Into the Northeast - Ohio, Pennsyvania and New York

Hi there, welcome back. Our last episode concluded on Thursday, July 20^th, when arrived at the Tomorrow's Stars RV Resort near Springfield, Ohio after nearly three weeks of RV rallies in Indiana and Eastern Ohio. Friday we decided we needed a stay at home day as we had a lot of little chores and administrative tasks which had gone undone during our busy time at the rallies. We got a brief thunderstorm in the morning, but after that it was just hot and humid for the rest of the day. Both Jackie and I got a lot of things done. I made a pot of chili for dinner and we relaxed with the TV after dinner.

Saturday, July 22^nd, we left the coach about 11:00 and drove south and east from the RV park, headed to Cincinnati, Ohio. My niece Stephanie, her husband Jeremiah, and daughter Makayla live in Florence, Kentucky, which is just across the Ohio River from Cincinnati. Stephanie is the oldest daughter of my brother David, who lives in Virginia Beach. We visited Stephanie and her family two years ago when we were in the area, and were going to visit again on this trip. However, the timing of the rallies and other planned activities were such that the time period we were going to be able to go down there fell during her month long summer visit to Virginia Beach to see her family. When we figured out that Springfield, Ohio is less than a hundred miles to Cincinnati, and that Stephanie and Makayla had just gotten back home from Virginia Beach, we contacted her and made arrangements to meet for lunch in Cincinnati today. It took about an hour and a half to drive the 84 miles to near downtown Cincinnati. Jeremiah had picked out a place called Alabama Que which was located in the Short Vine neighborhood, a street with all sorts of restaurants and bars. We got there a little early and stopped at a nearby huge cemetery and picked up a couple of geocaches.

Stephanie and family arrived shortly after we did and we went in the restaurant. It is a little hole in the wall with only four tables, most of their business being take out. I thought it was great food. I had the pulled pork, with cole slaw and mac and cheese and it was wonderful. Everyone else had something called turkey tips, which Jackie said was good, but not outstanding. We had a great visit and stayed for about ninety minutes. Jackie was fighting a little upset stomach, so after our visit we got back in the car and headed back to the RV park, getting home around 4:00. We spent the rest of the evening in the coach. It was really great getting to see family, especially when we didn't think that we were going to be able to make it happen this trip.

Sunday, July 23^rd, another travel day. We were packed up and on the road about 10:30, heading northeast about 145 miles to Seville, Ohio, a small town about 20 miles west of Akron. The trip was nearly all freeway and went well. We had a brief, maybe 20 minutes, heavy rain shower as we were passing by Columbus, Ohio, but the last half of the trip was dry. We checked into the Maple Lake RV park about 1:30 and got a nice spot with a view of the lake. We got set up and then just relaxed for the rest of the day. We will be here for three days. We are now the furthest east we have been with the coach since 2006, our first full year on the road.

Monday, July 24^th, we left the coach after lunch for a day of exploring and geocaching. For the first time in a few weeks we had a cooler day with lower humidity and little threat of rain. Our first stop for the day was an old Mennonite cemetery about a mile from the campground where we found our first cache. We then traveled east about 25 miles to Akron, Ohio, where we drove around for about a half hour, just sight-seeing. Akron has a population of about 200,000 that was founded in the early 1800's along the Ohio Canal. In the early 1900's it became famous as the Rubber Capitol of the U.S. when the expanding auto industry's demand for rubber tires increased. At one time the four major U.S. tire manufacturers, Goodrich, Goodyear, General and Firestone were all headquarted, and manufactured most of their products, in and around Akron. Now Goodyear is the only one as much of the tire industry has moved overseas. After our brief tour we stopped so Jackie could get a haircut and we got our second cache of the day in the parking lot. We then visited the Akron-Cuyahoga Falls Elks Lodge. We had a couple of cocktails and a very nice visit with the bartender, who was very familiar with the Coachella Valley having been married to a Marine stationed at 29 Palms back in the 80's. Unfortunately, they didn't have a lodge pin, about the fourth lodge we have visited recently without one. We left the Elks Lodge and started back towards the RV park, stopping at Walmart and KFC along the way. Once we got back to the coach we had dinner and relaxed with the TV for the rest of the evening.

Tuesday, July 25^th, Jackie's brother Dennis' birthday. Happy Birthday Bro. We left the coach after lunch with the promise of another cool, dry day. We went to Seville, Ohio, the town in which we are staying, and drove around for a little while exploring. It is a small town of less than 2,500, so it didn't take long. We did a few caches, then headed south towards the town of Wooster, about 29 miles south of Seville. Wooster is a little larger city of about 27,000, founded in 1808. Lots of neat old turn of the century and even older homes. We stopped at the Wooster Elks which is located right downtown. The Elks building is an old home, built in 1868, which has been enlarged and remodeled, but it still pretty. The Elks bought the building in 1928 and have been there since. This was a very friendly lodge and I had a long chat with a Past ER who gave me a lot of the history of the lodge. It is a good size lodge, with about 800 members. We had a drink and got a lodge pin before heading on our way.

After the lodge visit we did a couple of geocaches in town, then headed west to the town of Ashville, Ohio, about 25 miles away. Ashville is a smaller town, about 4,300 population, founded in the late 1800's. It is mostly a farming support town. We stopped at the Ashville Elks Lodge and found another friendly lodge, also with about 800 members. This lodge was located in more modern building, but still downtown. We had a couple of drinks here and also got a lodge pin for our banner. After the visit we did a few geocaches, ending up with seven new finds for the day. We then headed back to the coach and relaxed for the rest of the night.

Wednesday, July 26^th, another travel day. We were packed up and on the road by 10:30, heading about 110 miles northeast to Conneaut, Ohio, the most northeastern town in Ohio, with Lake Erie to the north and a little piece of Pennsylvania to the east. The day was beautiful and the trip fairly easy, mostly freeway, although there was some construction. We arrived at the Evergreen Lake Campground around 1:00 and quickly got settled into our spot for another three day stay. After we got set up we went out to do some exploration of the area, heading first, of course, to the shore of Lake Erie. The lake is 241 miles long and nearly 60 miles across, so it looks like the ocean when you are standing on the shore. However, the deepest spot in the lake is only 210 feet. We drove west along the lake front, looking at houses and driving through a few more small towns, we then found another road to take us back east to Conneaut, where we drove around and stopped at the Chamber of Commerce to pick up some information. Conneaut has a population of around 13,000 and claims to be located in the “sharpest corner of Ohio.” After looking around town we went back to the campground and relaxed the rest of the evening.

Thursday, July 27^th, we left the coach about 11:00 and headed southeast into Pennsylvania for a day of exploring and geocaching. There is a little forty mile wide “panhandle” of Pennsylvania that juts north, separating Ohio and New York and giving Pennsylvania some Lake Erie Shoreline. Pennsylvania is one of 15 states in which we have not geocached and we wanted to be sure to get a cache there. When we leave Conneaut tomorrow we will be going to the Niagara Falls area of New York and won't be passing through Pennsylvania again. Our first stop was the town of Conneaut Lake, Pennsylvania, where we stopped at the Miller Food Company restaurant for lunch. Actually, I had lunch, a Philly Steak sandwich, Jackie had an omelet. The food was good, the portions huge and the price right. After lunch we explored Conneaut Lake, the largest natural lake fully within Pennsylvania, and did some geocaching. We then spent the next couple of hours slowly driving north and west, caching and looking around all the little towns and villages, including Conneautville. In case you hadn't noticed, a lot of things have “Conneaut” in the name, because this is the Conneaut River Valley. We ended up with a dozen new finds, and three DNFs. Out goal for this summer trip is to both travel with the coach through the nine states we have not been in yet, as well as to be able to say we have found caches in all 50 states. After we got back into Ohio we drove to the Conneaut Elks Lodge for a cocktail. They were a very friendly crowd and even bought our drinks for us and gave us a lodge pin. It is an old lodge, #256, chartered in 1889, but they are now down to less than 200 members. We had one drink, then went back to the campground and stayed in the coach the rest of the evening.

