Some closure in Amish country

Connie had her PT session on Thursday, which meant she was a) going to be tired and sore and b) she was going to score a lunch out of the deal.  We need shoes for our upcoming cruise.  Me because mine got ruined last January in the couple trips back to Ohio.  Connie because, well, they're shoes.  Me:  "hey, there's a place that has Buy One, Get Half Off 2nd pair shoes".  We go there.  Result?  She walks out with two pairs of shoes, I have none.

We went to lunch at Brown Bag Burgers, which we'd always passed and never gone in.  Not really a lunch type of place, was more for 4p drinks followed by some gourmet burgers.  Connie said the wings were good, my chicken breast was very good.

Made a 2p appointment with the local guy from Edward Jones, so in the interim I could go somewhere and buy some shoes.  The small amount we were going to be investing wasn't really enough for him to mess with and he was a super nice guy, but he did give us a good idea about CD laddering.

Last Friday was a day I was dreading, and a day I was looking forward to in equal parts.  6 months had elapsed since my mother passed away, and it was time to close her trust.  The part I dreaded was dealing with FC Bank for hopefully the final time.  Man, I had nothing but problems with them.  It was my Mom's local bank, the only one in her little town, and just a pain.  I looked at their locator map and saw that Shiloh, Ohio was the closest branch to me.  I was looking forward to it because my time as executor was about to be over.

I get up Friday morning and took the hour drive through Amish country.  Passed a couple of buggies. GPS said I was there, but I was at an Amish market.  Yep, sure enough, FC Bank had an office in there.  Girl who closed out the account couldn't have been nicer, AND I got to score some Amish cheese and some Amish butter.  Bonus.

Then, I had to drive to the nearest PNC Bank on my way home which was in Norwalk.  Another great run through farm country.  Amazingly, there were no detours, no construction along my route.  I'm thinking the Amish buggies don't tear up the roads too much.

Get home and start looking over CD rates.  Best rates are at the First Internet Bank of Indiana.  (It had kind of a cult name.  Kind of like all those dodges to get religious breaks, like the First Internet Church of God.)  But, after some research and phone calls, we decided to go that way.  Better than the 0.1% APY PNC bank offers in my savings account.

Sunday, I smoked a pork butt.  Been awhile, and never in this smoker.  (Not one of Connie's favorites, but Bethany loves pulled pork).  You can follow it along here.  Result was one of my better efforts.  The process was awful.

What a week....

Sitting in some church's parking lot two blocks from the Cleveland Clinic with the rig and the girls.  Thought I would reflect on the week passed.
We had nothing but rain and miserable weather the first part of the week.  Awful.  Zero good.  Don't think it ever broke 60.
On Tuesday, there was a little bit of a break, so I thought I would dump the water out of the raft and maybe take a little test.  Got just far enough away from the dock and the engine died.  Rowed myself back to the dock (which was a great cardio workout, by the way) and took a look at the engine, the line, the tank.  I couldn't figure out anything simple, which would have been all I could have dealt with.
Tuesday, I got up early and headed to the south of Ashtabula County (actually, into PA) and had a Nissan outboard guy take a look at it.  Turns out, our tank lid has a leak and there was tons of water in the tank.  He went in, cleaned some things up, and within an hour, I was back on my way.
I took Connie to Ashtabula Medical Center at noon, as she was scheduled to do some CT scans and MRI's.  After she was done at 4:30p, we headed off to our daughter's place to celebrate her 27th birthday.  Hardly seems possible.
My good friend Rich was in town at the airport for some business, and we were fortunate that he could join the four of us at a restaurant in Rocky River for dinner.  Great times as always.
While we were gone, the girls and Tucker kept themselves amused at Bethany's house and continued on after we got home.  Damn, that dog can play hard.
Wednesday, we headed back to Ashtabula and stopped at the Cleveland Clinic in Willoughby Hills for my blood work as I had an appointment on Thursday as part of my annual check up where they tell me I'm fat and need to change my diet.
Rained again on Thursday, so no packing.  We did however feel safe since we hadn't heard from any doctors saying to get Connie to the hospital making our reservation for the National Heartland RV Rally in Goshen, Indiana put on by the Heartland Owners Club.  A solid week of networking, meeting old friends, making new friends, hearing seminars from suppliers and what not.  We'd been holding off until what we thought was the last minute.

First trip for the bike!

Friday morning it let up and we could get the rig packed and head to the Ohio Heartland RV Rally at Scenic Hills RV in Berlin, OH (Amish country, Little Switzerland, etc.).  Sugarcreek, OH that we got the call we didn't want to get.  Our oncologist was setting up appointments for Connie at the Cleveland Clinic on Monday to see their radiation oncologist and gamma knife specialist.  Results from the CT scan weren't good.
It was as we were passing through
Nothing that was going to make us turn around that moment, but it was going to make us change our plans.  (more on that in a moment).

There were 8 couples at the Scenic Hills RV Park, all Heartland owners and 3 couples from Xenia -- about 17 miles north of where we both grew up (Wilmington) and 8 miles west of where I taught for my first four years (Jamestown).  Was a fantastic time, with eating and a campfire being the main attractions.
Our first meal on Friday night was at Mrs. Yoder's kitchen, a great buffet that was packed on a Friday night with both tourists and locals.  (The parking lot was the giveaway).

Saturday afternoon we took a drive into Sugarcreek (the park gave us a couple for a 1/3 lb. of free cheese at the Swiss Village Bulk Foods -- can't pass that up!).  They had samples of Homemade Chocolate Chip Cheeseball with graham cracker prezels that was awesome!
On the way back started looking for a furniture piece Connie had seen at the RV office which would be the answer for our dilemma of sitting in our recliners and not being able to put down our beverages.  Not only found that in a color/wood we liked, but also a "C" table that solved the same problem for our couch.  Wonderful!

Saturday night, we went to an Amish family's house for dinner.  Spectacular food!  We finished the evening around the fire (with hard woods supplied by the campground, which was outstanding).


Sunday, our change of plans took effect.  We were supposed to roll over to Bethany's in laws to celebrate his birthday and spend the evening with them on our way to Goshen, IN.  Once the Monday appointments took place, we called our friends Don and April, who have a church behind their house, to see if we could bum a night there.  Worked out well, generator worked well, good night of boon docking (or "coon doggling" which is a long, funny story I won't get into).
Got business done Monday morning and took off to the Cleveland Clinic where I dropped Connie off for her appointments, then found a large church parking lot where the cabbies are all sitting, waiting for their next fare.
The girls and I will sit here until after Connie's appointments.  If she has no further appointments the rest of this week, we're heading to Indiana from here.  If she has to come back this week, we'll go back to Ashtabula and have to scuttle plans to do the rally.
I'll be blogging either tonight or tomorrow when I know.