Beautiful Riding

Our new home for a couple of days is Poor Farmer’s RV Sales, Service, & Campground.  The The campground is open all year and features 500 sites with w/e, pull-thrus with 30 and 50 amp service, wifi hotspots, showers/restrooms, large playground, 2 large, covered picnic shelters, a pond, wildlife/nature area and 2 miles of Lost Creek to explore.  (That’s the creek that runs by our kid’s house where we took the grand kids wading.  See Not Enough Hours blog).

The campground is located close to the Piqua Historical Area, Johnston Farm, Kiser Lake, Ohio Caverns, and Wright Patterson Air Force Museum.  At $28 a night it is a good deal, especially considering that in this area of Ohio rv parks are non-existent and campgrounds are few and far between.

pull-thrus on left, (that’s us back on the left), back ins on right.  Beyond those trees on the right is the creek.  Beyond the creek are back in seasonal sites, the pond, and the dump station.  All of the sites are on grass. 

On Sunday the weather was perfect for bike riding.  The roads in this area of Ohio are pretty much flat and straight and not that interesting to ride.  What makes the riding nice around here is the weather, which is warm but not too humid, and the scenery, which is beautiful because of the lush growth of soft grass, tall trees, and hundreds of fields of corn and soybeans.  The state’s nickname is Beautiful Ohio, and it is beautiful.

On our way to visit friends, we meandered through the countryside enjoying the cool breeze and light traffic.  We rode around an area where Duane’s family lived for several years.  They moved here when he was about 4 and moved away when he was about 12.

We stopped at the church and visited relatives buried in the adjacent cemetery.

Duane paying respect to his parents.

From there we rode past the house his dad built.  Of the several places his family lived, Duane liked this place best.

Dennis and Duane played in this creek often with the neighbor boys. 

After revisiting the home place, we rode a couple of towns over to visit old friends Gene and Donna.  Gene and Duane have been friends and fellow plumbers, farriers and blacksmiths for over 50 years.  Donna entered the picture a few years after the guys met.

After visiting a while we let the Eagle fly us home by a different route. 

One more day, then we move again.

Louise and Duane

West To East

Saturday we ended our week’s visit in Greenville, OH with our friends Gene and Barbara.  While Gene prepared his boat for two weeks’ fishing in Canada and Duane prepared our rig for travel, Barbara and I headed to Greenville for the Annie Oakley Days sidewalk sales.  Our main goal was the big sale at the KitchenAid Store. 

While Barbara’s granddaughter picked out items for Barbara to buy for her (granddaughter’s) bridal shower, I enjoyed looking around the store.  Upstairs the new mixers and other gadgets were showcased.  In the basement I found a nice display of original mixers

and a case full of “refurbished” mixers.  Barbara explained that the majority of these are returns of gifts for reasons ranging from didn’t like the color to wanted a different model.

Also downstairs  were baskets and baskets of different kinds of hand gadgets like peelers, spoons, mixing bowls, etc.

When we emerged from the store we saw the people lined up for various foot races.

One just finishing featured these tutu clad runners.  I loved the guy in the black tutu.

When we returned we ate lunch with our friends then bid them goodbye.  We drove 50 miles mostly east to our new campground outside Fletcher.  After we got settled in we hopped the bike for a ride to Longhorn Steakhouse north of Dayton where we met Duane’s oldest brother and his wife for dinner.  Later we followed them home to see their new condo and visit for a while.

Brother Dennis, wife Pat and little brother Duane. 

After a very nice visit we rode home in the gathering darkness, admiring the lingering sunset.

Tomorrow, more riding and visiting.

Louise and Duane

CP Continued

Walking through this covered bridge, we jumped from 1836 to 1863.  In July of that year Confederate General John Morgan set out on a 1000 mile raid into Indiana and Ohio, taking hundreds of prisoners. 

In the general store we listened as the proprietor voiced his concerns over the raiders. 

As he was speaking we saw a boy ride up, dismount and run to the door.

He announced that the raiders were coming!  He ran out and rode to warn the rest of the village. 

We saw the raiders emerge from the bridge

and General Morgan dismount.

He swaggered into the store and stopped his men from stripping the shelves.  He warned us that we were under attack, the told his men to fire the warehouse.

Back outside they rode into the village.  There was a loud KABOOM!! then darkness caused by smoke.  Inside the store was dark and filled with people all talking at once.  It was total chaos and fear!  I forgot when I was and reached around for Duane.  When I did, I saw the Union army ride across the bridge.  With tears of relief I said '”Thank God!  The Union has arrived!”  Duane said what?  and I was back in reality. 

We walked outside to see the warehouse still smoking.  For me the experience was disorienting.  For a couple of minutes I was a villager in 1863, full of fear, then blessed relief.  I even felt as if I was wearing a hoop dress!  It took several minutes for me to reenter reality.  It was one of the best demonstrations I’ve ever experienced.

From the porch we saw the local militia being marshalled by the Union army.

View of the burned building and the school house which is the temporary Quartermaster station, and the Union army tents.

