Monday July 18 and Tuesday July 19, 2011

Monday
We didn't do much in the morning.  When we went into town, Gerri went to Sam's Club to shop, Ed, Glenna and I went by our old house in Blackhawk Hollow.  This is the house where I was born and raised.  After my Grandmother died several years ago  my Mother sold the house and the house next door along with the four lots they sat on.  The buyers paid off the loan about three years ago.  About two years later a tree up rooted and fell on the house.  The picture shows some of the damages,  since then both houses have been condemned but not torn down yet.  The original house was two rooms and open underneath.  Sometime before I was born the open part was made into a half basement and closed in.  The kitchen was moved downstairs, leaving both rooms upstairs as bedrooms and the downstairs a kitchen and living room.  When I was growing up there was a covered porch both upstairs and down.  When we got indoor plumbing, around 1955, the downstairs porch was closed in as a bathroom and washroom.  Until then we carried culinary water from a spring at the head of the hollow about a quarter mile away.  Rain or shine we carried water.  Water for washing and bathing was rain water caught in barrels under gutters from the roof.  The room at the back was added later as a bedroom for Ed and me.  The covered porch shown in the pictures was added long afer we left.  Ed had the house remodled inside and a bath added upstairs.  The house was rented for awhile before my Mother sold it.

After visiting the old home place we went to Campbell's hollow to take pictures of the Midway School where my Mother attended middle school.

The "D" must have fallen off

When she went to school there her family lived in a coal company town named Putney about 12 miles away, She rode a train to school.  We tried to drive to Putney via Campbell Creek Drive, but after about eleven miles the road was impassable.  Even with Ed's Rav4 we didn't feel comfortable going further, if we had been in two vehicles we would have gone on.

We got back to town late and everyone was hungry.  We decided on dinner at the Lonestar Steak House.  We had plenty to eat and had more than enough leftovers for another meal.  Add that to the leftovers from the Mexican Restaurant, we have at least two meals on hand.
We got back to Rippling Waters just before dark.  Since we are leaving tomorrow I took down the flags and hitched up the Jeep.  I went inside to cool off intending to disconnect everything except the power.  But a serious rain storm came with a lot of lightening and thunder,  The storm lasted until about midnight.  I took a shower and went to bed.

Tuesday
We got up at 7 AM and were ready to travel by 9:10.  The plan for today was to drive about 220 miles to meet our friends, Carl and Joyce Wolf in North Ridgeville, OH  just a little west of Cleveland.


A rest stop in Ohio along I-77



We had an easy drive with a little rain and a lot of road construction on I-77.  We turned off I-77 onto US-250 and then north on Ohio SR83 to North Ridgeville.  We got to the RV Park at 1:30 PM.  Carl met us at the entrance, we got setup and visited while cooling off after the work.  The humidity is high and it's a little over 90.

Carl and Joyce had invited us over for dinner at 6:30.  After dinner we watched a DVD of Terry Fador.  Home again just before dark.