Moved on to Maumee area!

May 19 – Today no way compares to yesterday!  It was rainy when we got up but cleared by the time we were packed up and ready to hear north to Maumee-Bowling Green area.  Bill’s turn to reminisce now.  We left 10 as check in wasn’t until noon or 1.  We got here pretty early and our spot was vacant so we settled in.  We’ve stayed here numerous times as here as there are not many other campgrounds around.

Bill worked on polishing another of the rims while I did some laundry and stored stuff away.  I got a package ready to mail tomorrow when we head to the dentist for my chipped tooth.  I had some leftover pumpkin and crushed pineapple so a threw together 3 mini loaves of pumpkin pineapple bread.  He took one to his friends he was meeting for dinner.  I made a pizza on a tortilla!  Now that’s a thin crust pizza!

I washed Bill’s load of rags and read a while.  Just kinda relaxed and caught up my check book and paid a couple of bills. 

Bill enjoyed his perch dinner with his friends.!

It's been 50 years...

May 18 - It was a full day and a very fun day!  Bill and I left about 10-10:30. We made a lot of stops!  We went to my old house at 2185 Grimmwood Drive and it looks the same except the tree in the year is 50 years older and bigger!  Then we went to my high school, Shawnee and drove around the outside and along the road side.  I was reminiscing about my years there working in the school newspaper and yearbook room.  What windows were which rooms?  Life can’t stand still but those were great days for me.  The area was familiar yet so much has changed.  Lots more businesses!  We went to see where the American Mall used to be and now it’s just a big concrete pad.  Very sad as I had my first “real” job there in Jo Ann’s!  We looked for a house that Kam’s cousin just bought and she wanted me to take a picture and send it to her.  We drove out to the Lima Mall and it’s there but doesn’t seem to be very active. 

Then we headed downtown where we had lunch at Kewpie.  Bill had never been there or had a Kewpie burger.  They are hand made fresh and best with standard mustard and pickle!  Bill went with ketchup!  We shared an order of REAL French fries cut fresh as well.  Yum!  Then we stopped at the ONLY post office in Lima for some stamps and to mail some cards.  It’s an OLD building but at least the downtown was clean and the buildings that were open or not looked maintained.  I used to work at a bank kiosk in the heart of downtown and we took walk ups and drive thrus.  It was a fun job!

We stopped at 2 bookstores and Bill didn’t want to leave the second one.  It was all used books and there were thousands!  They were pretty well organized but just so many!  I think he left with 8 books.

At 3 we arrived at my friend Pam and her husband, Dave’s house.  She was the first friend I made when we moved across the street from her when I was 14 and entering high school.  We used to babysit across the road from each other every Saturday night.  We each had regular customers but if one of us was not available the other would sometimes be able to cover.  The babysitting was good but it was nice that we could be in the yard across the street and visit while babysitting.  Her parents were also good friends with my parents and the moms took golf lessons together.  We knew it was only because the gold pro was a “hottie”.  The dads and our neighbor Rex played cards together.  It was a great neighborhood to have landed it for sure.

Anyway, we visited with Pam and Dave (well Pam and I were catching up, the guys were probably talking sports) until it was dinner time and the 4 of us headed to a very nice Mexican place where they had a HUGE menu.  The food was delicious and the staff was great.  I think we all were well satisfied with our meals.  It was getting late and we had to drive back over to Wapak so we were going to leave from the restaurant until Bill remembered Pam baked a Rhubarb Cake and so we followed them home.  The guys talked outside and Pam and I went in to get the cake and ended up talking more as well!  I think I’ve convinced her it’s time to make a trip to Sunny Florida this fall!!  So good to see such a good friend.  We also spent hours at the Quija Board in my room and it worked its message while we just talked away.  It was AMAZING!

Traffic was light getting back to our campground!  We were pooped but I have to say it was so good to spend time with my friend.  It’s like we’d seen each other every day!  Miss you Pam!!

