bobanddenisewanderlust

Saturday-  We were out the door early to our favorite Famers Market in South Bend. We took the back roads west to South Bend, avoiding the toll road due to the tolls and the construction westbound.

We bought more veggies and meats. Nothing else this week. Then we went to Costco for chicken. We returned to the MH, ate lunch and took a short nap.

We went to Walmart for a few items and Martin’s to round out our list. We had a quiet evening at home.

Sunday- We did our usual Sunday budget and checking our accounts. At 10:30 I left to go for a mani/pedi. When I returned we ate lunch and did more around the MH;

We left at 5 to go to Sturgis to meet up with Bob’s cousin Jacque and her hubby Paul. We had a nice dinner at a Mexican restaurant and had a great time visiting. Jacque and Paul were at an Escapees event at the fair grounds. If we had known sooner what our plans were, we might have joined them. By the time we were sure that we were free to attend it was too late to sign up.

Monday- We did tasks around the MH and got it ready to leave.I contacted Aspen Dental again. I have been calling them every 2 weeks. I had received a bill for $137. I knew that I did not owe that. So I have been working with a gal in their billing department. It turns out they had never billed our medical insurance company. When I was there in February, I had told them to bill the medical insurance first, then our dental insurance. So Marjorie, had re-billed the entire thing and we had been waiting for the determination. It pays to keep up with these things and keep arguing, as we now have a $91 credit!

We ate lunch and right afterwards I rec’d a text that our car would be ready at 5:30. Humph! Wrong! I called Gerber’s and the gal said that we were still waiting for the part. I asked her to please call me when it comes in. She said she couldn’t, as she is in the office not in the back. I again asked her to contact them and then contract me. She said no, even after I explained that we had requested a late check out but needed to let them know if we were going to have to stay overnight. Grrrr…

About 15 minutes later Zack called to let me know that the part had arrived and we could come pickup the car. So we pulled in the slides and left to go do the car exchange.

Zack apologized again and I asked the gal, again, why she could not let me know and why I had rec’d a text telling me 5:30. Oh well….

One of the guys who worked on the car came to me and asked if we had really had such big hail. I explained about it being in Denver and how it had happened. He was amazed as he had never seen such large hail dents.

We left and returned to the MH, attached the car, and took off traveling east on the toll road, I 80/90. It was a really bumpy ride through Indiana. The Indiana toll road is privately owned and managed. I would think that the state would be after them to repave it, since they charge a fortune in tolls. The length of it from the IL border to the OH border is $42 for trucks! We paid less than that since we got on past the middle of the state.

We entered Ohio and the road improved. It was another toll road, but I did not feel ripped off by Ohio, since it was well paved and they had nice rest stops.

We left the interstate and traveled 6 miles south to Gotta Get Away RV Park outside Bellevue OH This is a small PA park, $19 for 30 amp/water. We are spending 4 nights.

We set up and immediately cooked dinner. When doing our banking updates yesterday, I had found on my credit card that the park had billed me 3x. They were supposed to bill one $19 payment only, but there were two more pending. Weird! When we arrived the gal looked and they had not done that, so she is going to contact their credit card processor and I am contacting our credit union.

Tuesday- We took off from the park at around 9:30 and since it was going to be a nice day, we drove to Marblehead. First we stopped in Sandusky at the Staples and then went to the Post Office.

We drove east on Hwy 20 and turned to cruise on the Ohio Costal Highway

around Marblehead. Marblehead is basically a beach community on Lake Erie. It was very pretty and there were a lot of RV parks right on the water in addition to a lot of nice houses, they had individual condo’s, which were little houses, each with a dock space. Kind of neat!

We stopped at the Marblehead Lighthouse. The lighthouse was not open until 12:00. Neither was the Lighthouse Keeper’s house or the Lifesaving Museum.

We could see Cedar Point amusement park across the bay.

