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Forge Ahead!

by Richie

 

Troy, Ohio
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blacksmith

 

Tim is forging ahead with his plans for a new blacksmith shop at the farm. So we’ve made the trip up to the annual Southern Ohio Forge & Anvil Quadstate Roundup, one of the largest blacksmith conventions in this part of the country.

This is our fourth trip to SOFA, and we always begin the weekend with a stay at my folks’ house, camping driveway style. It also happens to be close to my birthday, so we celebrated with Mom & Dad – and big double thank you for the birthday gifts!!

 birthday

Noon on Friday found us lumbering into the Miami County Fairgrounds in Troy, Ohio, where we will camp for the weekend. Tim scurried out to do a look-around at all the vendor wares. He was on a mission to purchase a new forge, and this is the place to buy one. If you’re interested in blacksmithing as a hobby, this convention has all the rusty iron implements you could ever need. There’s dozens of sellers lined up along the gravel drives, and they’re all willing to make a deal.

Tim came back within the hour – a hot red forge procured on the first go-round. So now we can relax the rest of the weekend, since the primary mission has already been accomplished. forge

Tomorrow Tim will spend the day watching various experts do demonstrations. I’m going to leave the crockpot cooking in the motorhome and backtrack south to the Cincinnati IKEA store. My folks are going to join me for some shopping and they’ll have no trouble finding me, as I’ll be in a big blue truck with a bright red forge strapped on the back!

 

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End of The Trail

by Richie

Delaware, Ohio
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 DSCN6260

We’ve made the big turn South and are at last heading for home. It’s been a wonderful couple of weeks in the mountains and at the lakes. The weather was perfection, we found many new places to love, and visiting with family was a bonus. 

Tonight we’re camped at Cross Creek Resort, a few clicks from Columbus. It will be an easy ride home from here, where it may take us a week to unpack the coach. 

Thanks for following along with us. We’ll be heading out again in a few weeks on some shorter trips, so stay tuned!

 

 

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Eastbound And Down

by Richie

Zanesville, Ohio
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ZANESVILLE

 Z is for Zanesville, where we will catch some Zzzzs tonight.

We’re out adventuring again, on our way to parts known and unknown. Tonight’s stop-over is a sweet little campground tucked in the hills of Zanesville. It’s on Route 666, and we did have a devilish time getting here! The crawl through Cincinnati took hours on a Friday afternoon – traffic was backed up for 40 miles on all sides of the city.

But the weather was pleasant, the skies blue, and a few hours later we made it here to Zanesville, on the east side of Columbus, without undo incident. Tomorrow we’ll head out for—-well, you’ll just have to wait and see!

 DSCN5335 DSCN5340

 

 

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Diversion Excursion

by Richie
Driveway Camping

Driveway Camping

A big family weekend in Ohio was the perfect excuse to pull the RV out of storage. We loaded up the coach and headed to my folks house to join up with relatives from Vermont. The weekend was a whirlwind of parties and food to celebrate Aunt Bon’s big birthday.

party time

Brunch was enjoyed by about a dozen of us, and Dad entertained the crowd with his excellent Italian-American reading of Goldilocchese and Di Tri Berese.

 

Di Tri Berese

Uans opponna taim uas tri berrese, mamma berre, pappa berre e beibe berre.
Liva inne contri nire foresta. Naise aus, no mugheggia.
Uanne dei Pappa, Mamma e beibe go bice, orie a furghetta locche di doore. Bai enne bai commese Goldilocchese. Sci garra nattinghe tu du batte meiche troble.
Sci puscie olle fudde daon di maute, no liva cromme. Denna sci gossa appesterrese enne slipse in olle di beddse. Leise slobbe! Bai enne bai commese omme di tri berrese, alle sannebronne enne send inne scius.
Dei garra no fudde, dei garra no beddse. Enne uara dei goine du to Goldilocchese? Tro erre aute inne strit? Colle pulissemenne? Fette cienze! Dei uas Italiane berrese, enne dei slippe onna florre!
Goldilocchese stei derre tri uicase, itte auta ausenome!
Enne giosta bicose dei esche erre tu meiche di beddse, sci sei “Go tu elle” enne runne omme craine tu erre mamma, etellenerre uat sanimabicese di tri berrese uere.
Uatsiuse? Uara iu goine du? Go compleine sittiolle?

