Last week Indiana and Moving on to Grand Island New York

July 6 - 12, 2015 

This is it in Indiana for the summer of 2015.  Always a little sad as we say goodbye for now and see you in December.  However, life moves on and we are moving with it so we can see other family and friends.  We didn’t get to do as much in Indiana this year because of the constant rain. The last week lived up to the entire time; it was rainy and turned cold.  OK, see you in December Indiana!

During our last summer week in Indiana, we got to be there for Savannah's 12th birthday.  This is the first time we have been here for her birthday and she was looking forward to it. We also had our last meal together for the summer at the local Applebee’s. That was about it for the last week.

Hanging on our fridge.

Savannah greeting us at her birthday party.

We had a bowling outing before the party.  Savannah letting the ball go.

Bailey Bowling.

Tony bowling.

Patty (Grandma) bowling.

Savannah's friend Jocelyn bowling.  Looks like a gutter ball from here!

Livy had the right idea!

Bailey grew a mustache for the party!

Savannah had us all draw a picture during the party.  This is grandpas.  The thing that looks like a plane on fire in the center is supposed to be a bird!

Savannah getting her cake delivered by mom Tracy.

Grandma Brenda (Tracy's mom).

Grandma Brenda (Tony's mom).

Savannah likes to cook so she got a cookbook, apron, and a Kroger gift card.

View of the party.

New phone too!

Something from the Dr. Who TV show.

Livy is such a ham!

3 grandmas.  Brenda, Brenda, and Patty

Livy with Grandpa Barry looking on.

Grandma Patty's picture.

On the 10th, we packed up and headed out for our first of 3 travel legs to Grand Island NY (Buffalo).  We left the Crawfordsville KOA around 11 am and traveled the 220 miles to the Alton RV Park near Columbus Ohio.  

I need to add this caution again for anybody who is traveling this way on Interstate 70 east.  The road surface approaching Richmond all the way to the Ohio border is terrible.  It is so bad there is no way to keep my speed at 65.  I had to drop all the way down to 50.  This patch of road has been this bad for at least 3 years now and maybe longer.  It’s bad on the westbound side too, just not as bad as the eastbound.

We really needed to have the RV washed and the Crawfordsville KOA doesn’t allow any vehicle washing.  This is true for probably 75% of the parks we stay at.  Most of the time I take advantage of the parks that do allow washing and wash the rig.  This time I decided to wash the rig on the way at a rest park.  I filled up the fresh water tank on the rig so I could use the rig water pump.  I don’t like traveling with a full tank of water (weighs 400 pounds full) due to the weight. 

The rest area is only 20 miles down the road and we are just 2 miles off of the interstate so we have a good road and not far to go.  With the slides in I figure with Patty rinsing behind me washing it would only take a ½ hour to get it done.  It didn’t happen this time as the rain started and basically followed us all the way into Ohio!  We did pull over at the rest park and I opened up the fresh water tank drain so it could drain along the way.  The drain is very slow so we were draining water most of the way into Ohio.  

We arrived at the Alton RV Park around 4 pm in a little rain that followed us from Indiana.  As we were setting up I heard a familiar voice say “hey Mark” from behind me!  It was Bruce who we just purchased our lot from in Texas!  We haven’t seen Bruce and his wife MarySue since we were in Texas in April.  This is really a wild coincidence and confirming that it is really a small world after all.

Our rig on the left with Bruce and MarySue's on the right.

After setting up, Bruce invited us out for dinner at a Mexican restaurant just up the road. We had a nice dinner spent the time catching up with them and their new plans.  They have decided to purchase a condo in this area and are giving up full-time RVing after 11 years.  Bruce and MarySue are very special people who live life to the fullest and we will miss them in Texas.  Thanks you guys for dinner and we hope to see you again as we pass through here most every year.

Out for a dinner with Bruce, MarySue, Me, and Patty.

Alton RV Park was the first of our 2 bump and run stops along the way to Grand Island NY.  So, the next morning on the 11th we took off for our 216 mile trip North East to Conneaut OH and the Evergreen Lake RV Park.
  

We had a family of birds traveling with us in our RV hitch.  The nest was built in Indiana and we found that it still had birds in it when we arrived in Northern Ohio.  By the time we arrived in Buffalo, they were gone.

The Evergreen RV Park is one we will try to stay at again in our future travels.  The area has things we would like to spend time exploring.   The RV Park is mainly a destination park for seasonals.   The park is huge at over 250 sites, mostly seasonally occupied though.  I liked the park because it is perfect for my walk/run that I do every other day.  It has 2 small lakes that you can walk around, one of which is almost ½ a mile around and level.  It felt just like a running track that I use to run on many years ago.  I had a new record for me of 12 minutes and 44 seconds for the last mile of my 5 mile walk/runs.  I am not as good as I was 30 years ago but I am about like I was 20 years ago though. 

Our site at the Evergreen Lake RV Park in Conneaut OH.

Just interesting set up at the park.  Loads of seasonals.

Swimming lake.

Fishing lake.

Interesting item for sale.  It is a booze wagon that you pull around behind  your golf cart.

Another view of the swimming lake.

Our site at Evergreen Lake.  Patty on a walk with me.

The southern cross is still alive here!

On the 12th, we slowly packed up and got ready for our last leg of the trip up to Grand Island.  Today the trip will be around 150 miles.  The weather is great now so we decided to wash the rig on our way out.  Just a mile out of the park there is a little used strip mall that we can pull into the back of and wash the rig.  I decided to go ahead and wash the truck and RV; basically go down each side of the truck and rig with our long handled brush while Patty follows and does the rinse.  I was close on the time, it took us 40 minutes to wash and rinse the rig from start to driving away.  

This is how Rosey rides.

We arrived at the Grand Island KOA around 4:45 pm and were set up by 7:30 pm.  It takes us awhile to set up and tear down when we are sitting for a month or longer.  I like to get it all or mostly all done right away.  The only thing left is to move the picnic table over to our front mat.

We are on site 628 that we reserved last year when we were here.  The KOA has sites set aside for monthlies and we think this is the best of these sites.  It is a corner site at the end of the last row in the park so we have a lot of front yard to work with. The other sites are very close together.  Last year our neighbors sewer hose was under our picnic table, that is how close!

Our site at the Grand Island NY KOA.

Nice picture of the cabins at the Grand Island KOA.

Our site near dark with the blue lights on.

We will be here in Grand Island for the next 4 weeks and then leave for the Elmira NY area for a short stay and then off to New Jersey for 4 weeks.  After NJ, we are again sightseeing on our own and also visiting friends along the way. 

We just last week got confirmation that we reserved into the Cherry Hill RV Park near Washington DC for a week in September.  This park is very expensive at $70 a night but is the closest to Washington.  We can take the metro train that is very close or we can take a tour bus that stops at the park. So we can explore Washington with the truck parked!  We are really looking forward to that!

Stay Tuned!