Lunch with old friends in the Flats

Fortunate today to meet up with our friends from Conneaut (and Bethany!) for a great lunch along the Cuyahoga River at Lindey's Lake House (formerly the Coastal Taco).

We met through boating in Ashtabula and used to be dock partners for a few years at Riverside Yacht Club.  They still have their boat at Conneaut Boat Club.  We had so many good times with these guys and watched both of our daughters grow up.

Had a great time catching up for the first time in a few years.

Lunch at Marblehead

Connie and I had lunch today with our friend, Karen, over at Marblehead.  Both of us had perch knowing that our time to get Lake Erie perch is growing shorter.

Had a great time catching up.  Don't get together often enough.

Working at the Stadium and a visit from our daughter and Grand Daughter

Two of the last three Saturdays, I've had the opportunity to work at First Energy Stadium for my daughter, who's the General Manager in charge of merchandising.

On the 2nd of July, I worked the U2 concert.

 

This past Saturday, I worked the CONCACAF 2017 Gold Cup soccer game.

I really enjoyed working both events and, if anything, enjoyed working and watching my daughter Bethany do what she does.

Basically, I did anything the merchandise department needed.  Run merchandise to the booths, pick up money, help sort inventory, count, box up, etc. anything they needed.   Long days, not a whole lot of pay, but I still really enjoyed the experience.

Because of the late night, we stayed in at our daughter's house in Fairview Park.  Left in the morning and took a wonderful drive back along the lake (US 6).  Got into Lorain and suddenly realized we've never found (by land) the marina where we got weathered in back in our boating days.

Once, we were going back to Ashtabula from Cedar Point.  Our boat was such that our passenger seat could face the aft or rear of the boat.  Suddenly, my wife mentioned that I should take a look at the clouds she'd been watching for awhile.

Good Lord.  It was pitch black.  I knew we had to get off the lake.

Nearest point I could find at the time was Lorain, and Spitzer's Marina.  Like a lot of boating stories, what should have been awful turned out to be a great time.  We couldn't return to Ashtabula for 3 days because of the lake.  Where we ended up was just wonderful.  There was a crafty festival just south of the marina.  The Coast Guard dumped a car into the basin and then did a demonstration of how they would blow up inflatables and raise the car up to get out anyone in the submerged car.  Fascinating stuff.

Until today, we'd never "found it."  Crossed the tributary into Lake Erie and went looking.  Found Spitzer's Riverside Marina and something clicked that there were two marinas -- a Riverside and a Lakefront.  Found it.  Had a great time reliving those memories.

As we got home and were unpacking, Connie realized that we had left our toiletry bag at the Davis house in Fairview Park.  We do our laundry at our daughter's, my wife had put the bag in the dirties and I left the dirty bag at the Davis house.  Our daughter decided to bring it to us, and bring out her two dogs and daughter.

Had a great time, very relaxing.  Ate some smoked pork, a box mix of potatoes (Kingsley's new fave), some home made bread.  Baby K was also taught by Gammy that she could dip her bread into the sauce from the Au Gratin potatoes.

This is how Tangy learned to steal seats.  From Tucker.

Great weekend slowly coming to a close.

July 4th in the Flats

Spent our Independence Day in Cleveland on the East Flats.  When we first came to Cleveland in the mid 90's, the Flats was where it was happening.  New baseball park, boating was great, bars stacked on top of each other.  Boats would raft 6-7 wide into the Cuyahoga.  It was such a fun place to be.

Then, depending on who's story you hear, either the politicians, the mob, the bar owners, or somebody else got greedy and it became a ghost town.

Now, it's starting to come back again.  Today we went down to the soft 2nd day opening of Margaritaville in Cleveland.  They were already out of Landshark and we hadn't even been there.  The rooftop bar was great, and gave you a great view of the railroad bridge that I had forgotten how much I hated.

We actually worked it out where little Miss Firecracker, Baby K and her parents could meet us downtown.

After we split with these guys, we went down to the Collision Bend Brewery to meet our friends Don and April.  Had some good beers, solved a few of the world's problems, and watched the boats and ships (there's a difference) go by.

Beginning to get some structure

All the doctors have gotten together, and we've got some clarity.

We will keep on plan and head to Santo, TX Wednesday where we'll join a Heartland Rally with 28 other RV's.

