We Arrive in Clinton, NY

I woke up in the night last night and realized that my lower back was sore and indeed it was when I got up this morning. This is the first time it’s really bothered me in ages. So I’m moving very stiffly especially after 5 ½ hours in the truck.

We left Erie this morning at 8:50 a.m. under mostly sunny skies. We had a little bit of everything weather wise on our trip east to Clinton, NY but only a few spits of rain around Buffalo. When we arrived at Jim & Wendy’s near Clinton, NY around 2:30 p.m., the sun was shining and it was about 59F (15C).

We are now parked in their driveway and hooked up to their electric. Since there is no dump station nearby that I could find, we decided to use our on board water for the two days we’ll be here so we won’t be hauling any extra water.

Wendy prepared lobster for dinner tonight. Poor girl. She just worked all day and now has to cook for people she hardly knows (again)! She cooked for us last year when we visited them in Montgomery, AL.

The photo shows our location in their driveway. Very pretty scenery!

Gordon's Aunt Virginia Passed Away

M. Virginia Wolford 1918 – 2006

WOLFORD, M. Virginia (nee Sonnanstine), age 88 of Dayton passed away Wednesday, April 26, 2006. She was born April 18, 1918 in Columbus, OH to Gladys (Butcher) and Ernest Sonnanstine. She was preceded in death by her husband, Clem, two brothers, an infant daughter, and her grandson, Brian Hubbell. She is survived by three daughters: Judy (Dave) Lemmon of Springfield, Jan (Steve) Marker of Camden, and Joy (John) Kemp of Bellbrook; son, Phil (Cheryl) Wolford of Towaco, NJ. Also surviving are 17 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren. Virginia is a graduate of Oakwood HS. She worked for the Kissell Company and was a minister at Unity of Lima and Unity of South Dayton. Visitation will be 5-8:00PM Sunday, April 30th at the Newcomer Funeral Home (3940 Kettering Blvd.). Funeral service will be 11:00AM Monday, May 1st at the funeral home. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association of Dayton, 3797 Summit Glen Dr., Dayton, OH 45449. Messages of condolence may be sent to the family via www.NewcomerFamily.com.

Some Relaxing, Some Sightseeing

Spring flowers around Hills Family Campground

Trees growing on the sand dunes at Presque Isle State Park

Presque Isle North Pierhead Lighthouse

Although the day dawned bright and sunny, it was only 30F (-1C) when I got up. It had apparently gone down to 28F (-2C) and Gordon had disconnected the water. Brrrr! We’re not used to this. It was quite warm in Columbus while we were there but apparently it turned cold there too the day we left.

We didn’t do much this morning other than watch TV. After lunch we headed out to do some sightseeing and headed to downtown Erie on Rte5. We saw the downtown, the Bicentennial tower and the lakefront. The Bicentennial tower is 187 ft tall and overlooks the bay. It was built in 1995 to celebrate Erie’s 200th birthday. Gordon went to the top of the tower but I elected to stay grounded.

Erie is very industrialized being a port city. It is very clean, however. Of the areas where we went, I didn’t see much debris around and even most of the houses and lawns were in good shape. There were a couple but it didn’t look like most Eastern American cities. I have to qualify Eastern now as Western American cities are very well kept.

We saw the lighthouse that is in the eastern part of Erie aptly named the Erie Lighthouse. I didn’t take any photos as I couldn’t have gotten a good vantage point with my camera. You have to be quite a distance away to take a good photo and with the wires around and a small plot of land, I didn’t bother. I did get one of it far away from Presque Isle State Park. After our tour of Erie we headed back to Presque Isle State Park and drove to the lighthouse there that’s on the point. It’s called the Presque Isle North Pierhead Lighthouse. Photo above.

On the way back, we photographed the sand dunes. We’ve seen dunes with nothing on them, with scrub on them, with small bushes on them and now with trees on them.

We got back to the RV shortly after 4:00 p.m. in time for me to get meatloaf ready and then go for a walk. I took some photos of the spring flowers around the park.