Friday, July 28^th, we left the coach after lunch and went out to do some more caching and exploring. This time we stayed on the Ohio side of the line. We headed west towards the Ashtabula Elks Lodge, about 20 mile from the campground. On the way we did some caching, getting eight new finds, and one DNF, in the process. We stopped at the Astabula Lodge, which has a very nice building right on the shore of Lake Erie. There is a nice patio area overlooking the lake, although today was very windy and quite cool, so we stayed indoors. This lodge also has around 800 members and was very friendly. We had a great chat with a couple of members and the bartender. We had a drink and were able to get a lodge pin.

We also found that there was a motor home parked in the parking lot with Nevada plates and the members at the bar said that they had been in the lodge the other day and were from Nevada. There was no one around when we left, so we left a card on their coach. They called us later and introduced themselves, telling us they are from Northern Nevada, near Reno. They are going to be at the Northeast Rally in Syracuse next week, so we will see them and meet them there. After the lodge visit we went to the mall so Jackie could get a pedicure. I shopped a little while she was busy. After the mall we stopped at Walmart for some supplies then headed back to the campground where we stayed in the rest of the evening.

Saturday, July 29^th, another travel day. We were packed up and on the road about 10:30, heading about 150 miles northeast, along the shore of Lake Erie, to Lockport, New York, located about 20 miles from Niagara Falls and about 20 miles north of Buffalo, New York. We arrived at the Niagara Lazy Lakes Campground about 1:00 after an uneventful trip. We got settled into a nice spot and spent the rest of the day getting set up and then relaxing. We are going to be here for five days, playing tourist around the Niagara Falls area.

Sunday, July 30^th, we left the coach about 10:30 and drove into Niagara Falls, New York for the day. We stopped at a local cafe, the Brown Bear Diner, for breakfast first. The food was quite good and the people very friendly. After breakfast we drove to Niagara Falls State Park. As you might expect, the place was very busy and the parking lot in the State Park was full by the time we got there. We did find parking in a nearby city parking garage for the same price, $20 flat rate for the day. We then walked the one block to the State Park. A brief introduction of the area. The Niagara Falls are on the Niagara River, which flows from Lake Erie north into Lake Ontario. All of the outflow from four of the five great lakes flows to Lake Ontario via the river, causing three to six million cubic feet of water to flow over the falls every minute. There are three falls, the largest, Horseshoe Falls, is mostly within Canada's border, although there is some dispute as to the exact point the border transects it. The smaller American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls are within the America border. I have been to Niagara Falls twice in my lifetime, once when I was about six years old and still living in Milwaukee, and again with family back in the mid 80's. Jackie has never been here and was really excited to be able to see the falls.

Our first adventure was the Maid of the Mist tour boat ride. These boats have been giving tours below the falls since 1848. You buy your tickets and then go out to an observation tower which contains four elevators that take you 200 feet from the plateau to the Niagara Gorge below the falls. They give you flimsy blue plastic rain poncho's before you queue up to get on the boat. They have two boats that each carry 300 passengers which alternate, with one loading up and going out every 15 minutes, so there is little waiting, even when it is busy. On the Canadian side there is a similar operation, but, of course, their ponchos are red. The boat only goes about a half mile or so from the dock to the base of the Horseshoe Falls, but the views are breathtaking. You also give your poncho a good workout because you get within a hundred yards of the falls and the mist is like a hard rain falling. After the maid of the mist we got on the trolley that takes you all over the park and went over to Goat Island, which is the piece of land that separates the American and Canadian falls. We walked around the area and took a bunch of pictures. We finished the sight-seeing tour on the trolley, then walked back to our car and drove around town for a bit. We did some geocaching, getting two finds and one DNF. This was our first cache in New York State, yea! We were going to visit one of the local Elks Lodges, but being Sunday they were closed. We headed back to the campground, getting home around 6:00 or so and then stayed in the rest of the evening.

Monday, July 31^st, we left the coach about 11:30, after lunch, and drove back down to the Niagara Falls area. We crossed the Rainbow Bridge, just up river from the falls, to spend the day in Canada. We first drove around Niagara, Ontario doing some sight-seeing. We then stopped at the Skylon Tower, a 520 foot tall tower with an observation deck and rotating restaurant on top. We bought tickets and went up to the observation deck which offers the absolute best views of the falls and the surrounding area. We spent about 40 minutes in the tower, then went back down to

ground level and did some shopping in the mall there. After shopping we got back to the car and did some more drive around touring in Niagara, Ontario, including getting one geocache there. We then drove northwest to the town of Niagara on the Lake. This is an old, and VERY upscale, community located right on the shores of Lake Ontario where the Niagara River empties into the lake. There are numerous wineries in the area, as well as some historic forts and buildings, and lots of very expensive homes. After touring Niagara on the Lake we continued to the town of St. Catherine's and stopped at the Canadian Superstore there. Jackie wanted to see if they still sold escargot. Back in 2009, before our tour of Alaska, we spent six weeks in British Columbia and loved the Canadian Superstores. We bought lots of cans of escargot, which are really hard to find in the States, along with their seasoning mix. Unfortunately, this store did not carry escargot. We left the store and started back towards the border crossing, running into a torrential downpour which went on for 20 miles. We crossed back into the states and headed back to the RV park. We got home around 5:30 and spent the rest of the evening at home. All the rain, including the storm we drove through, passed south of the campground, so we had a dry evening.

Tuesday, August 1^st, we left the coach about 10:00 to do some more exploring in the area. Today we went to Lockport, New York, the city that is the mailing address for the campground we are in. Lockport is a small city, about 22,000 population, that was first settled in 1820 when the route of the Erie Canal was determined and it was at that point that a series of five locks would be required to carry the canal over a high point on the route. Hence the name, Lockport. The Erie Canal when first built ran 363 miles from Albany, New York, on the Hudson River, to Buffalo, New York, where it entered Lake Erie. The route required 35 locks to move traffic up and down to match the terrain. This “water road” would cut the cost of transportation of goods across New York by 95 percent. By the early 20^th century the original usefulness of the canal had been superseded by newer and larger barge canals and railroads. Now it is maintained in bits and pieces as recreational and tourism and it's historical value. Lockport has a very long section of canal that is still operational, both the old, original set of five locks, and the newer 20^th century set of two locks.

Our first stop was at the Lockport Caves tour. This tourist attraction is focused on the 19^th century hydraulic raceway that was constructed to provide power for a variety of industries in Lockport. A tunnel was dug that ran parallel to the canal and took advantage of the 55 foot drop in the Niagara River at that point. The half mile tunnel provided power through a series of water wheels which in turn drove the machinery in the factories. This was not hydroelectric power, which came later, but rather just mechanical power created by flowing water. The tour was over an hour and included an above ground portion around the canal locks, with the guide providing a lot of history about the Erie Canal and Lockport, and a walking and boat tour through the ten foot diameter tunnel that served as the hydraulic race back in the day. The tour was very interesting and informative and we really enjoyed it.