In the large house behind the tents we enjoyed another holographic display.  The mistress of the house and her daughter greeted us as villagers who volunteered to help tend the wounded—army and raiders, and wind bandages.  Abigail, the daughter, explained that we could scrape the flax from the cloth, then press it on wounds to suck out the poison. 

There was much more to see and do here at the Conner Prairie complex.  We recommend it for everyone, but especially for families with children. 

Moving day tomorrow (Saturday).

Louise and Duane

Day Off

Perfect weather showed up just in time for our trip to Conner Prairie in Fisher, IN.    Conner Prairie is an interactive kid friendly living history village.  First stop on our tour was the 1836 prairie town.  The William Conner House has recently been completely refurbished.  This I-House-Federalist style house has two bedrooms upstairs, two rooms downstairs split by an entry hall and a kitchen added on in back. 

This was the most important structure in the village.

View of Conner Prairie.  The guide explained that the prairie is really a flood plain for the river 1/2 mile in the distance (the reason that  William Conner picked this location), but that Conner floodplain didn’t sound as good.

Inside people were encouraged to touch everything.  Upstairs you could lie on the beds and try on the clothes.  Downstairs you could pull out the drawers in the cabinets such as this one.

Something new I learned today.

In a pasture we found this newborn calf.  You can see it’s umbilical cord and the remnants of the afterbirth on the cow.

We found that the potter had a sense of humor.

Blacksmith shop, of course.

Inside most of the buildings were costumed interpreters that stayed in character for 1836.  They were present as the general store owner, schoolhouse teacher, doctors office (wife), carpenter shop,  and private home (neighbor talking about quilting.  In most of the buildings people are encouraged to ask questions or engage in conversations with the “villagers”, but to remember that the year is 1836.  For instance, the woodworker explained that sandpaper was readily available, but that it was expensive and he could get a better finish from a planer. 

The Golden Eagle was an Inn.  I would have refused to pay the sign painter.

Other areas include a Lenape Indian camp, an 1859 balloon voyage display, and an animal encounter barn.

Next we travel to 1863.

Louise and Duane

Forty Shades of Green

The Same But Different

It’s Duane’s fault I have no pictures.  When we took our walk this morning, I expected to walk the same way that we did before, so didn’t take my camera.  Duane decided to take a different way, very picturesque with wildflowers, a big red barn, and an old cemetery. 

The rest of the day was much like the previous ones, alternating work and play.  We helped Gene and Barbara with whatever chores they had, visited, played Pool (the guys) and Rummikube (the girls), and prepared and enjoyed meals together.  Barbara’s daughter and her husband stopped in for a short visit, so we were able to enjoy some time with more of our “extended family”.  Most of the day we enjoyed the out of doors or the screened porch, until the late evening when clouds started building and the humidity crept back in.  We rounded out the day with a couple of games of Golf which is played with Skipbo cards.

Rain is supposed to move in tonight and tomorrow.

Louise and Duane

Busy-ness

We split up and did our things most of the day.  Gene and Barbara made dinner—Walleye (fish that Gene caught in Lake Erie), fresh vegetables from the garden.  Gene brought his Mom to join us.  After dinner the neighbors (the Shuffleboard ambassadors—see Sandwiches blog) brought rhubarb coffee cake made from Gene and Barbara’s fresh rhubarb.

Duane had some on his plate, but said the haint  (ghost) took it.

After cake, we all had a fun evening playing cards.

This figurine caught Duane’s eye.  Could this be his next carving???

The hot humid weather of the past weekend has given way to cool clear wonderfulness.  We’re taking advantage of the beautiful weather by working outside and using the screened porch.

Hope it holds!

Louise and Duane

Sandwiches

Yard work and house work dominated the morning.  As a reward, we took ourselves to Greenville’s local burger joint.   Maid-Rite is original for many reasons.  This location is the only one.  The beef is ground in the basement and prepared upstairs.

Half of the little building is seating, the other half is kitchen.  What makes Made-Rite’s different is that the meat is not made into patties.  The ground beef is seasoned, fried, and put onto buns loosely.  They don’t make any other hot food.  Potato chips (Mike-Sells brand, also a uniquely Ohio product), are extra.  For drinks they offer sodas, malts, and shakes. 

Today the place was uncharacteristically empty.  Usually there is a line of cars around the block for the drive thru and dine in.

After lunch and a trip to the grocery, we completed the work we started this morning.  In the evening we drove to Greenville Park to play Shuffleboard.  Their neighbors are Shuffleboard ambassadors and invited us to join the local group for a few games.  We could have joined the round robin play, but since we seldom play, we just made our own team.

None of us has played this game since January, and not on this nice of a surface.  By the second game we were beginning to get the hang of it again.

The group plays for an hour.  We helped the neighbors clean up by sweeping up the surface coating of tiny glass beads.

The pucks were waxed, then we all went to McDonald’s for supper.  (That shaker is how the glass beads are distributed onto the surface.)

Tomorrow’s another busy day.

Louise and Duane

PS.  There is one more thing that makes Made-Rite unique.  You see all those little colored dots on the bricks outside of the building?  They’re all wads of chewing gum.  It’s traditional for new visitors to be initiated by leaving their own gum.  Some couples have used their gum to make arrow-pierced hearts with their initials.