It did get to about 51F (10.5C) but with the wind, it felt much colder.

On a sadder note, we received an email this morning from Gordon’s cousin Judy. Her mother, Gordon’s Aunt Virginia passed away this morning. She was the last surviving relative of his father’s generation. Unfortunately we won’t be able to turn around and go back to Ohio to attend the funeral so will rely on Gordon’s sister, Carol to represent the family.

We head out early tomorrow morning for Clinton, NY for a couple of days with Gordon’s photographer friend, Jim, his wife, Wendy and their son, James.

This is a photo taken of Bib and I by Gordon earlier in the year. I thought it was a good one.

Now near Erie, PA

Presque Isle Lighthouse near Erie, PA AKA The Flashlight

Hills Family Campground near Erie, PA

It was supposed to rain in Columbus this morning but we woke up to mostly sunny skies and the mid 50’s. We left Alton RV Park around 9:30 a.m. and headed north on I-71. As we approached Cleveland, the skies clouded over and it started to rain. It never rained really hard and once we left Cleveland behind it didn’t rain much after that although it’s cloudy and as we arrived in Erie, PA, it’s 41F! I want to be in Arizona!

Also just before we reached Cleveland we were in a construction zone with a concrete barrier on one side and very narrow lanes when this yahoo (not the search engine) in a semi starts cutting us off pulling into our lane. Luckily Gordon wasn’t asleep at the wheel. It could have been nasty. This idiot continues on and all of a sudden pulls left across four lanes of travel and almost hits a car traveling in the passing lane. I suggested to Gordon that we steer very clear of him and was hoping that he would continue north into Cleveland but he got off on I-271 (Cleveland bypass) however he did pull into the first rest area, thank goodness!

We arrived at Hills Family Campground around 2:00 p.m. and were set up by 3:00 p.m. As you can see from the photo of the park above, it is nothing special but the sites are large and they have 50 amp electricity and 69 cable channels.

When we got here it was only 54F inside the RV so between the furnace and the electric heater after about 1 ½ hrs it was 65F, almost comfortable.

We’ve decided to stay here for 2 days as we don’t have to be at Gordon’s friend’s place until Thursday and neither of us have seen much of Erie. They actually have some lighthouses at Presque Isle and a State Park on a peninsula that sticks out into Lake Erie. We’re also here for 2 days because neither of us like to pack up and break down and only stay one night. We do it when we have to but since we don’t have to, we’re staying!

After dinner, we drove out to Presque Isle State Park to see their lighthouse. The locals refer to it as ‘The Flashlight’. It was built in 1873 but is now fully automated and maintained by the Coast Guard. It stands on a sand spit peninsula that juts out into Lake Erie.

Our Last Day In Columbus, Maybe?

Columbus Skyline from Genoa Park overlooking the Scioto River

More Columbus Skyline

This morning Gordon left early to go into Columbus to have the truck serviced for his 8:00 a.m. appointment. I got up and did my daily routine and then prepared chicken cacciatore for our road trip over the next couple of days.

I read and napped for a while. Gordon got home around 11:00 a.m. He had stopped to see Michelle and the girls on his way back and told them we probably wouldn’t see them again until we’re back next year.

When I was cooking this morning, I realized I need a deeper pan for making things like chicken cacciatore as I keep spilling the sauce all over the stove so I decided after lunch I would go out to Meijer (a mid-west department store) and see what I could find. I haven’t been in a Meijer all winter. So I took off around 1:00 p.m. and found a nice sauté pan with deep sides and a glass cover. Hope I can find a place to put it now. I also got some necco wafers for my wonderful husband. For those of you that don’t know they are discs of pure sugar and come in a roll.