Connie will fly out to Cleveland from Dallas on Saturday, then have her Cleveland Clinic consultation in Ashtabula on Tuesday morning.  Our friends Don and April are going to pick her up and keep her overnight on Saturday, then our good friend Lenny is going to keep her for most of the month of April.

Park where we stay isn't open until May 1st, and I'm not going to pay $351 for a week or $1053 for a month at Indian Creek at Geneva on the Lake.  (I paid $300 A MONTH in Texas).  So, I'll hang around Dallas for a week, then make a slow trek north.  Here's a link to my framework map.  Everything is a "soft plan".

I've had a 26' boat in 6'-8' waves by myself from Eastlake to Fairport Harbor.  I was with others, but keeping a hand on the throttle and a hand on the wheel, I couldn't answer them on the radio when they kept asking me if "I was OK?"  That was scary.  This shouldn't be a big deal.  Already had a few offers to ride shotgun which I appreciate.  I've scheduled no overnights and go.  I'll do at least two nights at each stop.

That's the start of the adventure.  Hope you'll keep Connie in your prayers.

Our first RV Rally...

One of the things that intrigued us about the Heartland Owner's Group was their "Rallies".  Seemed like what everyone talked about.  One of the things we truly missed about boating was doing the "summer circuit" and going to Club X, Y, and Z for their Rendezvous, Steak Fry's, etc. , then having them come to our Club for weekend events.  The Heartland Owner's club looks like they're going to fill this void for us.

We were a little taken back at our arrival at the Elkhart Co. Fairgrounds in Goshen, Indiana, by the scope of this thing.  248 units spread all over the place like manure at the ..... well, you know that line.  And they have the ability for 900 hook ups!!!



Tuesday was pretty much a set up morning, then getting a feel for the schedule and meeting the neighbors.  We were incredibly lucky (or fortunate) to pull the spot we did.  We were with all the "poobahs" of the place (Presidents, State Chapter Leaders, District Leaders, etc).


I played golf on Wednesday, while Connie did some seminars on Wednesday, which was a pretty free day.

Wednesday, we had a "dessert potluck" followed by a real potluck on Thursday and a couple of catered dinners on Friday and Saturday.  Great time to meet some of the other Heartlanders from all over the country, plus some of the great friends we had met in Texas and elsewhere.

Saturday, was a highlight as we went to the Heartland Factory to see BigHorns actually in production.  It was fascinating.

Basically the frame comes in one large door, goes back two stations, then moves sideways about 20 stations before it goes forward and leaves the plans as a finished coach.  I've included tons of pictures below:

Connie did a great job all week of "pacing herself", some afternoon naps, limited her walking.  She really enjoyed herself and we're both so glad we could go and experience the event.  We got home around dinner time on Sunday night and found an early excuse to go to bed.  We also were really lucky that we won two door prizes, a thermal bag and a tire pressure monitor for the rig that sits in the truck.

Today, we power washed the rig -- it was filthy from 10 days on the road -- and did all the laundry.  Tomorrow, Connie has a scheduled treatment which is a perfect time for me to clean the inside.

The Season has Officially Begun

And, just like that, another week has gone by.  Sure did go by fast with all the fun we had.

For starters, we headed to Cleveland for the Reds vs. Indians game on Thursday.  The dogs even had a road trip since we were spending the night with Bethany and James (and Tucker).  All the kids got a along famously.  Carmen and Tucker are bffs now.

It was a beautiful evening for a ballgame.  I was almost too warm in my jeans.  :-)  Was not complaining!

We loaded up and headed back to Ashtabula on Friday afternoon.

The busy weekend was just getting started.  The kids headed East to our place.  One of Bethany's friends from high school was having a baby shower.  It was a really nice shower.  It was so nice seeing the girls again.  

After the shower, we returned home where the guys had put the raft in the river.  Unfortunately, when we arrived, so did the rain. 

James & the besties (Tucker & Carmen)

Once the weather cleared on Sunday, I was able to take a short raft ride with Bob.  Was fun getting back on the river and seeing old friends.  Looking forward to many more rides.

The business has been very busy this week (always a good thing).  

Tomorrow is treatment day.  This will be the first one at the Ashtabula facility.  Will be nice not having to drive (ride) all the way to Cleveland.