After the tour we had lunch at a local place called Lock 34, that had very good Yelp ratings. I had a steak sandwich and Jackie had a chicken ciabatta, and both of us thought the food was excellent. I also had a bowl of French Onion soup that was the best I have ever had. After lunch we got a couple of geocaches then went and did our laundry in town. After the clothes were clean we did a Walmart run, then went to the Lockport Elks Lodge. This is an old lodge, number 41. They have a newer building on the outskirts of town and were pretty busy. We had a couple of cocktails, got a lodge pin, and then left and headed back to the campground where we stayed in the rest of the night. A very busy, but very interesting and fun day exploring and getting chores done.

Wednesday, August 2^nd, another travel day. We were originally going to stay here in Lockport for five days, but our next stop is the FMCA Northeast Area Rally in Syracuse, New York, and we wanted to get there on one of the early parking days so that we would be sure not to miss any activities that may start on the first day of the rally, Thursday. We were packed up and on the road by 10:00, traveling about 160 miles east on the New York Thruway to the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse. The trip was uneventful, although I think $24 was a little steep for the tolls, especially given the condition of the road for much of the trip. We arrived at the Fairgrounds around 1:00 and were quickly parked. This venue has a large RV park and all of the rally participants are parked in this area. The sign up only promised 30 amp electric and water, but each set of four sites has some 50 amp power and a couple of sewer hookups. We were parked early and were able to connect to the 50 amp service and sewer. Yea! It was really hot and our bedroom air conditioner is on the fritz, so we spent the afternoon trying to cool down after getting set up. The actual rally starts tomorrow. We just did some burgers on the BBQ for dinner and watched TV until bedtime.

Thursday, August 3^rd, the first day of the rally. I went down to the events area about 8:00 to pick up our welcome bag which would have the rally schedules in it. We needed it so we would know what we were going to be doing today. There really wasn't anything on the schedule until after lunch, so we had lunch in the coach, then went down to the events area. We picked up our rally pins and then walked through the vendor area for about an hour. They only have a couple dozen vendors here, not a real big turnout. I bought a couple of shirts from the FMCA booth and Jackie bought some jewelry, but other than that we didn't spend much. About 2:30 we went to one of the seminars on smartphones, put on by the Geeks on Tour group. We have been to their seminars at other rallies and they always put on informative and fun talks. After the seminar was over we went back to the coach and relaxed for a while. We had an early dinner and at a little after 6:00 we walked over to the big tent where the entertainment would be and got a seat. They started the evening with a Parade of Chapters, but it wasn't anything at all like we have at the Western Area rally in Indio, with floats and costumes. This was just some of the Northeast Area chapters walking in with their banners and signs. They did a brief tribute to the military and veterans, then had the welcoming remarks from the Area Vice President and the FMCA National President. The entertainment then started. Tonight it was a couple of singers, impressionists really, who were doing a tribute to Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra. The guy doing Sinatra really did sound a lot like the young Sinatra, and even had a passing resemblance. The other guy looked more like Robert De Niro and didn't sound too much like Dean Martin either. However, he did have a good voice and they started to put on a good show. They did a few songs together, and then each did a few solos. About halfway through the show it started to rain, but after about ten minutes a real storm moved in, wind, torrential rain, thunder and lightening. They stopped the show and then announced that because of the winds they were evacuating the tent. We had to walk back to the coach, a block or so, in the pouring rain. We were soaked when we got back to the coach, and ironically, just as we got there the rain quit. It didn't rain the rest of the night. Oh well, another RVing adventure. We watched TV and relaxed the rest of the night.

Friday, August 4^th, we went down to the activities area about 10:00 to attend some seminars. I went to one on computer backups and Jackie went to another by the Geeks about smartphones. Around 11:00 we were done with the seminars, so we got into the car and drove off the fairgrounds for the first time and went to Walmart for some supplies. After Walmart we stopped at Azteca, a local Mexican food place. The food was OK, not real Southwestern Sonoran of course, but OK. It is New York, after all, and they have a different idea of what Mexican tastes like. We went back to the coach, put stuff away and went back down to the activities area. Jackie walked around the vendors again and I sat for a while in the Chapter Fair area as a representative, sort of, of the Military Veterans and Full Timers chapters. A Chapter Fair is usually something at most Area rallies where the chapters of that Area set up tables and advertise their chapters for a couple of hours. Of course, we don't belong to any Northeast Area chapters, but the International Area, where most of our Chapters are based, did have a table set up and that's where I sat. The Ice Cream social started at the same time and in the same room as the Chapter Fair, so there were a lot of people around. However, the Chapter Fair didn't draw much attention and after the ice cream stopped no one was around, so I left.

We went back to the coach for a while and around 5:00 we walked over to the coach that we had seen at the Elks Lodge in Ohio last week. They were the people from Nevada that we talked to on the phone and made arrangements to get together here at the rally. They are parked just around the corner from us. We finally met Steve and Gail Piche and sat outside and talked. Steve made a pitcher of margaritas and we brought some chips and salsa and we had a little happy hour. Steve is a retired contractor and Gail is a real estate agent. They were originally California folk, but like us moved to Nevada when they retired, although they are outside or Reno up in Northern Nevada. We had a great visit and left about 6:30 so we could go to the entertainment. Tonight was the same singer that was the Dean Martin impressionist last night, and the singer who did Sinatra stayed over and also came out and did a few numbers. Again, they only got about half way through their show when it looked like storms moving in. Unlike last night, they shut down the show and sent everyone back to their coaches before the rain, based on the radar indications and warnings. Of course, the storms collapsed before they got to the fairgrounds and all we got was about an hour of fairly light rain with little wind. Better safe than sorry I guess. We watched TV for a while and then went to bed.

Saturday, August 5^th, the last day of the rally. There were no seminars we were interested in so we left the coach about 10:30 and drove to the regional farmer's market. This was a very large market, set up in six or seven different buildings. It took us about an hour to got through it. This was a real farmer's market in that it was about 90 percent fruits and vegetables, with an occasional booth for clothes, jewelry and other stuff. We bought a few produce items and had a breakfast sandwich at one of the food booths. After the farmer's market we went to the large mall across the street and went through the Penny's store. We also got one geocache and also on DNF for the day. We went back to the coach and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. At 4:00 we went down to the events area for the BBQ. When we signed up for the rally we had to also sign up for what they called the “Dinosaur BBQ” event. The tickets were pricey, $25 a person, but they said it was good BBQ and all you can eat, so we bought them.

Turns out Dinosaur BBQ is the name of the company, a catering company that provides food for the Buffalo Bills football team, among others. We went through the line and got a quarter of a BBQ chicken, three rib bones, some small white potatoes, salad and corn bread. The ribs were excellent, fall of the bone tender. The chicken was overcooked and there was no butter for the corn bread or potatoes. To top it off, they ran out of food, so it was not all you can eat either. NOT a $50 meal by any stretch, we were very disappointed. At 7:00 we were back for the entertainment. It was still the same male singer, but tonight he had a female that joined him. She had toured for years with a country tribute group, doing Patsy Cline impressions, and she was outstanding. The best part was, they got through the entire show tonight, no rain. Yea! By 9:30 we were back in the coach, watched a little TV and then went to bed.