On my way back as I neared the intersection of US40 I saw that there was an accident blocking the westbound lanes so I couldn’t make a right hand turn so decided to go left rather than go straight and try to find a way back to the RV park. Instead I headed to the mall at the corner of SR40 and I-270. I thought I had made a wrong turn and wound up in one of the old malls in Syracuse. They had a Sears and Macy’s and some small stores but most of the stores were closed and there were maybe two people (including myself) walking in the mall. Eerie! I didn’t find anything I liked better than my money so headed home. The accident was cleared up and it was clear sailing so I got back around 3:50 p.m. in time to walk and feed Bib.

On our way back to Ontario we had planned to visit a photographer friend of Gordon’s. They lived in Montgomery, Alabama last year and we visited them there. This time, they have invited us to bring Big Harv and park in their driveway so we will be staying with them, probably arriving Thursday or Friday. Our plan is to cross the border on Monday, May 1st and I have booked an appointment for Bib with the groomer that he likes in Gananoque on Wednesday afternoon. Nothing definite on where we'll be staying but probably Rideau Acres at Kingston, it's a Passport America park.

Tomorrow’s forecast looks somewhat rainy but as we head north although it gets colder, it’s not supposed to rain for the whole day so hopefully we’ll get on the road. Our plan is to take two days to get to Clinton, NY.

Tonight after dinner and getting the dishes done, we drove to downtown Columbus and took some photos. I didn’t get too many as my camera doesn’t work well after dark but I did get some at dusk.

Sunday Chores

This morning I got up and got the laundry ready to take out to the Laundromat. This campground doesn’t have laundry facilities and since we were too tired to go to Michelle’s on Friday and drag the laundry there, I had decided to go to the Wishy Washy Laundromat just down the road and mile or so from the campground. I got there at about 9:30 a.m. and it seemed to be a good time. The place was really busy and I had just enough dryers when it came time to dry. Anyway, I got it all done and got home around 11:00 a.m. in time to have lunch and a nap and read a bit. While I was gone Gordon got the vacuuming done.

This afternoon I headed over to WalMart to pick up some items that we needed and also some things that we can’t buy in Canada, like grits. It’s something Gordon can eat and he likes that for breakfast better than cold cereal. I also stopped at Kroger to get a few items on the way home. When I got back I saw the owner of the campground and since Gordon is taking the truck in for service tomorrow we’ve decided to stay an extra day so I got us signed up to leave on Tuesday.

Since I haven’t taken any photos today, I’m posting the photo that Gordon took of the family yesterday. It’s a pretty good photo of everyone, I think. Even the kids co-operated.

Family Get Together

Lilly giving Grace a big hug

Caden telling me with a look that he's tired of having his picture taken

Grace poses for the camera

Ian and Lilly

Today we headed over to Michelle and Eric’s for 2:00 p.m. Ian, Tracy and their kids arrived about 2:45 p.m. for our family get together. It was quite something to get everyone together and we got a family photo which I don’t have but Gordon will probably be posting on his pbase gallery.

It was quite a day watching the cousins playing together and good to see Ian as he was at work when we were at his house on Thursday.

It’s hard to imagine that both Michelle and Ian have grown up and have families of their own. When I first met them, they were teenagers. I remember when Ian and Michelle flew to Ottawa to be with us for Christmas one year and Michelle said it was so cold there her nose hairs froze. She was probably about 15 yrs old then.

We had a great Mexican meal with tacos and tostadas and all kids of fixings and beans.

Gordon and I are both really tired so I’ll close with photos…..

A Slow and Rainy Day!

Caden, Tracy & Lillian (Daddy's at work)

A little redhead with her prayer bunny

Lillian

Grandpa and his girls-Faith & Grace

Grace and her prayer bunny

Faith and Grace on their front porch

Faith and Grace in the top bunk

Faith riding her new bike

It was supposed to rain today but remained sunny until shortly after noon. It started raining around 4 p.m. and the temperature fell a bit. We didn’t need the electric heater at all last night and the temperature inside the RV didn’t go below about 67F.

