Camper Van Champy, 201 North Limestone (2026)

26/12/2023

The final Champy Van pics & #'s from our 30 day out west drive are in!

22/12/2023

Lexington, KY is a quaint, small town with a big college; actually reminded me a lot of my hometown, Plattsburgh, NY. Really old brick buildings but it's got some charm & character.
No river but we found some nice parks to run around. Lots of dog friendly patios, although it was chilly, 40's, we did find an Irish Pub that would let us in.
It was pretty dead, only a person or 2 in each bar since college is out.
I went to a bar with 1,300 Bourbon's! Bartender was super knowledgeable & proud, like he made them all and was disappointed when I got the $6 Buffalo trace special with coke.
I don't plug a lot of restaurants but this Columbia steak house was great! Open since 1948, older bartender had been working there since he was a kid & loved talking about it's history. They've got a great special; 8 ounce sirloin served in garlic butter, w/ sautéed mushrooms, a giant baked potato, side salad and garlic bread for $19.99! It was great, I could only eat half, Maggie Mae split the rest.
Lexington is a cool little town but not really a weekend destination unless you're coming to check out the campus or a UK sporting event.
Cheapest hotel: $124

20/12/2023

Downtown Cincinnati has A LOT to offer! It's about 2-3x the size of Uptown Charlotte, it's got a great river walk along the Ohio River by the football & baseball stadiums!
I lived in Cincinnati until I was 7 when my dad graduated from UC College of Medicine and we moved to upstate NY. My dad loved to bring us to the Cincinnati Zoo & to Red's games, I've got lots of pictures as a small child at both places.
I stopped by to check out my old house and the creek I'd play in everyday.
We drove around for about an hour before I found a spot with no sign, great find!
My favorite area is the half mile or so between the stadiums, you can tell it was just redone. Very nice parks along the river, bars & restaurants with the streets closed.
We walked many miles around this city, I was trying to find stuff I might remember from 37 years ago. I remember climbing up these giants steps by the river and I remember this fountain in the square, that's about it.
Tons of sports history here, I love the old school bars with Reds memorabilia from the 60's & 70's, the big red machine! I was fortunate enough to see the best baseball player of all time, Pete Rose, play and I think I still have a signed baseball from him somewhere.
Unfortunately downtown Cincy is pretty dirty, they've got more of a homeless problem than Charlotte! Every single place has a bouncer or cop at the door. It's really hard to find an open restroom, unless you're at a restaurant. Public restrooms are locked after 8, so all these homeless people everywhere p*e & p**p in every building nook or alleyway, it's pretty nasty, the city stinks! They need to either kick out the homeless people or give them a place to go to the bathroom!
Overall Cincy is a lot of fun! I'd love to come back in September for a Reds/Bengals double header! Tailgate, go to a Bengals game at 1 & a Reds game at 7, that would be awesome, new bucket list thing to do!
Closest hotel: $127
Camper Van Champy

18/12/2023

We had a fun, cold, windy weekend in Chicago!
Saturday was a wash out, torrential downpour all day made for a miserable drive, we drove around for 2 hours before landing on a $30 for 24 hour surface lot in the, 'River North' area, we parked right under the L, Chicago's subway.
Driving in Chicago is absolutely miserable! The roads are so jacked up, potholes everywhere, you're under ground in tunnels, there are no signs for anything & you lose GPS because you're under ground. Similar to Boston, Chicago has some pretty dicey intersections with like 7 roads coming together into a dangerous intersection. Your GPS says take a left but there are 3 lefts! It should say; sharp, regular or lazy!
We split a deep dish pepperoni pizza for dinner Saturday evening & I hung out on Hubbard, a few blocks from our lot. Mother Hubbard, The Hub, Hubbard's, really fun sports bars, there was a Howl At The Moon.
Everyone is gambling on sports here through apps on their phones.
Since Saturday was a wash out Sunday morning turned into an 8 mile power walk with the dogs to the navy pier & the Bean, which currently has a fence around it.
These big sports bars split up different areas with your game on the sound, which is cool. Chicago people really love their shots, never seen so many people doing shots, bartenders too, I witnessed a younger, small female bartender do more shots Saturday night then I've done all year combined, I would've been on the floor, but apparently she's used to it.
Sunday afternoon we made our way up to Wrigleyville, found a nice restaurant that was dog friendly across from Wrigley Field. Bartender told me about this app where people list their empty parking spaces, we got a spot 2 blocks from Wrigley for $9.
Draft Kings has a really cool giant bar/sportsbook across from Wrigley, it's just like you're at a sports book in Vegas! $12 for a pint of beer though! I think that's the most I've ever paid for a beer anywhere.
Chicago is a lot of fun, it reminds me a lot of Boston; roads, people, bars, atmosphere, hanging out around Wrigley is a lot like hanging out around Fenway.
I'm shocked we got out of there without a scratch, so many narrow, windy roads, aggressive drivers, nobody wants to yield up Camper Van Champy!
Closest hotel: $197
It's been cold! We're ready to start driving south!