Sunday, August 6^th, a travel day. We were packed up and on the road by about 10:30, happy to be on our own again. This rally was not as enjoyable as some others we have been to. Partly because they had some organizational and logistical problems, the weather was bad, and frankly we found these east coast people to be generally rude and snobbish. Not everyone, but more so than we find in the Midwest and west. We headed east on the New York thruway again, about 130 miles to Glenville, New York, a small suburb of Schenectady. We checked into the Arrowhead RV Park, which is a very pretty, wooded park right on the shore of the Mohawk River. Unfortunately, the wooded part means that we have no access for our satellite TV. Fortunately, we are close enough to Albany and Schenectady to get decent over the air TV, so we won't miss everything. We got set up and just relaxed for the rest of the day. We will be here for three nights.

Monday, August 7^th, we left the coach about noon, after lunch, and headed out to do some exploring. We drove south on one of the state highways that runs through the middle of Schenectady right down into the heart of Albany. Albany, the New York State Capitol, was only about 20 miles south of the campground. After we got into Albany we spent about an hour driving around the downtown and Capitol plaza ar
ea. New York has a very non-traditional state capitol building, which looks more like an ornate and very large courthouse rather than a domed building like most states have. Albany has a population of a little under 100,000 and was incorporated in early colonial times in the late 1600's. The Capitol building was completed in 1899. Albany also sets on the Hudson River and we walked around one of the riverfront parks for a bit. The Erie Canal, the route of which we have been following for the last week or so, began at the Hudson right near downtown.

After driving around Albany for a while we went to the Albany Elks Lodge, Lodge 41. They have a very nice building about two miles from the capitol mall, and we had a nice visit. There were a half dozen members in the bar and they were quite friendly, giving us a lot of the history of the city and the lodge. This lodge had a little under 400 members. We had a drink and were able to get a lodge pin for our banner. After we left the Albany Lodge, we started northwest, back towards the campground, and stopped at the Guilderland Elks Lodge. This was a newer lodge, chartered in the 1970's, and had about 600 members. This was also a very friendly lodge and we had a drink and got another pin for our banner. We left the Guilderland Lodge and continued northwest to the Rotterdam Elks, another newer lodge. This is the largest large in the State of New York, with almost 1,700 members, although there were only a handful in the bar. This lodge was not quite as friendly, but there was one guy who was very nice and talked to us while we sat at the bar. We had a couple of drinks, and got another lodge pin. This was our first Elks “pub crawl” in while and we were happy to be able to get pins from all three lodges. After our last lodge visit we went back to the campground and did some steaks on the BBQ for dinner. We then watched some TV and went to bed.

Tuesday, August 8th, my late mother's birthday. We left the coach after lunch and tried to do some geocaching. We struck out with the first three caches before finally finding one. Yea! We decided one was enough for the day. We went to Sam's Club for a few things, then stopped at the nearby Walmart for some more stuff. We drove around Schenectady and it's suburbs for a while, then went back to the coach. We had dinner and watched TV until bedtime.

Tomorrow is another travel day, leaving New York and going to Pittsfield, Massachusetts where we will spend a week with a long time close friend of Jackie's. Our last night in New York marks a good spot to close out this chapter and get it published. Until next time, ponder the words of the Indian poet Sanober Khan.“ Like a speeding train I am passing by... I don’t know where I’m heading, with whom, or why. All I know is that I will never, ever pass from here again. All I know is I’m skidding forward
on this track of life.” Enjoy the ride folks, see ya soon.

Time With Family and RV Rallies in the Midwest

Hello again readers, welcome back. Our last chapter concluded on Monday, June 26^th, while we were in Remington, Indiana enjoying our last day at the Caboose Lake Campground. Tuesday, June 27^th, was yet another travel day. We were up and out by about 10:30, heading about 110 miles north and east to Bremen, Indiana, another small farming community in North-Central Indiana. We arrived at the Pla-Mor Campground just outside of town about 12:30 and quickly got settled in for our four day stay. They gave us one of the nicer spots that we have had in a while, a very large grass site with a concrete pad and patio and with nice views. The primary reason for our being here is that my niece, Raquel Disch, her son Malakai, and boyfriend Josh Reed, live in Warsaw, Indiana, a slightly larger town about a half hour southeast of Bremen. We would have liked to have been closer, but because of the looming Fourth of July holiday all of the parks closer to Warsaw had no vacancies.

After we got setup we relaxed for a bit and then around 5:30 we left and drove down to Warsaw to visit with Raquel and family and then go on into Fort Wayne, Indiana for a minor league baseball game. Raquel had contacted us yesterday and told us that the Fort Wayne Tin Caps, the San Diego Padres farm team, was having their annual Military Appreciation Night tonight and they were giving free tickets to veterans. They said that they, Raquel and Josh, were going and that Raquel's brother Rusty Disch and his wife would also be there. We wanted to take the opportunity to see Rusty as we had not seen him since my mother's funeral in 2009. Raquel and Rusty are kids of my brother Russ Disch who lives in Las Vegas. Rusty is a veteran of Army who was a combat medic in the Gulf and Raquel's boyfriend Josh is an active duty Army Staff Sergeant who is currently on recruiting duty in Warsaw. His “normal” duty was as a crew chief for an Apache attack helicopter.

We got to Raquel's place and found that three of Josh's four kids from previous marriages were also staying with them while Josh was on ten days leave. We visited for a while then we all drove into Fort Wayne, which was another 45 miles southeast. We went in our car because we figured that we would probably leave before the end of the game because we had over 60 miles to drive back to the RV park. We arrived at the nice, new stadium for the Tin Caps, picked up our free tickets and got into our seats just as the game was starting. Rusty and his wife Nichole, as well as Rusty's son Brayden from a previous marriage, met us just before we went in. We had a great time watching the game and talking a little bit, but with the game, the crowd and all the kids, it was fun but not much of a visit. Fortunately, we still have three days here to catch up. We did get one geocache that was hidden inside of the ballpark. They were able to hide it inside because the ballpark is an official city park and is open to the public whenever there is no game or other paid event going on there. We left during the seventh inning stretch, which was about a quarter to ten. It was just getting completely dark so we decided we should leave. When we left the score was eight to four with the Tin Caps losing to the Chicago Cubs farm team from South Bend, Indiana, but we later found out that the local team rallied and won twelve to nine. We didn't encounter too much traffic going home and got back to the coach about 11:30 and went to bed.

Wednesday, June 28^th, we left the coach about 1:30 or so and drove back to Warsaw to spent the afternoon and evening with the family. After we got there we went to Walmart and picked up stuff for a BBQ and then later in the afternoon put everything on the grill. Rusty and Nichole drove up for the gathering too, so we had everyone together again, in an environment that was much more conducive to visiting than it was at the game last night. We had a lot of food, talked a lot and had a great time. We finally left about 7:30 and drove back to the park where we relaxed until bedtime.

Thursday, June 29^th, we drove into Bremen after lunch to pick up a few things at the grocery store for dinner tonight and while we were there we did a couple of geocaches in town. We spent the rest of the afternoon in the coach, doing a few chores and relaxing. About 6:00 Raquel, Josh and all the kids came over to visit and have a Mexican feast. I had made a bunch of taco meat and we also had some carne beef and chicken, along with the usual rice, beans, salsa, chips and guacamole. Josh and the kids took advantage of the huge grass area around our coach to play some ball. About 7:30 we had dinner and everyone seemed to enjoy the food. It was a great visit with family again. About 8:30 they packed up and headed back to Warsaw, just in time as it seems since just after they left a few mild storms blew through and got everything wet. We watched TV until bedtime.