The plan today had been to take the laundry over to Michelle’s and make my Refried Beans recipe at her house for tomorrow’s family gathering. However, yesterday being a very long day I had decided that I would stay home and then Gordon also decided that he didn’t want to go out today either so we spent the day napping and computering and generally trying to get ourselves rested up for tomorrow.

We finished off the butterscotch pie today too! Always a sad moment!

Not much to say for today so I’ve uploaded several photos that I’ve taken over the last three days.

A Full Day!

Caden and Lillian playing

Caden just woke up from a nap

Lillian stole Grandpa's hat

Grandpa and Lillian

Janice and Mel at The Grille

This morning was bright and sunny and the high where we were which was around Dayton, OH was about 81F. However in the afternoon, it clouded over and got cooler so that by the time we got back to the RV Park it was about 74F at 7:15 p.m.

We left at 10:00 a.m. to head to Lake Loramie State Park to join friends, Mel and Janice for lunch. They are camped there in their new Jayco trailer for four days just trying it out to be sure everything works. Lake Loramie is north of Dayton, Ohio about 45 minutes near the town of Fort Loramie. We arrived around noon and Mel and Janice announced that they were taking us out for lunch in a little town called New Bremen. First we had a tour of their trailer and then we took two vehicles as we had brought Bib with us and couldn’t just leave him in the truck at the campsite and didn’t want to take the chance of leaving him in their new trailer so we headed to a really nice restaurant called, The Grille in New Bremen. New Bremen is a very clean, pretty little town and after our tasty lunch we walked around a bit and took some photos. There’s not much in the downtown anymore. Most of the shops are empty. By the time we finished lunch and our walkabout it was 3:00 p.m. so we headed south to Dayton to see our Dayton grandchildren. Our youngest grandchild, Lillian will be a year old next week and we had not seen her yet.

We arrived there around 5:00 p.m. after stopping to take some photos here and there on our way back on SR66 to Piqua then picking up I-75 out of Piqua. Caden was asleep so we got about ½ hour getting to know Lillian. What a cutie! She has bright blue eyes and strawberry blonde hair and was a little shy at first but after about 10 minutes, warmed up to both of us.

Caden then woke up and we all went outside for a while. Caden has grown very tall. He has very long legs and is talking a blue streak.

Not long after Caden woke up we had to leave as it was over an hour to get home and Bib didn’t want to eat in the truck and besides we had had a very long day. It was nice to spend time with Tracy and the family.

We’re looking forward to getting everyone together at Michelle and Eric’s on Saturday.

We Visit the Grandchildren Again!

Faith riding her new bike with Grandpa and Big Larry in the background

Faith in the lawn chair on their front porch

Grace posed for this one

Michelle (and Luke), Grace and Faith sitting on their front steps

Faith, Grammy and the Prayer Bunny (photo by Grandpa)

Grammy and Faith make smoochie faces (photo by Grandpa)

Today started out cloudy but got sunnier and 80F as the afternoon progressed.

This morning was very laid back and then around 2:00 p.m. we went over to see the family again. This time we took Bib with us but as always when around kids, he stays in the truck. He doesn’t mind, he loves the truck! We took a roundabout way of getting to our destination and stayed off the interstate completely. It’s interesting to find different ways of getting to a place that we go to all the time.

Faith got a new bicycle today, an early birthday present from her parents and she’s already riding it quite well albeit with training wheels, she will only be 3 on her birthday. She enjoyed showing her Grandpa and Grammy how she can ride.

I need to get more photos of Grace!

We only stayed a couple of hours. The girls tired Grandpa out, then we stopped on the way home at Dollar Tree to get some stuff, then came back on the Interstate and went past our usual exit to see where the next closest one is to the campground but had to go a fair drive west of here and then come back.

Tomorrow we’re planning a trip into Dayton. Gordon’s friend, Mel and his wife, Janice are camping at Fort Loramie State Park north of Dayton and then we’re going to stop and see Tracy and the kids later in the day. Ian will probably still be at work. So, my posting tomorrow may be late!