Made it to Lima area

May 17 – We left Dover this morning around 10 and the drive to Wapakoneta was not bad at all.  We are staying at a KOA as the choices in Lima are few and scary looking or first come, first served.  We don’t normally stay at KOA as they are over priced.  We have a pull thru here but it’s nothing special.  We met our neighbors on the right when we arrived and they bought their new RV in Winter Garden!  Later in the day a younger couple pulled in on the other side and they winter in Florida and summer in Michigan where they are originally from.  They have owned 4 businesses in the Orlando area and now are retired.

We went to Walmart so Bill could get his last Covid booster or he can’t get into Canada next week to see his cousin.  I was still looking for a baby pillow but settled for a Travel pillow that I’m going to take some of the filling out of.  Picked up a little produce also while Bill got his shot and then we went for a drive by of the house where Neil Armstrong grew up.  It’s now owned by a former school principal.  There was no traffic so Bill pulled over and I took some photos and then we saw her leave with someone and pulled up along the side and got some better and other photos.  

Bill did is almost daily duty of cleaning the front of the RV and I made linguine with alfredo sauce for dinner with salads.  I didn’t have quite enough leftover sauce so I added some half and half and grated fresh parmesan and cut up 2 thick slices of deli turkey and let it simmer while the pasta cooked.  Turned out delicious and you couldn’t tell it was turkey lunchmeat!

Kam said I should let my followers know that I post some photos on my Instagram account instead of all the downloading, resizing and cropping that I was doing.  My account is kellyocoee1.

Trip to Amish Country

May 16 - Diane was very prompt in picking us up this morning at 9.  It was a bit on the chilly side but we ventured on our way to Amish country.  First, we just drove and looked out at the beautiful plush green countryside that we don’t see at home.

Then we started stopping at various shops and did some shopping.  We all bought something!  I found some cute hedgehogs that will be going home with us.  Diane picked out a little joke piece for her daughter Tracy.   There was a lot of cool stuff but lack or space limited what we could buy.  We stopped at a couple of thrift stores where Bill found a nice Cleveland INDIANS t-shirt and I got apiece of fabric.  Diane found the beer glasses she wanted, so it was a successful excursion.

On the way heading back we heard sirens and by the time we went a short way there was a long traffic back up.  We ventured onto a side road and managed to drive around Amish area and see men at work with their horse drawn plows and beautiful home gardens.  We managed to circle back to the main road just before the Amish grocery store!

Bill and I stocked up on cheeses, trail bologna, summer sausage, jerky and some bulk snacks!  We also got us each a blackberry fried pie!  Yum!  Diane did some shopping as well and got a nice flank steak that I know she and Ty will enjoy!  She dropped us off at the RV and we said our good-byes.  I sure hope they will come down this fall when we get home.  We have a good time together.

After fridging the goods, we left for Warther’s Museum and gift shops.  We’ve been to the museum before and mostly were interested in the knives in the gift shop.  Kerry wanted a particular knife so I got that one first and then I picked 2 for the RV and another for a gift.  The cool thing is they hone the blades for left or right-handed users.  Of course, I got them all for lefties!  Then it was time to get home and relax a while.

Dinner was delicious cold cuts and a variety of cheese with some crackers.  Of course we had the fry pies for dessert.  Yum!

We had a short storm and the wind was so bad we put the slides in so the toppers wouldn’t tear up.  It didn’t last long and the sun came back out so all was good!

Super Day!

May 15 – Today Bill and I did some local “sight seeing”.  He checked Road Attractions and found a local guy who carved 2 of his trees into pliers.  One tree is just one pair of pliers but the other tree is 3 pair.  Bill pulled up to the curve and I was talking to my cousin Becky so gave Bill the phone and got out to get some photos.  Then I saw a man and his daughter come forward from doing yard work.  Uh oh, was my first thought.  I asked him if I could take photos of his trees.  He was very gracious and said take all you want.  Then he said I could climb up the triple tree and Bill took photos of me in the tree and our host.  Turns out he is the grandson or great-grandson of Mooney Warther, the famous carving gentleman who our dad used to visit and sit and watch him whittle and make knives and other things.  He carved the train cars of the Lincoln Death Train among other intricate carvings.  There’s a museum in Dover with his knives and the larger carvings.  Well, the guy whose house we stopped at is Dan Warther and he carved his trees with a chain saw and did one by the family museum and factor with 4 pair of pliers.  He was super nice and answered lots of our questions.  Before we left he told me t wait a minute and he went inside and brought out a tiny carving that opens into 3 pair of pliers and he signed it for me.  He said he ONLY gives them to people brave enough to get out of the car and come take pictures!