Friday, June 30^th, we left the coach after lunch and drove back to Warsaw so Jackie could get a haircut and pedicure and we could do a Walmart run. We also thought we could visit the Warsaw Elks Lodge. By 3:30 or so we were done with all our chores and we drove over to Raquel's place to say goodbye since we are leaving the area tomorrow. We didn't stay long, maybe 15 minutes, but when we walked out the door it was pouring down rain. We decided to not try to go to the Elks in Warsaw, but instead headed for home, worried that it was raining as hard in Bremen and concerned about possible leaks in the coach. As it turned out, it had just barely sprinkled in Bremen and coach was fine. We put away the groceries and then decided to visit the Elks Lodge in Plymouth, another small town about 19 miles southwest of Bremen.

The Plymouth lodge was located in a country club area and was right adjacent to a very nice golf course, although the lodge didn't have anything to do with the golf course. It is a small lodge, less than a hundred members, but on Friday they do a full menu dinner and the restaurant and bar is open to the public. It turns out to be a very poplar place for the locals and the within an hour or our getting there the lodge had at least a sixty customers or more. The members we were sitting with at the bar were very friendly and we met the lodge secretary and one of the chair officers. They didn't have any lodge pins, but the secretary said they were on order and that she would send us one when they came in. We gave her a card. We decided to stay for dinner and both of us had fish. I had the all you can eat and Jackie had the fish basket. It came with a salad and the fish was outstanding, some of the best I have had. We left about 7:30 or so, went back to the coach and relaxed the rest of the evening.

Saturday, July 1^st, half way through the year already! Today was another travel day and we were packed up and on the road by 9:30. Today we were going about 132 miles southeast to Celina, Ohio, just across the border from Indiana, to attend the Monaco International Chapter rally at the fairgrounds. We made a fuel stop on the way and had an uneventful trip, arriving at the fairgrounds just before 1:00. The parking crew quickly took us to our parking spot, which is on grass, as are all the spots at this venue. This could be troublesome if the rains continue, but we are going to be here at this rally for eleven days, so we have plenty of time to figure things out. It is unusual to be at a rally that long, but it is because we took advantage of four inexpensive days of early parking. The rally organizers set that up so that people wouldn't have to travel over the holiday weekend. The actual rally doesn't start until Wednesday, the fifth. We spent the rest of the afternoon getting set up for our stay and then relaxed for the remainder of the afternoon and evening.

Sunday, July 2nd, I went out and got a Sunday paper and we enjoyed the morning with the paper and coffee. After lunch we went out to do some exploring and geocaching. Celina is located on the western shore of Grand Lake St. Mary, the largest inland lake in Ohio. Grand Lake St. Mary is a roughly rectangular, man-made lake about 8 miles long by 3 miles wide, covering some 13,500 acres. Grand Lake St. Marys was constructed in the early 1899's as a reservoir for the Miami and Erie Canal, which connected the Ohio River with Lake Erie. At one time the lake was the world's largest man-made lake and was dug totally by manual labor. For this reason it's average depth is only 5 to 7 feet. The canal system thrived for about thirty years in the mid-to-late 19th century before it was replaced by the railroads. In the 1890s oil was discovered in the area, and oil derricks were set up in the lake sometime around 1891. This made Grand Lake the location for the first off shore oil drilling to take place. The lake is now a thriving recreation area.

We did some geocaching, getting four new finds and one DNF, as well as exploring the area. We drove the nine miles east to the town of St. Mary's, which sets on the eastern shore of the lake and explored that town as well. After we got back to Celina we stopped at Walmart for a few things, then went back to the coach for the rest of the day. We sat outside in the shade for a while and enjoyed the nice day, then ordered some pizza from a local place. We hung around the coach the rest of the evening.

Monday, July 3^rd, we went out after lunch and drove to the local community hospital so Jackie could go into the ER and see about her knee pain. She thought just maybe she could get another cortisone shot. The last one she got was in April back in California and her knee pain has been acting up again the last couple weeks. The hospital was in a neighboring town, Coldwater, Ohio, and was a very nice facility. There was no wait and she got right in. They examined her, gave her an ultrasound of her lower leg to rule out a blood clot, but would not give her a cortisone shot because she has had three already this year. They gave her another prescription for an anti-inflammatory and recommended ice and elevation. We went to Walmart and filled her prescription, after getting one geocache for the day in Coldwater. After the Walmart run we went back to the coach and relaxed. At happy hour we went out and visited with a large Monaco Chapter from the Southeast Area that is here at the Monaco International rally. They are the Monaco Travelers and they seem like a really fun group. We are going to join, just so we can party with them during this rally. We visited with them for a while, then walked around the campground and visited with other friends before going back to the coach and watching TV until bedtime.

Tuesday, July 4^th, Happy Independence Day! Since the rally here actually starts tomorrow, and we go straight from this rally to the FMCA rally in Indianapolis, we decided to do our laundry today. We figured that the laundromat wouldn't be busy today and we were right, there was only one other couple there when we went after lunch. By 3:00 we were finished with our laundry and back at the coach putting stuff away. At about 4:30 we went for happy hour with the Monaco Travelers after giving them a check and joining the chapter. We had a nice visit and about 6:00 they brought in pizza for the group for dinner. Everything was finished about 7:00 and we went back to the coach and relaxed the rest of the evening.

Wednesday, July 5^th, the first actual day of the rally. At 9:00 we went down to the events area and visited the vendors, which didn't take long as there are only a half dozen or so at this small rally. I also signed up to get the waste tanks emptied on Sunday, the last day of the rally, as we are going right to the FMCA rally in Indianapolis on Monday, and we have no hookups there either. We took care of a few other admin items and I picked up a couple of Monaco shirts from the manufacturer's booth. We went back to the coach and had lunch and then Jackie went to a seminar at 1:00 on women in RVing. At 2:00 we both went to a seminar on slide floor rotting. It seems that Monaco, because of the way they constructed there slide-outs, is prone to having the plastic laminate on the outside of the slide floor come loose and allow water in to rot the plywood floor. It was a little scary and I signed up to have the guy come out and inspect our coach to see if we had problems brewing. At 5:00 there was a BBQ outside sponsored by Paul Everett, the RV sales company that comes to all the Monaco and FMCA rallies. They had hamburgers, hot dogs, beans and slaw and the food was really quite good. We sat and ate and talked with some friends and had a good time. About 6:30 everything was done and we went back to the coach and relaxed the rest of the evening.

Thursday, July 6^th, we went down to the dining hall a little after 8:00 for breakfast. The rally fees for Monaco rallies includes breakfast for the four days of the actual rally and we decided that we were going to start to take advantage. After breakfast we went to a meeting of the volunteer mentors, something that we have done at most Monaco rallies. At Monaco rallies if you are a first time attendee they assign you a mentoring couple that meets with you the first day of the rally and kind of shows you the ropes. We had some very nice people mentor us in 2006 at our first rally and we have been doing it since. We had two couples, one from Georgia who were new to RVing and another couple who have been members of FMCA for a while but are just new to Monaco. After the first timer's meeting we went back to the coach and relaxed for a while. At 12:30 Jackie went to the Ladies Luncheon and at 2:00 I went to the Monaco International Board of Directors meeting. As a Regional Director for MI, I am part of the board. We were both done with everything by 3:00 and went back to the coach for a bit. About 5:00 we went back to the dining hall for the social hour, dinner and evening entertainment.