Getting Reacquainted

Sandra at Whetstone Rose Park

Faith on the left, Grace on the right in the top bunk

Grandpa, Faith and Grace

Today was a beautiful sunny day and about 75F. This morning we didn’t do much. This afternoon we left the RV at about 2:00 p.m. and drove east on US Route 40 to downtown Columbus. We hadn’t been there since Michelle was going to Ohio State and she’s been married 10 years now. We drove by Ohio State going north on High Street and stopped at Whetstone Rose Park where Michelle and Eric had their wedding photos taken. Not much happening there yet. The spring flowers were about finished and it’s too early for roses so we took a few photos of some of the trees and headed to Michelle and Eric’s.

When we arrived I was immediately asked by Faith to go up to see the bunkbeds. They had been separate on the floor before but this weekend Eric stacked them and the girls are very excited. You can hardly get Grace out of her bed. She has the top bunk. The photo above shows them both on the top bunk.

After that I pretty much had Faith on my lap the whole afternoon. She is very cuddly and affectionate. Grace is old enough now to do her own thing so at one point I watched TV with both girls. We gave them each a prayer bunny that says the “Now I lay me down to sleep” prayer and they seemed to be a big hit.

Michelle prepared a great meal complete with butterscotch pie for her father. She spoils him! Eric got back from his flight in time for dinner so we got to see him too.

They have done a lot of work on their house and it looks really good. I love the outside paint job. The house is a taupe color with mulberry colored shutters. They had redone the kitchen and now have a new table and chairs and they have redone the upstairs bathroom. We saw the kitchen and bathroom last spring but it looks so much different with the new table and chairs.

Arrangements have been made for Ian, Tracy, Caden and Lillian to come to Columbus on Saturday so we’ll get photos of the whole family!

We Move to Columbus, Ohio Area

We had quite a thunderstorm early this morning. The power went out twice. We started to pack up when it stopped raining and then it started again so we went into town to warm up the truck and get diesel fuel. By the time we got back it had pretty much stopped again so we were on our way to Columbus at about 10:30 a.m. As we drove north the sun came out and the only fly in the ointment was as we were approaching I-270 which is the loop around Columbus the exit to go west was closed and traffic was backing up. Gordon did some quick thinking and got off at Grove City so we took a detour and got on I-270 at SR62 so we arrived around 12:30 p.m. at the Alton RV Park.

As an RV park it’s not much but it’s as close to Michelle and Eric as we’re going to get and the owner is very friendly and helpful. The sites are long and narrow but they have 50 amp and free wireless internet but no cable and it has a clear view of the southern sky. I guess I’m out of luck for cable until we’re in the south again next year unless we ante up for satellite. We’ll see.

We were set up by about 1:45 p.m.

For those of you that are interested in mileage that we have driven with Big Harv in tow, the total since we left Carleton Place on September 9, 2005 is 11477.1 miles added to the mileage since we started fulltiming in August 2004, the total is 20727.6 miles. Of course we’ve put a lot more miles on the truck, we’re now over 86,000 km.

After we got set up, Gordon went in to Michelle & Eric’s for a couple of hours. I stayed behind as I was tired but did manage to do a vacuum job and wiped up the floors, then I watched Desperate Housewives that we had taped from last night and had a nap. It was bright and sunny and reached about 70F with a light breeze.

Gordon got home about 5:00 p.m. and had a good time with his granddaughters. He took lots of photos. Hopefully I’ll have some for tomorrow’s blog.

My photo for today is of our site here at Alton RV Park.

Happy Easter!

Today was really lazy. I got up at 7:30 a.m. and Bib didn’t want to go out so I went back to bed and got up about 9:15 a.m. when he did want to go out. Then I read and went back to sleep on the couch.

This afternoon I spent reading both inside and outside and interneting before starting to get ready to go to Rick’s brother’s (Gordon’s sister’s husband) house for Easter dinner.

