Indiana - Day 13 - doctor's visit

Indianapolis State Fairgrounds Campground
Thursday, 13 June 2019

today's route

My only plan for today was making the doctor appointment I'd set up last week.  I ran out of blood pressure pills several weeks ago, and my Austin doctor won't re-up the prescription because it's been longer than a year since I've been to see her.  I've learned the hard way that I really need to take these pills and will have serious headaches if I don't, so I found a clinic online that had a doctor that could schedule me in.

It's lucky I left last night's campground several hours early for my 11:30 appointment, because I got lost several times - the online directions kept telling me about roads that either weren't there or didn't go where they were supposed to.

The doctor turned out to be a very odd little duck with odd mannerisms, no sense of humor, and a conservative attitude towards the practice of medicine.  His nurse had warned me when I made the appointment not to tell him I'm living on the road, but I still had to tell him it'd be several months before I'd be back in Austin so wanted more than one month's worth of pills.  He decided I must be on an extended vacation (basically true), but got all finicky and insisted I take a kidney test because at my age, he said, I'm susceptible to kidney problems because of these pills.  Oh well.  He promised to give me at least one month's worth, and either I'll know I have healthy kidneys and he'll give me a couple of refills or I'll know I've got kidney problems, which is something I'd want to know.

Because the campground we stayed in last night didn't have room for us tonight, I spent some time hunting around for another campground in the area.  Turns out there aren't very many, which seems hard to believe but it's true, and the ones I checked on were also full because of a mid-week concert somewhere.

The only one available seemed to be on the grounds of the Indiana State Fair in the middle of Indianapolis.  When I called and asked about a reservation, the woman told me not to worry, that this wasn't a campground where people came and stayed for ages, that it's mostly a night-passing-through-town kind of place.

On the way from the doctor to the fairgrounds, I got lost several more times (those online directions!), but I did get found and turned in at Gate #6 for the Indiana State Fairgrounds, as instructed.  Also as instructed, I drove to the far west side of the grounds, meaning I got a good look at all the main buildings.  Looked like many of them were built in the Art Deco era, much as those at the State Fair in Dallas are.

that's my RV taking up 2 slots

Turns out the woman on the phone was right - this is definitely a weird campground - just a bunch of narrow slots with hookups next to the boundary fence.  Immediately on the other side of the fence is a very popular hike-and-bike trail, so the first thing I did after plugging in was to close the rear shades.  I usually do that only at bedtime so the cabin felt closed in, but I felt really exposed being just a few feet away from the joggers and walkers and bicyclists. 

I'm guessing this facility developed to accommodate exhibitors for the State Fair, and they let everybody use it the rest of the year.  Fine by me.  When I first got there I was only the 3rd one, but over the course of the evening, 8 or 10 more came in, which made me feel safer.  Though I will say, Security had a very big presence here, which also helped.