From there we went to the 4^th St Cemetery where supposedly the head of William Quantrill, a Confederate Raider.  He was from Dover and his mother requested him to be buried there but the story goes that his parts are buried in 3 locations.

So those were the highlights of our day!

Arrived in Ohio!

May 14 – Awesome Day!  The drive wasn’t bad, just a LONG wait at the Pilot Truck stop to fill up.  The smallest Pilot we’ve ever seen.  Arrived at the fairgrounds in Dover about 1:00.  Had time to get settled in before being picked up by my cousin Diane and her husband Ty to go over to her brother, Buddy’s house.  His wife Anne and her daughter and daughter-in-law all made food and cooked some delicious steaks on the grill.  The food was ALL delicious! 

We all enjoyed every bite and lots of laughter and reuniting after several years!  I hadn’t seen their daughter since she was a teenager.  I also loved their 4 Asian cats but especially loved their HUGE dog, Jackie.  I’m not a dog person but that dog is huge and so calm and loving.  I hugged that dog and it loved me back.  She weighs about 130 pounds and is so loving and calm.  She is only 8. 

My cousin Buddy is getting a plan together for selling their recycling business and they have an RV and want to start using it much more.  They love St. Augustine so maybe we will meet up some time in the near future!

The fairground was hosting a Boy Scout gathering so at first we were concerned about our “spot” but no one was in it but we had to carefully back in to about 3 feet from a parked car.  There was also a recycling event going on, so it was a busy day at the fairground and we were VERY fortunate to get the spot we normally get.  No reservations here.  There are probably about 10 spaces but this one has full hook up!

Tomorrow is more of a day of rest so we will do laundry and cleaning!

Time to move on!!

May 13 – We had a full day today!  I did some laundry while Bill worked one of the RV rims that were a mess from whatever they used on them when we had it washed.  He spent a couple of hours but it looks really good.  It’s a one at a time job!

I did my floors and cleaned my kitchen (which doesn’t take long).

After lunch we went sightseeing.  Right in Malta we stopped to see the one room school house from the 1800’s and the dungeon from much earlier that was found later.  It had been the basement of the jail that sat there but unknown until they torn down the old jail.

Then we started hunting the giant dragon fly in Malta and took us a while to see it although we drove past it 3-4 times.  I guess if we knew what it was going to look like we would have seen it right away!

From there we drove out about 8 miles to a park dedicated to Big Muskie.  Big Muskie was actually super gigantic earth shovel that mined coal.  It cost $25 million dollars and was assembled where it would be used due to the size.  It took 340 railcars and 260 truck loads of parts.  Look it up, it’s a fantastic accomplishment.  So the bucket is what they managed to keep and have it as the center piece it the park.  If you see the photo of me in the bucket, I’m pretty much in proportion to it as the bucket would be to the hauler. 

We crossed the river to McConnelsville to visit the Historic Lock and Dam #7.  It doesn’t reopen usage until May 15 so we didn’t get to watch a boat pass through it.  Bill chatted with one of the workers there and I strolled around the lock and took some photos.  I did take a nasty one of a dead animal down in the water.  We could decide if it was a possum or what? 

I did some baking when we got home as when we get to our new destination tomorrow, we are meeting up with family for a cookout and I never attend a food event without taking something!  I also made a small loaf of banana nut bread with an unappealing banana.  It will make a nice addition to a breakfast or 2.  Waste not – want not!

We have a really short drive tomorrow to my dad’s home town area where I have lots of cousins but only 1 uncle left.  Can’t wrap my head around that.  We’ve always visited and had nots of aunts and uncle until now.  Well, I do have even more cousins!  Time to sign off and pack Dell up for our drive tomorrow!