We left about 5:20 p.m. and went to the bank and then headed to Jim’s (Rick’s brother). We were early so we drove in to Mason, the small town where Jim lives and looked around there, then we drove to Jim’s. Lots of people there. Jim’s girlfriend, Nancy, Carla, (Jim and Rick’s sister), her husband, Ed, two daughters, Emily and Olivia and their two dogs were there as well as Jim’s son, Ryan and his fiancée, Christine, (Jim, Rick & Carla’s mother), Mary and then Carol and Rick arrived with Jim, (Rick, Jim & Carla’s father). There were also Nancy's two elderly daschunds and Jim's dog. Glad we didn't take Bib! It’s all too confusing! Anyway, we had a nice chat and a great meal, said our goodbyes and were home by 10:00 p.m. as we have to get ready to leave for Columbus in the morning.

I took some photos but none of them turned out that well so instead I’m posting a daffodil that I took the other day.

More humidity

Field of Dandelions

Violets and One Dandelion

Gordon with the deer

Deer in the morning mist

Deer frolicking in morning sunrise

We had a rotating thunderstorm last night that lasted from about 8:00 p.m. to the wee hours of the morning. Consequently poor Bib didn’t go outside until this morning at 7:15 a.m. He’s such a good boy. I thought he’d wake me during the night once the storm was over. At one point there was a tornado warning as well. I really miss the southwest!

I didn’t get much sleep. I went to bed but couldn’t breathe so I got up and did some reading and computering and then lay down on the couch about 2:30 a.m.

This morning when I took Bib out it was very misty and the sun was coming up. There were also six or eight deer that seemed almost tame but with the dog there they weren’t taking any chances. I’ve enclosed some photos of them.

I really enjoy seeing wildlife so close without having to leave the park so I think we’ll probably stick with this park and just try to arrange a better site next time.

Gordon and his sister, Carol went to the Cincinnati Conservatory today to photograph the flowers. I decided I didn’t have the energy so stayed at home with Bib and started to get some of the bills ready to cross the border. It’s a big job but I don’t want to wind up paying through the nose for duty and taxes like we did last year so it needs to be properly organized. I also read and went for a walk around the campground. It’s quite humid here again today.

When Gordon got back we both had a nap and then he got the BBQ out for the first time in a while and cooked up the burgers that I had in the freezer. If meat isn’t in it’s original package, there may be a problem crossing the border and I had the burgers made up and in a freezer bag.

It was a nice evening so we ate outside at the picnic table. That was really nice for a change.

The campground is pretty much full, I guess since it’s Easter weekend so it’s interesting to sit outside and watch what’s happening. The people across from us have a wire haired terrier puppy named Mickey Mouse. He’s so cute and also has no clue as to obedience.

The forecast tonight is for more thunderstorms!

It's Humid! We must be in Ohio!

We had a thunderstorm about 5:30 this morning.

I slept late. I think it was almost 10:00 a.m. when I finally got up. Thank goodness the dog didn’t want to go out early! I guess yesterday at Carol and Rick’s wore me out. After walking Bib and having breakfast, Bib and I sat outside for a while. It was a beautiful morning. If there hadn’t been a light breeze it would have been hot and humid.

After lunch we headed out to look at other campgrounds. Cedarbrook is the closest to where Carol lives and is within the Lebanon, OH town limits. The other campground that has a Lebanon address is Olive Branch. It’s quite a ways out of town and in the middle of nowhere. It’s also not the cleanest or prettiest campground I’ve seen and their daily rates are $40 for a back-in and $45 for a pull thru. They don’t have wifi, they don’t have cable. I don’t know how they can get away with charging that kind of money. Based on that $62 in Key West doesn’t sound all that bad! You could rent a motel room in most places around here for that! Nix that one!

Then we drove up to Waynesville. Gordon lived in Waynesville when he first got married and his daughter was born while they lived there. It’s quite a cute little town and claims to be the Antique Capital of the MidWest. We also saw the Frontier Campground but no one was around to talk to us and we drove to Caesar Creek State Park campground which is a possibility except it’s also in the middle of nowhere and quite far from where Carol and Rick live.