 

We continued the festivities at a nearby casino. Recently opened and not widely promoted, Miami Valley Racetrack is a sparkling new property with acres of slot machines and live harness racing in the evenings. On Saturday the place was jumping. We all signed up for their Player’s Card, which gave us each $15 in credits for testing the slots. Happy to report that most of us made money on the free play! CASINO

Sunday afternoon found us parked at the giant IKEA store for a big look-around. Tim and I strolled about for three hours, drooling at all the contemporary furnishings and doo-dads. Okay, I want pretty much everything in the place!

 ikea2

On the way home a giant traffic jam on I-71 stalled us near Carrollton, Ky. According to my traffic app it looked like there would be a delay of several hours. Already gun-shy from slogging through an Epic Traffic Jam last fall, we diverted to Butler State Park. Our thought was to have a little supper in the coach and wait for the traffic to clear. But a couple of hours later it seemed easier just to camp overnight in the peace and quiet of the state park and hit the road Monday morning. Ah, the joys of owning an RV – you’re always at home, wherever you are!

Butler State Park

Butler State Park

It was a good long weekend filled with family, fun, and other swell diversions.
A nice start to the Spring!

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The Dirty Pants Club

by Richie
Troy, Ohio

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 Under a spreading chestnut tree
The village smithy stands;
The smith, a mighty man is he,
With large and sinewy hands;
And the muscles of his brawny arms
Are strong as iron bands.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

 

Every September a couple of thousand blacksmiths convene in tiny Troy, Ohio. The annual convention is sponsored by SOFA (Southern Ohio Forge & Anvil), and is the signature event for those who like to beat upon hot iron.

 

 

 

We’ve attended for several years, camping at the fairgrounds where the Meet is held. It’s a great event – smoking forges, hammers ringing, rusty implements for sale. If you’re interested in the hobby, this is the place to buy and sell all the tools of the trade.

 

Guys (and gals) who come to this meet tend to be a bit grizzled, whether they are young or old. All display great guns (muscles), and are generally convivial and anxious to talk shop. Demonstrations and competitions are held all weekend, with lessons by expert forgers.

 

Steam Engine
Fire-Breathing Dragon
At a large gallery in the center, participants can display their creativity. There’s some real artistry in the pieces, showing many hours of dedicated work. (They also have a small table for Spouse Crafts, and I won a Blue Ribbon for my tatted doily.)

 

My Tatted Medallion
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Canton, Ohio
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Tim got stoned in Ohio. Gall stones, that is.

Sunday morning he woke up very ill. We packed up in a hurry and took him to a regional county hospital. Mind you, we were way out in BFA (Bum F–k Amish) country at the time. And while I’ve got nothing against the Amish, I don’t have a clue about the quality of their medical services. I was a little worried they might tell him to put zee lime in dee coconut and drink it all up.

Turns out they were competent and efficient at preliminary rounds of tests, and told us immediately Tim needed to go to the “Big Hospital” — I’m thinking Cleveland, but they meant Canton.

So here were are in Canton, Ohio for the last two days. Tim went by ambulance; the driver shouted “Follow me!” and peeled out. I lumbered behind by a good hour, going horse and buggy speed in the motorhome.

By the time I found him on the fifth floor of  Mercy Medical Center (yeah, it really is a big hospital), they were already mumbling about surgery. Having just lost his mother only a few weeks ago to the same procedure, the anxiety knob got turned to 11.

