Singing Hills, we realized that we had forgotten to take a picture of our campsite. Oh, well, maybe next time. We retraced our route to Cave City and picked up  I-64 to Bowling Green where we turned north to make our way into Indiana. We chose to cross the Ohio river at Owensboro which proved to be more difficult than expected. There were many one way streets and you could only access the bridge from four blocks south of the street we were on. This was another instance on this trip where the GPS didn't give us a lot of help. We finally crossed the river and had a relatively easy trip to Vincennes. We found the city campground along the Wabash River and picked a site as none of them were taken. After lunch, we drove around town to find out where things were located. We planned to stay in Vincennes for two nights, but a couple came by and told us the campground is no longer owned by the city. The university had purchased it and closed it for future building. There were no signs, so we chose to take our chances and spend the night. The next morning we drove out to Wabash Trails Campground. It was a long drive along a narrow road. Once we arrived at the park, the trail and day use areas were nice. However, the campground left a lot to be desired. The sites weren't level and some of them were very short with steep drop-offs at the rear. We drove back to Sol and decided to spend one more night. Well, a policeman and his friend were parked near Sol so we knew the gig was up. He informed us that he couldn't tell us to leave, only the campus police could do that. He told us about another campground on the way to the one we had just visited. We went back out the winding, narrow road to find this campground. It was nice except for the fact that is was right next to the railroad tracks! Bob and I made the decision to see one of the sights and then move out of the area. The policeman's friend was a local historian and he piqued our interest in George Rogers Clark.

We chose to visit George Rogers Clark National Park. It was located about 2 miles from the campground. The memorial sits on the site of Fort Sackville next to the Wabash River. The fort was instrumental in the winning of the northwest frontier during the American Revolution.
 This statue of George Rogers Clark stands in the center of the memorial.
 The stained glass in the ceiling of the rotunda has faded so much over the years that you can barely see the original design and color. There are plans to refurbish the glass sometime in the future.
There are panels around the interior of the memorial which depict the history of the area during the Revolutionary War.
 Outside, there is a walkway to the bridge over the Wabash River. The bridge signifies opening of the the northwest frontier when the battle was won.
 We enjoyed our trip to Vincennes, but we need to return to visit Red Skelton's museum, the Indiana Military Museum, William Harrison's Mansion, and several other sites. It was time to move Sol to an approved campground! And yes, once again we forgot to get a picture of our campsite.

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