We were looking for a campground where they didn’t have many trees so setting up our internet satellite wouldn’t be such a problem. Gordon finally did get it working on Wednesday so we’re okay here but there are very few sites where we could see the satellite. We’re going to take note of those sites for next year.

There’s also a Travel Lodge motel in northern Cincinnati that has 15 RV spots that we want to check out too just so we’ve covered all our bases.

While we drove through Fort Ancient (on the highway) where they have Indian Burial mounds. We also drove past an interesting old tavern which is pictured above.
It was built in 1802 and was operated as The Cross Keys Tavern from 1809 to 1820 and is on the National Registry of Historic Places.

On our way back, Gordon dropped me at WalMart. We’ve needed groceries since we got here but my being in the hospital got in the way of a lot of things. I called him when I was going through the checkout and he picked me up and we went to Taco Bell for dinner. We should own shares in Taco Bell! We had some rain about the time he was coming to get me and when we were taking the groceries to the truck.

It’s cloudy, warm and humid tonight. You can tell we’re back in Ohio!

We Visit Carol & Rick

L to R: My husband, Gordon, his sister, Carol & her husband, Rick

View from Carol & Rick's yard

Today when I got up I had some breathing difficulty and was feeling shaky but I felt better after I was up and around. After walks and breakfast, I decided laundry had to be done so we drove the laundry down to the laundry room at the campground and it wasn’t too taxing but I was tired when I got back. We went for showers and then I sat outside in my chair with Bib for a while.

We were supposed to be at Carol’s for about 2:30 p.m. so we got ready and went over there. We sat and chatted for a while, then I lay down on Carol’s couch in her family room and had a nap. It’s a really comfortable couch! We walked around her yard and saw her spring flowers and then had a really nice dinner. We were home by about 8:30 p.m.

That was enough for me for today!

No posting for April 11th

My apologies for no posting yesterday but I had an excellent reason.

I woke up yesterday morning not feeling the best. I took the dog for his walk and then went for my walk but I was very short of breath and shaky so I came back to the RV and asked Gordon to look for a hospital nearby. We wound up at Bethesda Warren Emergency here in Lebanon at around 8:30 a.m. They were great people. I had five people working with me at once. At one point they gave me a morphine cocktail which made me really high and very sleepy so I slept most of the day.

They took me in right away, took all kinds of blood tests, EKG but they didn’t have a CT scan machine (they are moving in two weeks and will have it then) so they sent me to their hospital in Cincinnati, Bethesda North by ambulance. This was also my first ambulance ride. I went into Emergency at around 1:00 p.m. at Bethesda North, got my CT scan and thought I would be released. In fact one of the clinicians had said that since my CT scan was normal that I would be released. Then the doctor came by and said that my insurance had approved my overnight stay for observation and a stress test in the morning. They finally fed me. I hadn’t eaten all day, not even breakfast. They brought me some really tasty chicken noodle soup!

This was my first time staying overnight in a hospital. Imagine. 57 years old and never been in the hospital for anything serious. I consider myself to be extremely lucky!

Good things about staying in a hospital:

• They wait on you hand and foot


• They have really good cable TV


• They have an adjustable bed

Bad things about staying in a hospital:

• They take too much blood


• They wake you up to take more blood


• They wake you up to take blood pressure


• They starve you until your tests are finished

This morning they told me that my stress test would be at 10:30 a.m. and that I couldn’t eat until after the test so by the time the stress test was done and the heart photos done (this was done by nuclear medicine) and I got back to my room it was well after noon so I got lunch. Then about 2:00 p.m. I had to go back down for more heart photos, then back to my room to wait for results. About 5:15 p.m. the day nurse, Beth (really nice girl and really young) came in and told me that my stress test and photos were completely normal and that she had a call into the cardiologist for instructions but she felt that I would be going home today. The cardiologist came and talked to me, said all my tests were completely normal, he had no idea what the problem was and to increase my Nexium (I have GERD) to twice per day. For those of you that don’t know GERD is Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease. There is a possibility (probability in my opinion) that this is what has been causing my breathing difficulties and shortness of breath. I got released about 6:00 p.m. I have to say their food was pretty good when I finally got to eat but maybe it was because I was starving! I've never told the same story over and over and given out my birth date more often.