16/12/2023

Davenport, Iowa is a crappy little blue collar town, not much to offer on a Friday night.
We found a large parking lot downtown by the Missouri River, watched the sunset over Illinois. It looked like a nice quiet place to spend the night, I could not have been more wrong!
I found some low budget happy hour with the locals crushing cans of BOGO Busch light while watching Jeopardy. I got a decent steak dinner for $20, stuff here is pretty cheap. I asked several bars and a brewery that did not serve food if I could bring Maggie Mae in but they politely declined. Had a beer at a brewery watched the Bruins win in OT, and walked back to Camper Van Champy around 10. I noticed a couple dozen people hanging out in the parking lot by several cars that had their hoods up, didn't think much of it.
I hear the train go by, like right behind Champy, then I hear people drag racing right outside, in the parking lot! It's only like half a mile long but apparently this what the kids in Davenport do on a Friday night. People were screaming, cars were flooring it then slamming on the brakes, it was SO loud! This went on until 2:30 when a heavy downpour chased the kids away! It didn't chase away the train though, damn train comes through about every hour, blasting its horn about 20 feet away! Mae is all the way under the covers, Maggie won't sleep with her head under covers but she quietly growls at the train and the stupid kids! 😆
Oh, and Maggie decided at 7 am she needed to throw up, nothing gets you up and out of bed faster then a dog in your bed about to throw up!
Davenport wasn't that bad, I actually have not seen a homeless person since SLC.
Pouring again this morning, so no walk. Decided to clean up Champy, do some laundry, found a laundromat next to a Planet Fitness.
You can probably guess where we're headed next!
Closest hotel: $124

15/12/2023

Things we look for when we roll into a city:
Where's the downtown, most walkable, densely populated area?
Where can we park overnight?
Is it safe/clean?
Is there a park, running trails, preferably on a river for Maggie Mae?
Can I get a decently priced non-chain restaurant meal for dinner?
Are there breweries or sports bars with wifi & plugs?
I like to check out 2-3 places not on the same block, huge + if I can bring the dogs!
I have to say that Omaha knocked it out of the park on all categories!
Really cute downtown area, several blocks of brick streets which slows the cars down to 5 mph. Lots of shopping, mom & pop restaurants, lit up for the holidays!
I grabbed some chicken Alfredo at the spaghetti house, SO good & came w/salad bar, garlic bread, for $15! I couldn't eat half of it!
Omaha is like the sports bar mecca! There's an awesome sports bar on every block, Nebraska doesn't even have any sports teams! And they all have cheap $2-$3 beers! Really old school bars with a lot of culture, like Boston but without the Boston prices! I went to a basement bar, like Cheers. Everyone was friendly, Maggie Mae made some friends! I almost feel bad when I bring my dogs into a bar, get on their wifi, plug in all my stuff, watch sports for a couple hours, have a couple beers and my tab is only $6!
I should've taken more pics but it was dark when we got there after a long day of driving and it was raining when we left.
Omaha is my kind of city! I'd love to spend the weekend here to explore the parks & sports bars, but we've got to keep rolling east!
Nearest hotel: $145
Camper Van Champy

14/12/2023

I was really impressed with downtown Cheyenne!
They've got; shops, restaurants, bars, breweries, arcades, movie theater, bowling alley, etc., lots going on for a Wednesday night!
We found Blue Raven Brewery right downtown, they'll let the dogs in, we can park right in front, they've got a super random open mic night! Started with a good female singer, then a female comedian, then a guy who was like trying to guilt trip people into going to the old folks home to visit the elderly during the holidays because they may be lonely, then a guy played a couple songs with a guitar, then the bartender rapped a song. It was something fun to do on a Wednesday night!
Spent another hour fighting with the Chinese heater, at this point, it's been 3 weeks, time to throw in the towel, admit defeat, bought a few candles, keeps it about 60, that's good enough for us!
The past few days have been cold, foggy during the day followed by snow at night. Woke up this morning to everything covered in ice, I hop out of Camper Van Champy my feet slip, nearly fell on my butt, grabbed the door just in time, girls were sliding around this morning 😄.
Cheyenne was good to us! Service was great, people were friendly, it's; affordable, safe, clean, fun stuff to do, easy parking!
You want to have a fun night out in Wyoming skip Jackson Hole and go to Cheyenne!
Yep, you heard it here first! (don't laugh) Cheyenne > Jackson Hole.
If I ever go back to Jackson Hole I'm telling all those snooty, pretentious folks how much better it is in Cheyenne!
Nearest hotel: $79

