Our Last Weekend In Ohio...We Think

We still do not have a definite that we are going to the next destination. If we are, then this is probably our last weekend in Ohio. However, since next weekend is Labor Day weekend, we may have problems finding a site in our new city and may end up staying here until Monday.  If we find out we are going home, then we will stay another weekend here since we have paid for it already and we are not that anxious to head home. Basically, we don't know where we will be next weekend for sure, but we are planning like this is our last weekend here.

Mama has been busy planning this weekends' activities and it does not look like we are going to participate in the activities.  We think that is totally WRONG!  Tonight, is grocery shopping night. Since our propane is low and Mama only has the ingredients for one meal and it needs to bake in the oven for 45 minutes, they are going out to eat.  They are going to try a BBQ place here.  Tomorrow, they are going to visit President Garfield's house and then see some covered bridges.  There are 18 covered bridges in one county here!  There are only four in the entire state of Missouri.  Mama needs to map out the ones that they will see, but it will not be all of them.  There is also a light house in that same county that they hope to see.  They plan on eating at one of Michael Symon's restaurants tomorrow, so it sounds like a full day for them.  Our day will be spent napping.  Sunday, they will probably ride the train through the national park they visited last weekend and they may eat at a restaurant that our neighbors recommended.  I think that makes for a pretty busy weekend.

Dad's day didn't start off too good.  He overslept.  It was Mama's fault because she accidentally turned the alarm off.  She needs the alarm clock that we have at home.  You only have to wave your arms to hit snooze.  She has to get up and hit the snooze here.  If she waited for Dad to do it, it would be blaring for a good five minutes.  She told Dad this morning that she hit the snooze for the last time and I guess she did because 45 minutes later, they woke up.  I was blamed because normally I whine to go out and I didn't. 

We took our long walk around 8 a.m. this morning.  The campground is so quiet today, but wait until tonight and it will be nuts.   Scout started a new thing yesterday where she just lays down in front of the camp store.  She told me she just likes laying in the grass.

Scout resting on our walk.

I am on full alert for pigs, squirrels or whatever might pass by.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Has To Be On Full Alert Because No One Else Is

What? The HUGE Adventure May Not Be Ending?

We waited almost a whole week before we made the announcement that our HUGE adventure was ending.  We were sure it was over.   Dad came home last night with shocking news.  It is almost certain that we will be on the road for a little longer. There is a hotel that wants him for two months.  Two months would be perfect.  However, if Jamaica still wants him, we will only be able to stay for one month since they asked first. He still needs his passport and that is why Jamaica has to wait for a month.  It is not definite and we are trying not to get excited, but it is looking good. Mama can't believe it.  She told Dad "...but, I told Blogville today that we were going home and I closed down my RVing blog."  We should have waited another day to make our announcement.  Welcome to our roller coaster ride.  LOL

We will wait to start the guessing game of where were are going once we are for sure that we are going there.   We don't want to jinx it. 

Remember how the window in our Jeep Liberty fell and can't get back up?  Apparently, this is a common problem in this type of Jeep.  We have had it for eight years and never had a problem but other people have had it happen several times. Dad has it so that the window can't fall down for now.  Unfortunately, something is wrong and the driver's door stays locked when you get out. That is not a problem unless you leave your keys in the car.  Yep, it happened to Dad last night. He stopped to get gas and he locked himself out of the car.  He called Good Sam's Club and they came and helped him.  Mama told him this morning to take her keys with him so that he has a set in his pocket, but he refused.  Do you think he is going to lock himself out again?  It's very possible.  LOL

I was naked last night.  I tend to get over excited when Dad comes home. I am like a bucking bronco. I was jumping around and Dad grabbed my collar.  I took off running, but my collar was then around my head. I bent down to get a drink of water and my collar fell into my water.  I quickly grabbed it from the water and ran in the RV with it.  Mama and Dad laughed and Scout just shook her head.  She can't believe she has to live with me. 

Joey,
The Greyhound Whose Adventure May Be Continuing

Running Low On Propane

Mama dumped the tanks this morning and then checked our propane tank. We are about out of propane. Drat!  We should have filled up when we were in Maryland. They actually bring the propane to the RV and that would have been so easy. We are going to have to wait until we leave here to fill up and we know Dad will want to leave before 9 a.m. which is when there are employees to fill up the tank. Mama is going to have to re-work her menus until we leave. There will be no more using the oven to bake things. We need to conserve as much as possible so that our refrigerator can run as we travel down the highway.  It runs on propane while we are on the road.

We received some sad news late last week.  We really don't want to say this, but it appears are HUGE adventure is coming to an end for this year.  Dad is being sent to Jamaica and we are going home.  We are not happy at all!  We planned on being on the road until November, but it appears we will be home in a few weeks.  We have been holding out hope that we might get a short assignment elsewhere, but it is not looking good. Mama says we need to prepare ourselves for going home. We are not looking forward to being home without Dad until Spring. He still has vacation time coming, so he may take off a week in October. It's going to be a long winter for us.  Mama keeps saying that next year we will spend the winter some place warm with or without Dad. 

The only bright side to going home two months early is that we will be able to put money away in our emergency fund.  We are not coming home in the "red", so that is wonderful. We have had such a wonderful time traveling and we are going to be bored at home. This is not the end of our HUGE adventure, it is just a break until Spring.