So, now I’m home, it’s hot, about 83F at 7:30 p.m! There’s talk of a thunderstorm tonight but it’s supposed to be a really nice day tomorrow.

Needless to say, we didn’t see Carol yesterday but plans are to go to her place for dinner tomorrow night. Unfortunately Lillian has a bit of a fever and Ian and Tracy have plans this weekend so we probably won’t see them until we’re in Columbus next week.

Sorry, no photos today.

Back in Ohio

We left Mulberry Grove, IL around 7:30 a.m. and arrived in Lebanon, OH around 2:15 p.m. We’re now back on Eastern time.

We had another nice day for traveling. We went through Indianapolis around 11:00 a.m. and traffic was fairly good. We arrived at Cincinnati around 1:00 p.m. and traffic on the bypass wasn’t too bad but we didn’t have far to travel.

When I called yesterday for a reservation at the Cedarbrook Campground in Lebanon I was told that they had no pull thrus and I asked for an easy back in. We probably had the worst time backing into our spot here than we have anywhere. The guide who took us to our spot probably should have just left and let us do it on our own. We’ve usually been fairly successful but it took almost an hour, I think to get parked. They have wifi internet here throughout the park thank goodness because the park is surrounded by trees and so far we haven’t been able to get our internet satellite set up. I really hate paying for it when we can’t use it. We’ve been lucky on our travels this year, I think there were only two places where we couldn’t use it, Banff and Chilliwack.

Anyway, we’re here safely and that’s what counts.

The photo today shows Gordon just coming out of the door of the RV and it shows our internet satellite set up but unfortunately that’s all it is, just set up not working.

Tomorrow we're going for lunch at Taco Bell with Gordon's sister, Carol.

We are both wiped out and have lots of mundane things to do like laundry, vacuum and get groceries, but not tonight!

We Officially Arrive in the East!

Timber Trails Campground, Mulberry Grove, IL

Gateway Arch, St. Louis, MO (taken from the truck en route)

We left America’s Best Campground in Branson, MO at 8:50 a.m. and headed east on I-44. The trip was uneventful except for getting through St. Louis. Driving through large cities is never fun but thank goodness it was Sunday.

We officially arrived in the east as we saw the Gateway Arch in St. Louis – Gateway to the West and then crossed the Mississippi River although we’re still in the Central time zone until we reach Ohio tomorrow. We took I-70 out of St. Louis and arrived at Mulberry Grove, IL around 2:30 p.m.

Our plans had been to stay at a Good Sam Park east of I-70 but when we were traveling I checked the Passport America book and found that the campground north of I-70 was a Passport America campground and only $15/night. We arrived and finding no one in the office, I called and got an answering machine. We were about to move to the other campground when we came upon some pull thrus that faced south so decided to go ahead and set up. As we parked a man came along on a tractor and since we had decided to stay here, paid him and got set up. Gordon then went to fill up with fuel so we can beat a hasty retreat in the morning to get through Cincinnati hopefully shortly after lunch.

I called and made a reservation for a week at Cedarbrook Campground in Lebanon, OH where we stayed in 2004 on our first trip in Big Harv. We are sort of between Dayton where Gordon's son and family live and Middletown where Gordon's sister lives but closer to his sister.

Tomorrow's trip is 318 miles.

I’m looking forward to staying in one spot for a week. I don’t really like packing up and moving daily.

There’s no cable here but our aerial gets ABC TV thank goodness so I get to see Desperate Housewives and Gray’s Anatomy tonight. I would not be a happy camper otherwise!