Making reservations for all 111 days of this trip was hardly fun, but for the most part at least it was direct. For motels and hotels I was able to use the internet pretty much exclusively which was the highest amount of convenience.

Most campgrounds either required me to call or they had websites that were dinky enough that I was nervous giving them my credit card information. Campground reservations were a bit of a pain, I had to wait an average of a half hour on hold for most of the state parks, and the ensuing dialogue with the reservations agent was so mind-numbingly similar by the end I think I could have created a pre-recorded voice on my part to get through it, even knowing how long to pause before I answer each question. But still, it worked. I got the reservations, even though I was making an average of 2 per day as I was calling during my lunch hour at work when my work still wasn't aware I was leaving. Commercial campgrounds, though the same spiel as the State Parks, generally had no hold times so I could book 3-4 of them per lunch hour.

Kings Island Campground, however, is a different animal entirely. Once one calls the campground, a recorded voice begins telling me the hours they are open. My initial assumption was I was calling when it was closed, however I was calling during the hours the recorded voice claimed reservations were being taken. Next I assumed it was one person operating the phone and they were in the bathroom or something. Eventually, after several unsuccesful attempts over the course of a few days, I listened carefully to the full spiel. After around 1 minute of mostly redundant information, the recording says "You may receive this message due to high call volume. Please leave a message and we will return your call in the order it was received."

And so, the phone tag with Kings Island Campground has begun. I have now called 3 times. Twice I was unavailable at the time of their call, and once they simply never called back. There callback time appears to range from 3-4 hours, and they will call even after the hours the recorded voice says they are open, the reason I missed the first call.

For making reservations this inconvenient and difficult, I can only hope that this campground is REALLY popular, as it would be very easy for the non-persistant customer to give up on it altogether and find a campground near the park if not ON it. I however, am a persistant freak. Every time I call they recorded voice adds more sold out dates. When my dates appear on the recording.... oh will I be angry. I never knew getting a PKI campground reservation would be as challenging as scoring Springsteen tickets in New Jersey.

Being a persistent soul, I swear I will nab these pesky reservations. They are now the only date that I have not reserved. I don't care if I have to call these people and book the reservation while riding a roller coaster, I will do it. I am Captain Ahab, and I will have my whale, dammit! ;)