Beach wear makes me look husky.  I probably need a new look.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Not Ready To Go Home

Cuyahoga Valley National Park

Ohio has a nice national park that is located just ten miles from our campground.  We visited it the first weekend we were here. We thought we would be included in the plans for the re-visit this weekend, but Dad said they needed to cover a lot of ground and we would slow them down.  I'm sure he meant that Scout would slow them down and not me.  I'm a power walker.

The folks had planned to take Grandma and Grandpa to the park, but they cancelled their trip late last week.
Mama learned that the national park service has a passport program.  Missouri had one for a few years and the folks loved it.  They visited state parks and historic sites and they stamped a book at each place.  They said it was a lot of fun.  Mama purchased the book a few weeks ago and set out to get it stamped on Sunday.

The passport book.  It tells you about the different national parks and then has a place for your stamps and stickers. Stickers are available for purchase.

The stamps show where you visited and the date you visited.  Mama has six stamps so far.  This park has stamps at each visitors center.  There are several.

The passport book comes with a map of the United States and lists all the national parks and sites where stamps are available.   It's a fun way to plan trips.  Mama purchased the book at one of the visitors centers, but they can also be purchased online.  Mama said that she likes the stamps they used in Missouri better because they were all different shapes.  However, these look like passport stamps and have the date you visited, which is nice.

Before the folks set out to explore the park, they decided to eat lunch.  The park includes lots of little towns which have shops and restaurants.  They ate at Winking Lizard Tavern.  The place was packed.  Many people rode their bikes to the restaurant since there are so many trails in the park.  Some people rode the train.  Yes, there is a train that goes through the park.  Mama said they might do that next weekend, so that means we will not be going AGAIN.  As I was saying, the restaurant was packed, so they had to wait for a table.  There is a popcorn machine, so Mama ate some of that while they waited.  She said it was really good.  They were finally seated and they placed their order.  The menu had so many things to choose from.  Mama ended up choosing the Wild Western Burger.  It had cheese, bacon, onion straws and their award winning BBQ sauces.  She said it was delicious!

Wild Western Burger

Another view of the Wild Western Burger

Steak N Cheees

Dad said the Steak N Cheese was okay, but the burger looked better.  Mama said she would like to eat here again, but there are a few other places she wants to try.

The Winking Lizard?

After eating lunch, they set out to explore.  There is so much to see in the park and they didn't cover it all on Sunday.  They did not even cover half of it.

The river.

Lock 29 - ships used to come through here.

Beaver Marsh - they didn't see any beavers

Still no beavers, just a bird.

Covered bridge that is being renovated.

Creek that covered bridge goes over.

Inside the covered bridge.

Waterfall - Mama's favorite part of the park.

Long way down from waterfall.

Ledge along walk to waterfall.

Lots of steps to get to waterfall.

Platform at waterfall.

As much as Mama wanted to take us to the park, she is not sure it is a good place for us.  There are so many people riding bikes that we could easily get in the way.  It doesn't seem fair.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Wants To Walk On A Trail.

It's Peaceful

It is nice to have the campground back from all the weekenders.  Most of the weekend people were gone by 11 a.m. yesterday.  It is amazing how fast they clear out and how quiet it becomes here.  We definitely are not fans of being here on the weekends because it gets pretty wild with the kids and the dogs.  There was a beach party on Saturday with a DJ, but it was so cool that most people didn't swim.  There were fire engine rides on Saturday night, but I got scared this time.  We were outside and the fire engine came by and people were yelling.  One guy asked if we came with saddles?  I don't get it.

Last night, we were walking and this lady who really likes us says "There are my DARLINGS!"  She calls us her darlings.  Then, we walked by her place again and she said that it looks like we were trained by Cesar Millan.  Mama laughed so hard that I thought she might wet herself.  Mama said that she caught us at a good time.  Mama had just been telling Dad that she thinks she will take me for some training when we get back home.  She says I am still hard to handle at times.  Me?

Mama says that Jack would have loved Ohio.  You want to know why?  It's because Judge Judy is shown three times a day here.  LOL

Saturday night, the folks had planned on eating at a place that was on The Best Thing I Ever Ate.   However, when they found the place, they decided against it.  They knew it was a bar, but it looked a little wilder than they were comfortable with, so they went across the street to a place called The Pufferbelly.  It is located inside an old train station.

Inside The Pufferbelly

A carriage hangs from the ceiling.

Coleslaw and bread

Smoked St. Louis Ribs - half slab - $13.95

Jamaican Steak and Shrimp with Mashed Potatoes and Broccoli - $16.95

Mama was not impressed with the ribs. The sauce was pretty heavy.  She did remove some of it. There were some parts of the ribs that were just too fatty to eat.  She did not like the fries at all.  They did not have any flavor and were hard.

Dad did not like his meal either.  The steak was very thin and he is not sure how it was prepared but it was not grilled.   Notice the small amount of broccoli.  There must be a shortage.  LOL

It was an interesting building, but they will not eat here again.

Outside of The Pufferbelly

Train parked by restaurant

Saturday the folks had two bad dining experiences, but they did have fun sightseeing.  Yesterday, they explored Cuyahoga Valley National Park.  We will tell you about that tomorrow!

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Glad It's Monday