The first evening they set up the tables so you sit with the couples you are mentoring, so we had our two couples with us at our table. We had a good time getting to know them during the social hour and dinner. As usual there was an open bar and salad bar first. About 6:00 they had announcements and then dinner. The dinner was good, beef and chicken, potatoes and peas. About 7:00 the entertainment started and it was a trio of a father and his daughter and son. They were outstanding musicians and singers and put on a great show of 50's and 60's music and country music. The dad was one of the best guitar players I have ever heard. At many shows at these rallies people start to leave as soon as the show starts. Tonight I don't think anybody left early. They finished the show around 9:00 and the room was still packed. Lots of dancers and everyone had a great time. We went back to the coach, watched an hour of TV and went to bed.

Friday, July 7^th, we again went to breakfast about 8:30 and then back to the coach for a little while. About 10:00 we went to a briefing by some of the executives of REV Group, the company that now owns Monaco Coach. REV also owns Fleetwood Coaches, American Coach, and several other smaller motorhome companies. They bought Monaco and Holiday Rambler from Navistar several years ago, about three years after Navistar had acquired the Monaco brands from bankruptcy. The execs talked about their future plans for the Monaco brand, which is to make it their premier luxury brand. There will be no more lower level Monaco Knight's like ours or even the Diplomat's and Camelot's that most of our friends own. Monaco will only offer three very high end luxury models. The Holiday Rambler line will provide the slightly less high end diesel pushers. Of course, they are really not Monacos any more because they don't have the proprietary Roadmaster chassis and are built completely different. Monaco's as we know them are no more and never will be.

After the REV briefing we went to the Monaco's in Motion luncheon and meeting. This is another chapter of FMCA that is kind of a sub-chapter of Monaco International. They do member generated and operated caravans. We have not been on one yet, we haven't found one we wanted to do that was also convenient to our schedule. We are considering doing one ourselves next year, but only thinking about it right now. After the luncheon Jackie went back to the coach and I went to a seminar on route planning with Google maps. We relaxed in the coach until 5:00 when we went down to the dining hall for happy hour and then dinner. Dinner was pretty good again, chicken or pork with the trimmings. The entertainment tonight was a local classic rock and roll band out of Fort Wayne, Indiana. They were no where near as good as the group last night and we left after about a half hour. They had no personality and the songs all sounded the same. After we got back to the coach our friends Geoff and Johana came over and we sat and had cocktails and talked for an hour or so. They are vendors, with Geoff doing satellite TV stuff and Johanna selling LED lights and crystal nail files. After they left we watched some TV and then went to bed.

Saturday, July 8^th, we had breakfast about 8:30 and then went back to the coach to relax. At 11:00 I went to a class on inverters, which turned out to be a waste of time since the guy didn't present anything I didn't already know. Jackie went to a 1:00 session on the FMCA Governing Board Meeting to be held at the FMCA rally in Indianapolis. Jackie is the National Director for the 3-Ts Chapter and will be at the Governing Board Meeting. This should be an interesting one since they are considering opening up FMCA to all RVs, including trailers and fifth wheels. At 2:00 we went to the business meeting for Monaco International and then I went to a meeting for the Monaco International Regional Directors. Jackie stayed in the dining hall for the caravan meeting. Generally Monaco International organizes a caravan for members going to the FMCA rally which almost always follows the MI rally. We have been on caravans in the past and found them interesting. At 5:00 we went down for happy hour and then dinner. Tonight was prime rib and fixings and it was very good. There was no entertainment per se tonight, but they did have a lady from the Mercer County Visitor's Bureau who gave a very interesting talk on Grand Lake St. Mary's, much of the information is what I put in this blog when we first got here last Saturday. After the talk we went back to the coach and watched TV until bedtime.

Sunday, July 9^th, the last day of the Monaco rally. The only “rally” activities today were a brunch at 11:00, which we went to and enjoyed. At 1:00 there was a car show on the fairgrounds, along with an outside craft beer vendor and a BBQ trailer. These events were open to the public and arranged through the Mercer County Fairgrounds staff. Volunteers from Monaco International were manning the beer trailer and the Chapter got to keep any proceeds. After the brunch we decided that we were going to try and move the coach to a different spot. When we were parked last Saturday the fairgrounds had experienced a couple of days of pretty heavy rain and the ground was quite soft. We had only had a few light showers since we got here, and nothing in the last three days, but there was possible heavy rain forecast for tonight. We were unsure if we could get out today because of the soft ground, but we knew for sure we wouldn't tomorrow if we got a lot of rain tonight. We packed everything up, started the coach, and the back wheels just spun. I didn't try very long because I didn't want to bury the coach down to the frame.

I called Coachnet, which is the towing and roadside service program we have for the motorhome. It has the best reputation of all the service companies for large rigs. We have had it since 2007 and never used it, so I called them. The service guy told me that they covered winching service, which is what the call it when you are stuck, but only two hours and only if we are within 100 feet of a paved road. I knew it would only take ten minutes and we were ten feet from the road, so I told them to send a truck. We got a call that the truck would be there within two hours, so we went down to the car show and did our hour of volunteer work on the beer truck. Within 90 minutes a huge triple axle tow truck arrived and I showed them where the coach was. They hooked chain under the front, I started the coach, put it in gear and he pulled me smoothly out onto the pavement. Yea! No damage to the coach and deep ruts in the grass. This was the same tow truck that had been out here off and on for the last three days pulling people out of the mud, all of the parking here is on grass. After we got free I went to the dump station and dumped the tanks, then we found a nice spot at the fairgrounds on pavement with water and power and pulled in there for the night. It was actually where they had put the show coaches for the rally, but the dealer had already taken them away, so the place was empty. We just stayed in and watched TV the rest of the night.

Sunday, July 10^th, travel day. We were up at 5:30 a.m. to get the coach ready for the caravan at 7:00. Right at 7:00 we were put in line by the parking crew, hooked up the car, and just waited for the caravan to depart. About 8:00 the caravan of 22 coaches pulled out and started the 114 mile trip to Indianapolis and the FMCA rally. Unfortunately, we were the third to last coach in the line, and the first half of the route was on state highways, there were a number of stop lights, stop signs and turns at uncontrolled intersections that ended up leaving us way behind the caravan. After 40 miles they had raced off and we were on our own. I missed one turn and had to take a detour, which ended up putting us at an intersection right after a bad accident had happened. We sat for a half hour while they took care of the injured and cleared the scene. We had a good trip the rest of the way on our own, although the directions for entering the fairgrounds in Indianapolis were bad and we had another little detour before we ended up on the fairgrounds. The parking crew quickly parked us, on pavement! Yea! The power was turned on already, so we spent several hours getting set up. We took a little drive in the afternoon around the fairgrounds, getting familiar with where the various activities will be held. Most of it was familiar as we were here for the FMCA rally five years ago in 2012. We had cocktails on our own, and cooked dinner on our own, for the first time in a week. We then relaxed and watched TV until bedtime. We will be here at the FMCA rally for six nights, leaving next Sunday.

