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Winter trip 2026 - Day 15/16: Back to Ohio

We decided we would start heading home this morning. It's Friday and we are about 10 hours from home (although add another hour with the time change). We figured another day and a half of driving. 

We finished the last bit of the Trace, which ends near a cool bridge.
This area (Nashville) was hit pretty hard with an ice storm last month, and there were still tons of downed trees and piles of cut up branches everywhere. 

This wasn't a very exciting day, lots of miles. We made it past Cincinnati and stopped for the night at a state park. We don't need power hookups so I saved us $10 and we had this whole area to ourselves. 
Geese galore at this park, lots of honking until the sun set. 
We had hung out and watched the sunset, did a cool glow in the dark puzzle.  Had dinner and played some games and tried to go to bed early to get back on our normal bedtime.
I was up early Saturday morning and ready to head home. I missed the cats and really needed a shower. We left the park by 8, expected to be home by noon.

Stats
4465 miles
$2040 spent (not including the fuel and food we started with). Average of $130/day over 15.5 days.

Animals seen (or heard), in no special order:
Cows, cows, more cows 
Birds (Mexican Jay, owl (heard), road runner, ravens, random small birds, sea birds, black ducks, woodpecker, turkey, geese)
Flies, mosquitoes, wasps, butterfly, moths, grasshopper-like bug, honey bees
Lizard, frogs, toads 
Turtles
Deer
Coyote 
Squirrel
Mouse (prints and heard)
Donkey
Antelope 
Goats 
Ghost crabs

Overall we had a really great time on this trip. My favorite part was the day we drove through the western part of Big Bend and walked through the canyons. Joe's was being at Padre Island and waking up at the beach. 

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