By Reid Forgrave
The Cincinnati Enquirer

DOWNTOWN - On Wednesday, the Tri-State Traveliers started building their bivouac of motor homes beneath the on-ramp from downtown to Columbia Parkway.

By Thursday, a dozen motor homes had rumbled into their temporary encampment in the not-so-cozy confines in the parking lot here, about four blocks from the Tall Stacks site.

Charlie Atkinson is past president of the Family Motor Coach Association and former principal at Princeton High School.

"We carry our bed with us," he says. "We don't go to hotels."

"We hate hotels," says his wife, Marcia.

"You like to travel? You like to see new things?" Charlie asks. "This is just the perfect way to do it."

Tri-State Traveliers is a group of 120 motor-home owners who take monthly excursions within 150 miles. They've been to the Bratwurst Festival in Bucyrus and the Strawberry Festival in Troy.

For every previous Tall Stacks festival, the motor homes lined the edge of Riverfront Stadium's plaza, and they had great views of the river and the boats. "Oh, it was a gas," Atkinson said.

But this year, with that parking area obliterated, he searched downtown before settling here.

Michael Newman of Mount Washington, is a newcomer to motor homes.

"It just puts you so close to the action," Newman says. And the action can be anywhere. You wanna go to Michigan? To California? You do it, and you have your home right with you. You go down to Tall Stacks, do what you do, then you just walk home."

E-mail rforgrave@enquirer.com