There was not a lot to see in Marblehead, so we left and returned to Sandusky. We stopped for lunch at a really nice diner, called Dianna’s. We had a great lunch, then went into downtown to the Merry-Go-Round Museum. It was located in an old Post Office in downtown Sandusky.

What fun this was! It cost $5 each senior rate, including one ride on the carousel. Carousel is actually the British term for a Merry-go-round, which is of course, what we call one.

The various animals were fascinating. As was their history. The museum even keeps a list of where there are working carousels right now. We checked Maryland(Glen Echo is there)  and Arizona.The list is on their website.

Above was in the entrance lobby. Note the stamps above. Below is the carousel, built in 1915.

We fell back to our childhoods and rode it. Most of them go 2-3 mph, this one went 9 mph.

 

Both of us chose not to ride horses, to ride other animals. We received tokens to ride the Merry-Go-Round, just like in the good old days!

Below is the renovation area where they renovate the animals that they can find and repair. You can pay for one to be renovated and have a plaque with your name put on it. They rotate their supply of the structures.

Below are some rare creatures, especially the tiger. The tigers are very rare. Note the detail on all of these!

 

The rooster below is also very rare.

Below are second row statues. The front row on the Merry-Go-Round is what most people see first, so the first row statues have more detail and color vs the second row animals. This deer was featured in the White House by Michelle Obama at one of the Christmas seasons. There were several of the animals sent to the White House and that year the Christmas decorations were designed around them.

The horse below was featured on a postal stamp in

Below is another that was featured on a postal stamp.

Below is a very rare statue. It is signed by the artist who made it. He did not sign most of the ones he designed and created, only the special ones.

We noted that there were these lighthouses around town, so we went looking for them.

We left and drove around town looking at the pier. .

From the pier we could see Cedar Point again. Cedar Point is a famous amusement park and it is a very busy place!

The wind was really blowing and you can see the white caps on the water.

More of these cute lighthouses everywhere….

   

We returned to the RV park. Emily had checked with their  credit card company and the two $19 charges were to drop off and not be billed. That is what our Credit Union also said. Weird!

We had a quiet evening at home watching the Orange is the New Black on Netflix.

Wednesday-  We left at around 9:30 to drive about 20 miles west to the town of Freemont. Our destination was the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library and Museum. This was the first Presidential Library/Museum.

As we turned right out of the RV park and we saw people sitting on the hill in lawn chairs. We laughed and said to each other, guess they are watching the traffic go by. The farther west we traveled the more people we saw and there was a real crowd at the VFW, as well as flags everywhere. We stopped and asked a woman what was going on. It was the mobile Vietnam Wall traveling on Hwy. 20 through Ohio.

As we approached the town of Bellevue, there was a big flag held up by two firetrucks. We decided to stop and pay our respects.

We parked in a Credit Union parking lot with a lot of other people and walked over to Hwy. 20. We sat on a very uncomfortable clement wall. We waited about an hour. The man sitting next to us was following the parade on FB and saw that it was in Norwalk, about 1/2 hour away. So we decided to leave and return to the RV park and get our lawn chairs. At this point it was after 11 AM.

As we were driving east, we spotted the police lights and pulled into a crossover on the road. I tried to post the parade on FB Live, but evidently there is one extra step that I missed. It looked like I was recording! Bob estimated that there were between 500 and 600 motorcycles traveling with the Wall. The Wall was in an 18 wheeler.  Anyway, it was really cool!

We continued on to the MH, walked the dogs and ate lunch. At about 12:30 we left and went west again to Freemont. We arrived at about 1 PM at the RBH Library and paid our $12 each to tour the home and for the Museum. I was allowed to take pictures in the museum but not in the house. There had been numerous changes to the house over the years, as the family lived there long after RBH died.