Tuesday, July 11^th, turned out to be a stay at home day for the most part. I had just finished my morning walk when the rain started and we had thunderstorms rolling through the area for most of the rest of the day. There were a couple of times when we had ten or fifteen minutes without rain, but we got a lot of rain, thunder and lightening. Fortunately, around 5:00 it started to clear up, just in time for us to walk over to the activities area for the Volunteer dinner. Every FMCA rally relies on volunteers for a most of the work, security, parking, trams, seminars and most everything else. There are only a couple dozen paid employees of FMCA, everything else is volunteers. At all the big conventions they have a dinner, which is served by the Executive board of FMCA and their significant others, for all the volunteers. In addition to the craft seminars we are doing, we volunteer for the Ice Cream Social, so we got our ribbons and went to the dinner. It was quite good this year, fried chicken and fixings, and we had a great time sitting with a number of friends and acquaintances. By 7:30 we were back home, the rain now down to occasional sprinkles, and we watched TV until bedtime.

Wednesday, July 12^th, we were up early, about 5:00 a.m., because we had a full day. Jackie had to go to her Governing Board Meeting, which was pretty much an all day thing, and I had to be in the Information Center by 7:00 to do sign ups for our craft classes. We set up our station at the craft sign ups area and Jackie went off to her meeting. I spent all of the rest of the day sitting or standing behind the counter trying to get people to sign up to make a lanyard out of pop tabs. In March at the FMCA rally in Chandler Jackie and Peggy sold out two classes with more than 20 in each, and another 10 or so at the Escapees rally in Tucson. Today was very disappointing, as very few people were interested. I was only able to get seven people to sign up with maybe one or two more indicating they might just come to the class without early sign up. Jackie was done with her meeting about 3:30 and came over and stayed with me until almost 5:00, when the Information Center closed.

After we left the Information Center we walked over to another building for a business meeting of the Military Veteran's Chapter of FMCA. I joined this chapter as a charter member when it formed about six years ago. At this meeting I found myself being elected as Vice President. Other than my work with Monaco International as a Regional Director I have not had a Chapter officer's position for about three years, but now I am back in the saddle again. This is a large chapter, with over 300 members and growing, so it will keep me busy. As the meeting broke up about 6:20 it had started to rain lightly again, but we made it home pretty dry. Since it was late we decided to go out and get something to eat rather than cook. We don't know the Indianapolis area at all and found that all of the nice places to eat seemed to be in a yuppy area north of the fairgrounds called the Broad Ripple neighborhood. There were dozens of restaurants, but very narrow streets, almost no parking and very heavy traffic. After striking out finding anywhere to park near several restaurants we tried for, we just went back to the area around the fairgrounds, which was mostly fast food type places. We found a burrito and taco place that had good Yelp reviews and went there. It was a taqueria, but the food was pretty good. Certainly not up to Southwestern Mexican cooking standards, but edible at least. We had a light dinner and then went back to the coach where we relaxed with the TV until bedtime.

Thursday, July 13^th, we went over to the activities area after lunch in the coach. At 1:00 we had a meeting regarding the ice cream social on Friday. The Full Timer's Chapter has traditionally provided the volunteers for handing out ice cream at the FMCA conventions. For some reason this year FMCA decided to give that responsibility to a chapter from the local Midwest Area. In addition, they decided that this year instead of ice cream bars or sandwiches, they are going to provide scooped bowls of ice cream with toppings. Instead of 30 people being able to serve 4,000 in fifteen minutes they were going to have 100 people serving 3,000 in an hour. After the ice cream meeting Jackie and I went into our seminar space to put on the Pop Top Lanyards class for the four people who signed up. The class went well and only one person had a bit of trouble with the craft. We were done at 4:30 and got in the car, left the fairgrounds and drove north a few miles to do a Walmart run. On the way we stopped and picked up three geocaches. While we were in Walmart it started to rain and it turned into a real gully washer. When you looked out the doors in the front of the store you couldn't see the parking lot. Fortunately, by the time we checked out it had let up significantly and we were able to load the car without getting too wet. We stopped at a nice Mexican Restaurant called Cancun on the way back to the fairgrounds for a good meal. I had a shredded beef chimi which was very good and Jackie had fish tacos, which she said tasted good, but the fish was a little dry. By the time we got back to the fairgrounds the skies had mostly cleared up again. It also didn't look like it rained near as hard at the fairgrounds as it did a few miles north. We watched TV for a while and went to bed.

Friday, July 14^th, we were up and out of the coach by 9:00 so we could go back over to the activities area to teach the second craft class. This one only had three people signed up, however one of the ones from yesterday came back and finished her lanyard that she didn't get done yesterday. Again the class went well. While Jackie was teaching I took the car over to the Roadmaster Towing service trailer to get our auxiliary braking system repaired. We have been having some problems recently with our 12 year old unit. After the craft class we had a light lunch at one of the vendors and at 1:00 we lined up at the ice cream social to scoop ice cream. It was a lot more work than handing out ice cream bars. The first big five gallon bucket I had was so hard I couldn't get the ice cream out. They finally traded it out for a softer one and it went a lot easier. We got everyone served in about an hour and then had our own serving of ice cream.

After the ice cream we walked over to the vendor area for the first time since we have been here. The vendor area gets smaller with every rally. We only had an hour or so to shop, so we did a quick walk through just to see what was here. After shopping we took a tram over to another seminar building for the Full Timer's Chapter seminar on full timing. I was again a member of the panel that talked about full timing. The seminar was well attended and went well. When the presentations were over and we went to the Q&A part I left and caught a ride over to pick up the car before the place closed for the night. I then came back just in time for the Full Timer's Chapter business meeting. That meeting ended about 6:00, we went back to the coach and had a cocktail outside, then at about 7:00 went over to the coliseum building for the evening entertainment. Tonight was a singing duo of two women who did mostly country songs and light entertainment. They sang some songs, told a few jokes and were OK. They were not fabulous, more Holiday Inn lounge type entertainment, but we did stay until the end. We then went back to the coach and relaxed with the TV until bedtime.

Saturday, July 15^th, we left the coach about 9:15 and walked over to the coliseum to go to the FMCA membership meeting. The main reason for the meeting is that this is when the newly elected officers for the FMCA Executive Board get sworn in. They have a big ceremony where each officer is introduced, then gets his credentials from the previous office holder and gives the departing office holder his “Past whatever” credentials. Once all of that is done the entire board is sworn in. Most people show up for the drawing of ten $250 prizes, including us, but we didn't win anything. Boo hoo.

After the meeting we walked over to the vendors and had our first chance to slowly walk through the vendors and buy things. We bought a few small items, signed up for some drawings, and spent about ninety minutes doing the vendors. We then went back to the coach and drove off site to have a late lunch at a very nice, upscale Chinese restaurant. The menu was huge, one of the largest I have seen and had all kinds of exotic dishes. Jackie had lamb with onion and I had orange chicken. Everything was ala carte, so we both ordered a small soup and got a HUGE bowl of soup. The only thing that was a little disappointing is that they only had small spring rolls that were kind of tasteless, no nice pork egg rolls. We had as much in leftovers as we actually ate. After lunch we went back to the coach and relaxed for a while. About 6:30 we walked back over to the coliseum for the evening entertainment. This was billed as “Circus Palozza” and we thought it would be a take off of Circ de Sole. It was really more old style circus acts meets vaudeville. There were a couple of acts with pretty girls doing aerial acts, some comedy and a hand balancer. The production was a little rough around the edges, but for local talent it wasn't too bad and we were entertained or ninety minutes. After the show we walked back to the coach, watched a little TV and went to bed.