13/12/2023

The plan was to go hangout at Teton Village, do some sledding, stay the night then explore Grand Teton National Park Wednesday. Well, none of that worked out! Teton Village is all gated parking and it's really not that big, it's no different than pulling up to Whiteface Mountain, they have a lodge with a few shops, that's it. Then I find out the road that goes up to the Tetons & cool lakes is closed November-April! We took some nice pics of Teton Village and the Tetons but, that was pretty disappointing.
So, we had to cirle back around, through Jackson Hole and north to nowhere, then east, we just kept driving and came across Dubois. I found a laundromat to take a shower by swiping your card. Dubois has no cell phone service! So you have to be at a restaurant that has wifi or you cannot communicate with the outside world! People were nice, everything is very cheap!
It's very cold in Wyoming, I woke up at 5 am, 37 degrees inside Champy, I couldn't tell you the temperature outside, I would guess around 5, because I have no signal. I crank the car for half an hour, get it up to 75, then turn it off, go back to bed, really annoying! I Google the error code, it could be a number of things, I troubleshoot, sometimes it works a little bit, gets your hopes up, it's kicking out heat, then you wake up and it's 37! I may just start leaving the van running all night...
Closest hotel $55
Camper Van Champy

07/12/2023

Moab is a sleepy little valley town surrounded by mountains and Arches National Park.
Funny, we almost didn't even come here but a guy in Grand Junction said if you have a campervan, this is the place to be. He was right, lots of campervans in Moab.
You've got lots of options for extreme sports; ATV rentals, helicopter tours, skydiving, apparently illegal base jumping is a popular thing to do here, lots of adrenalin junkies!
I had a great $10 lasagna meal with garlic bread and a soda, special from Pasta Jay's on Main Street.
We got gas at a self serve only gas pump with a sp*ed limit of 5 1/2! 😄 does anyone have a sp*edometer that you can even tell half a mile an hour sp*ed? You see some crazy stuff driving around this country!
Sp*ed limit out here is 80, people go 90! Champy can hit 90 no problem! I feel really safe driving Camper Van Champy - I'm so high up I can see everything, the mirrors are great, so is the backup camera! Way better than last time driving that giant stupid wagon! I'd hit stuff all the time, pieces of the wagon would fall off, it burned oil, it was always breaking down! If you got up to 55 the engine would start making this banging noise! I pray for the person who owns that RV now; I hope it's at a campground somewhere hooked up and not moving around causing more damage & destruction.
Closest hotel: $65

07/12/2023

Fun day hiking & checking out arches!

02/12/2023

Colorado Springs is a nice mountain town, similar in size and feel to Asheville. We rolled into town and found a giant dog park.
It got really cold, high today was only 33, which means after the sun goes its 20's, real feel in the teens!
I now remember from growing up in upstate NY, under 20 degrees hats and gloves go from being an accessory to a requirement to prevent frostbite to your fingers & ears!
We were going to park at a meter but 7am-10pm Mon-Sat!?!? C'mon that's ridiculous! I found a nearby spot on a quiet 1 way street with no sign!
Walking around downtown was nice, they had an ice skating rink. It was very frustrating trying to find a place to take the dogs when all these establishments say they're dog friendly but just have a dog friendly patio nobody wants to sit at when it's 20 degrees! The only place anywhere downtown you can bring your dog inside was this Brass Brewing Company we found which was about a mile walk from Camper Van Champy. Had a great live singer!
The battery operated heated blanket is a joke! 1 dog gives off 20 times more heat. It was 44 degrees inside Champy, not an acceptable temperature to sleep, I had to wake up a couple of times to crank the car and run space heaters. I really hate the guy who designed these Chinese parking heaters that have thermostats that often go bad and you have to wait 2+ weeks to get a replacement thermostat that costs $4!?!?!? How can nobody in the US have this stupid thing?
Overall CO Springs is a nice, clean, fun little town, similar to Asheville & Greenville, SC.
Anyone have a good dash cam app? I've used about 5, they either quickly run out of space or record over prior video. My goal was to try and dash cam drives then fast forward them into like a 1 minute video to look like I'm driving 200 mph!
Nearest hotel $135
We're off to Denver!

Camper Van Champy

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