Friends, friends, everywhere....

Monday we greeted our friend Karen from Bellevue (OH).  Karen is married to our good friend from tOSU, Dennis.  We've always enjoyed their company.  She's so much fun.  We spent most of the (rainy, crappy) day catching each other up (she's not a Facebooker) since Bethany's wedding.  Laughed.  A lot.  Wish we could have imported someone to be our fourth to play Euchre, that was the only thing missing.  Lenny also came over and joined in the festivities.

Tuesday, was a better day and we took a raft ride on the Ashtabula River.  Followed it by a delish lunch at Briquettes Smokehouse on Bridge Street after a little ride around showing Karen our old house, Lenny's place and the Elks Club.  We both had the pulled pork sandwich, it was excellent!

Wednesday night, Lenny came over and helped us break in the new blue rope lights on the awning.  Also found out it will take a pretty good rainstorm and not flinch.  (Good news as I've had serious bad luck with awnings).

Thursday (July 4th) we had a surprise visit from a couple of our boating friends from the past (Dave & Carolyn).  They both looked spectacular.  Then, our friends Don and April came over.  We've been friends for almost 30 years.  Ate a bunch, drank too much.  Laughed a lot.  Got a river raft in.  Finally didn't have rain until late at night.

No treatments or Doctor's appointments this coming week and we got an offer from Royal Caribbean for a free 1 night cruise on the Grandeur of the Seas redeployment after her fire.  Going to do some serious driving, see Connie's parents, our hometown of Wilmington, our daughter and son-in-law, Baltimore, and much more.  Will be blogging quite a bit next week.

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.

Registering the Raft

We try to follow the rules.  Really, we do.  But sometimes, being technically nomads, the rules aren't really made for us.

Got our registration materials for our raft from Ohio in the mail as our stickers expire at the end of this month.  However, we aren't residents of Ohio, we're legal residents of South Dakota.

Shouldn't be a big deal, right?  Wasn't for the truck or the RV.  However, SD doesn't title or register inflatables.  Texas wants us to register here (regardless of where we live) if we are going to be on TX waters for 90 days or more -- plus the outboard engine.

So, we've got SD to register our raft, but we have to fill out four forms, send a $20 cashier's check, and all kinds of 'stuff'.  Still not sure how this is going to come out.

Finally, the Bug to Raft Was Too Much

It was finally too hard to wait, with 70+ degrees and sunshine all day that we blew up the raft, fired up the engine and headed out on this water we've been seeing since the first of December.

A bit of a learning experience, as it's so shallow and has a ton of mossy like 'stuff' in it (almost overheated from the get go as I got some in the intake).  But, like always it seems, we had a good ride.

Was good first trial for Carmen, who seems to really like the water, but had never been in the raft.

As you can see from the video, started looking like we were going to get rained on so we cut it short.

There will be more!

Rafting on the Cumberland River

Had the pleasure of taking advantage of the beautiful (mid-80's and sunny) October weather here in Nashville by rafting to downtown on the Cumberland River.  We loosely used the charts on the Corps of Engineer's site, mainly to make sure we didn't end up like we did in Oklahoma City where we put in, travelled about a mile and came upon a lock that was only able to be accessed by the tour boat that came by it.

It took us about an hour to travel to downtown and another hour back.  Our ramp was close to the Port of Opryland where two paddle wheelers do day cruises and dinner cruises.

  It would be a beautiful ride when the leaves are turning.  So hard to believe this river could get out of its banks and produce the kind of flooding it did in 2010.

We only saw three pleasure boats (one was being hauled out) along the ride, but did see the General Jackson Paddle Wheeler steaming along from Opryland to downtown.

As we approached downtown, we could see the "Batman Tower" in the distance. Then the full skyline appeared at the bend behind the bridges.  There is a beautiful ampitheatre along the West Bank of the River, with the Tennessee Titans' LP Stadium on the East side.  We were a little disappointed there wasn't any public docking or restaurants that catered to boaters.

After getting close to the ramp at Old Lock and Dam Number Two Park, we went "Tom Sawyer" and just floated.  The current we didn't realize until we turned the power off was amazing.  And.....the silence.

Too Busy to Blog!

Goodness, it's been a long time.  I've noticed since reading others' posts that when they go back to their previous home, they're just incredibly busy.  Now, we know the feeling.

Got in Monday to Kister's Marina and Campground, set up and off to visit our good friend, Lenny T. for the evening.

Tuesday, after a morning rain shower, we got the raft blown up, put in a slip and Bob headed out for golf for the afternoon with Lenny at Geneva On The Lake Golf Course.  First time out for about two months and it felt great.

Wednesday was a morning doctor visit to the Cleveland Clinic (one of the top four hospitals in the country, only an hour away, worth the drive!), then on to see our daughter and her new dog Tucker.  We met at the Lakewood Dog Park (a great place for dogs to meet and socialize).  Tucker is all boy puppy, and Sloopy is all Terrier.

That evening, we headed to the City Tap in Cleveland, then on to Progressive Field for a night of watching the Cleveland Indians beat the Detroit Tigers with our daughter Bethany, and our soon to be son in law, James.

Thursday was finally a working day, then prep for Bob's 50 year merit badge (a colonoscopy) on Friday morning.

Friday, we finished up all of our Doctor's "things" at the Cleveland Clinic (Connie's a 7.5 year cancer survivor), met with our former Business Development Manager from Carnival Cruises Geoff and his wife Jan.  Capped off with an evening with Lenny and his mother Pat.

Whew!  Tonight (Saturday) we're off to Conneaut Boat Club for their annual Corn Roast, tomorrow our daughter and fiancee' are coming over for a raft ride and spend the afternoon.