Fortunately the Calvary arrived. My parents made the four-hour trip in just under three and a half, and saved me from a complete melt-down. They took a hotel for the night, and the dog & I camped out in the vast and empty hospital employee parking lot in the motorhome. It was a nervous and sleepless night, followed by a rude rousting at 5:00am by security, who told me I had to move the coach because first shift was coming in.

Which brings us to today, Monday. Tim looked a bit improved today, the meds kicked in overnight, but he’s still really sick. They’re doing more tests and keeping him another night at least.

I found a campground a few miles away (to save the poor dog from baking in the parking lot another afternoon), Enterprise delivered me a car, and we’ll see what tomorrow brings.

 

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Amish Country -Ohio

by Richie

Kidron, Ohio
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This year’s Big Summer Vacation finds us pointing the compass North. We’ve traded up the scooter for a street-legal Honda Rebel, which will give us a lot more freedom to roam.

We got a jumpstart on Friday and headed a few hours north, stopping for evening to visit to my folks. We celebrated Dad’s birthday a bit early and camped in the driveway under a steady rain. This morning we were off to a leisurely start, after making omelets with his fancy new egg appliance.

 

Outside of Canton, Ohio, we landed in the little town of Kidron to visit the famous Lehman’s Store. This area easily accommodates both us worldly folks alongside the traditional Amish population. County roads are built with an extra lane for buggies, and we saw many Amish families heading for Saturday gatherings in their carriages.

 
At Lehman’s we followed the signs for RV parking, but couldn’t find it. So we pulled in at the stockyards next door, happily after the livestock auctions were over. It must have been a lively day, given the depth of the horse apples in the buggy parking section.

 

 

We know Lehman’s well, having ordered from their catalog for years to outfit our non-electric cabin. Seems we own half of what’s in the catalog, and want the other half, too! The store is a vast emporium of old-timey and useful goodies. There’s cast iron Dutch ovens, modern and antique pot belly stoves, hardware and farm implements, plus all manner of gardening and kitchen equipment. Shelves are full of hard to find foods, old-fashioned candy, bygone brands of soap and soda. Room after room of great surprises.

 

My Size Coffee Cup!

We picked up a great selection of weirdo sodas, including Tim’s favorite – Moxie. It’s made with quinine, and if you’ve never tasted Moxie…well, in my opinion, you’re better off!

This evening we are camped at the excellent Evergreen RV Resort. They’ve got outstanding amenities here, including a Dog Wash station. More on this property tomorrow, as we’re staying here two nights before saddling up for our next destination.

 

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Driveway Camping

by Richie

Wyoming, Ohio
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There’s many reasons we love RV’ing, and the list got a little longer this week. In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, many RVers have offered their rigs as temporary shelter to embattled East Coast residents. Power, heat, refrigerator, and sleeping quarters all in a rolling relief package. Bravo to the kind souls who lent out their campers to those in need!

In our own little corner of the un-flooded world, a similar need arose this weekend. Some family members drove in to check on their rental property in Cincinnati. The house was empty, no furniture or belongings inside, and they needed a place to stay for the weekend. Easy solution!

I drove the coach up north, and we had a cozy camp-out in the driveway. No need for a hotel or restaurant when all the luxuries are in one park-able package.

Our RV runs on 30 amp power, and we can plug into house current in a pinch. As long as I’m careful not to turn on too many lights or run the microwave, we can function pretty much business as usual.

We stayed comfy and warm, prepared lots of meals & snacks, and watched movies every night. It was our own little hotel in the driveway.

A couple of curious neighbors dropped by and I gave the usual tour of our coach. One gent said he’d been looking at boats recently, and we compared similarities of the amenities. There’s lots of shared design between boats and RVs – judicious use of space, folding tables & sofas, locking storage bins, propane appliances, etc.

But when the need arises, be it natural disaster or just a family visit, I’d sure rather have an RV at our disposal!

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