Sunday, July 16^th, travel day. Coaches started pulling out of the fairgrounds about 6:00 a.m. and by the time we were packed up and ready to travel at 10:00 we were the only one's left in our row. We left the fairgrounds, wandered around the Indianapolis streets for a while trying to find a route to the freeway, then found it and headed east on I-70 75 miles to the little town of Richmond, Indiana. We are here for the last rally of this series, a three day rally where four chapters, the Military Veterans, Full Timers, Elks, and 3Ts, all combined for one after rally. Most of the 25 rigs here belong to more than one of the chapters, we belong to all four and either hold, or have held, office in three of them. Richmond is small city of less than 40,00 in East Central Indiana, right on the border with Ohio. It was founded in the early 1800's by Quakers from North Carolina. Through history it has mainly been a farming community and later a railroad town.

We are camped in a place called Grandpa's Farm Campground and it is pretty primitive. Our spot is very pretty, and along a nice creek, but we have 30 amp and water only and couldn't get the roof satellite to work because of trees. The electric is pretty poor too. I was cranky for a while, but I got our power booster out and hooked up which I think took care of the electric, I got the outside sat dish set up and working, and we had been able to dump the tanks before we parked, so I think we are settled in for a four night stay. At 4:00 the group got together for happy hour and everyone introduced themselves. About half of the attendees are people we already know and everyone seems pretty nice. At 5:00 they served dinner, pulled pork, beans, potato salad and a few other things. It was all included with our rally fee and the food was quite good. After dinner the 3Ts Chapter had a business meeting and then we went back to the coach and watched TV until bedtime. About 11:00 a series of thunderstorms moved through the area and we had two hours of endless weather radio alarms, rain, a little small hail, and some winds. No problems with leaks and after the weather cleared out we had a good night.

Monday, July 17th, we woke up to clear skies. The creek which runs behind the RV park, right next to our site, was up about two feet because of the runoff from last night's rains. However, it was no where near flooding, so we just enjoyed the sound of the running water. After lunch we packed up our clothes and headed into Richmond to do laundry. There seems to be only one laundromat in Richmond and it was a little trashy, but everything worked and we got our clothes done. After the laundry we did two virtual geocaches in town. One of them was very interesting as it took us to a monument downtown that commemorates a tragedy that befell the town. On Saturday, April 6, 1968, in downtown Richmond, there was a double explosion which occurred at 1:47 PM. The explosions killed 41 people and injured more than 150. The primary explosion was due to natural gas leaking from one or more faulty transmission lines under the Marting Arms sporting goods store, located on the southeast corner of the intersection of 6th and Main (US 40) streets. A secondary explosion was caused by gunpowder stored inside the gun shop. Gas had been smelled leaking in the area for days before the explosion, and local stores would open doors to allow the fumes to ventilate out and leave buildings.

After getting the two caches we went back to the coach and put everything away. At 4:00 we were back on the patio with the group for happy hour. Around 5:00 everyone left the park and headed to the Richmond Elks Lodge for dinner. The lodge, which is south of town, is quite large and has a huge swimming pool and golf course, all owned and operated by the Elks. We had another cocktail then the Elks provided a great dinner of spaghetti and lasagna with salad and bread. This was all part of the rally fee we paid, so we only had to buy the drinks. Unfortunately, the lodge did not have any lodge pins, so they are not going to be on our banner. We had ridden to the Elks with our friends Don and Norma Preston, so we sat with them as well as the Area Vice Presidents for the Rocky Mountain area of FMCA, Jack Mayberry and his wife Connie, and the Midwest Area, Gary Milner and his wife Glenda. About 7:30 we went back to the campground, visited with Don and Norma at their coach for a while, then went back to our coach and relaxed until bedtime.

Tuesday, July 18^th, we left the coach about 11:30 and drove into Richmond to have lunch at a local place called Little Sheba's that was mentioned in a lot of the Chamber of Commerce literature about the town. It is located in one of the historic districts, the Depot District, where the railroad passes through town. They have an extensive lunch menu, but no breakfast. Jackie had a burger, supposedly their best seller, which she said was good, but nothing special. I had an Italian sub that was also good, but ordinary otherwise. After lunch we got on I-70 and headed east towards Dayton, Ohio. Dayton is the town where the Wright Brothers lived and worked while developing the powered flying machine. It is also the location of Wright-Patterson Air Force base, home to the Museum of the Air Force. John Lee, the wagonmaster for this rally is the immediate past president of the Military Veteran's Chapter of FMCA and suggested the Museum as a place for people at the rally to go visit. He also arranged for us to have dinner at the Dayton Elks Lodge tonight. I didn't have a lot of interest in the Air Force Museum, nor did Jackie, so we just went over to spend the day exploring, caching and then being there for dinner at the Elks.

Dayton was less than an hour's drive and our first stop was Costco. We wanted to get the gallon jugs of water, but they didn't carry them. We bought a few other things and then went out to do some exploring. We drove around downtown and went through a few neighborhoods looking at houses. We also did a few geocaches, getting three finds. We discovered that there was another Elks Lodge in Xenia, Ohio, a neighboring city, that opened at 3:00, so we drove over there for a cocktail. It was a very nice lodge, with friendly people. They didn't have any lodge pins, but the bartender said they were on order and took our information, telling us she would mail us one. We then drove back to Dayton, to the Dayton, Elks, Lodge 58. They have a very nice building and were very welcoming to the 40 or so people in our party, many of whom were not Elks. Tonight was pizza night and John Lee had arranged for our party to get pizza and one free drink. After dinner the lodge put on “horse racing”, a floor game with wooden horses which are moved according to dice throws. There is wagering and a lot of yelling. We only stayed for three races out of the seven scheduled because we wanted to get back to the RV park before it got too dark. We were back home by 8:30 and spent the rest of the evening relaxing.

Wednesday, July 19^th, we left the coach just before 8:00 a.m. and went to a nearby Bob Evans restaurant for the final rally “event” of this series of rallies. This was the farewell breakfast for the four chapter rally. Nearly everyone showed up for breakfast and we had a very nice meal, chatting with friends and checking to see when the next time we would see various people. About 9:30 we were back at the coach and, although we were staying at this park for one more night, the rally was over. About 1:00 we left the coach and went into Richmond to do some exploring and geocaching. We got ten new finds, and two DNFs for the afternoon. After we were done driving around we stopped at Meijer's, which is kind of a Midwest version of a Fred Meyers or a Walmart Supercenter, groceries as well as clothes, sporting goods, household and other shopping. We then went back to the coach and sat outside for an hour or so with three other couples for cocktail hour. After happy hour we went in the coach and watched TV until bedtime.

Thursday, July 20th, another travel day. We were packed up and on the road about 11:00, traveling 70 miles east on I-70 to Charlotte, Ohio, a suburb of Springfield, Ohio. We arrived at the Tomorrow's Stars RV Resort about 1:00 and quickly got assigned to our spot, a full hookup, 50 amp spot. We have full hookups for the first time in three weeks, yea! After we got set up we just stayed in and relaxed for the rest of the day. We are going to be here for three days before moving on, and we are on our own for the first time since the first of the month.

Since the rallies are done for now this is a good point to close this chapter our and get it published. Until the next time remember that life is easier if you work to be decisive. Make a decision, right or wrong. The highways of life are full of flat
squirrels who couldn’t make up their minds. See ya soon.