RBH only served 1 term, and that was actually more than he wanted too! The family owned the home, which as built for him by his uncle and guardian. He was happily married and had several children, who were the ones who donated the house and all his papers to the state of Ohio. They were the ones, who in the early 1900’s, decided to keep everything from his presidency and his memorabilia, for a library/museum. Below are Lucy and RBH.

The Hays hosted the first Easter Egg Roll on the White House lawn. They took it when Congress decided to not allow it to occur on the Capitol grounds.

RBH had a difficult presidency. He was president after Grant and the end of the Civil War. In addition, the Electoral College was tied and states had to re-vote. This took all the way up to the inauguration. The inauguration day fell on a Sunday, and was moved to Monday, but Grant was afraid that the Democrats would inaugurate their disputed candidate, so RBH was inaugurated on Saturday in a private ceremony at the White House, then again on Monday at a public ceremony. This election looked a lot like Bush/Gore! Below is his carriage, which he had to purchase and pay for himself.

RBH served with honor in the Civil War. Below is some war memorabilia.

There were posters on the walls that followed his life pre-presidency, through the campaign, during the presidency, and post presidency.

Downstairs in the museum there were also two traveling exhibits. One was a quilt exhibit. No pictures allowed, but I did not like a single one of them. They were very modern and not at all your typical quilts.

There was also a POP culture exhibit, with caricatures of the presidents, some comics, and I really liked this!

They had the family genealogy on the wall. The museum was pretty interesting and we wandered through. At 1:30 we walked over to the house for the house tour. There was only one other man, a biker, on the tour with us. We all, even the docent, Evan, had a great time. The house is very interesting.

After the presidency, he ( and the family including wife Lucy) returned to the house. Because he was so busy post presidency and so many people visited, they doubled the size of the house.

We walked over to the grave of both of them, plus one of the son’s and his wife. All of the son’s served in the military and had numerous decorations. As did RBH himself.

We left and returned to the MH and had a quiet evening at home.

Thursday– We left around 10 and drove south about 35 miles to the town of Bucyrus. This little town was interesting. Unfortunately,  the town square was closed off as they were putting together viewing stands and a band stand for an event this weekend. The even is Hope for Heroin. They are hoping to assist addicts since Ohio has such a high drug addiction problem.

We stopped first at the Welcome Center. The gal, Trish, was very helpful. She pulled out a town map and circled the locations we wanted to visit. She also was doing a tour of the Copper Factory at 2 PM, so we told her we would be there.

We let and went directly to lunch. It was now 12:00. Trish had suggested Carle’s Brats (carlesbrats.com)for lunch. Bob had the special, lasagna, vegetable, and a breadstick which had cheese in the center for $4.99. I had the roasted chicken with green beans, $2.95. Both were excellent. This was a deli type place with tables and it was very crowded!

We continued on to Walmart, then on the return trip stopped at the Lincoln Road memorial.

We would have stopped at a local garage, which has an Edsel collection, but the garage door was closed which meant the owner was not there.

We drove north to Union Cemetery where there were unique headstones.

The first one above has a ball on it. It is called the Mystery Ball. Note on the left side of the bottom of the ball. There is a discoloration. The ball moves! It is too heavy for a person to move it, in fact, Bob tried. So it is a mystery! Trish and her husband think that the freezing and thawing of the ice in the winter moves it…

Next is a Cash Register.

  

Isn’t this next one interesting! It is a cement log…

  

In front of the log, were other smaller stumps which belonged to the same family.

We returned to town and stopped at Cedars Jam and Jelly store. It was getting close to to 2 PM, so we returned to downtown. We had a problem trying to park, because they were laying asphalt on the local roads, in addition to the closure for the town center.

We arrived at D.Picking& Co. Copper Kettles factory, now the  Bucyrus Copper Kettle Works Ltd. . The factory is located in the original building from the 1800’s. Below Bob and Trish are checking with the office manager to see is they are ready for us. The building is on the National Register of Historic Buildings.

“Bucyrus Copper Kettle Works, Ltd. is unusual in many respects; it has a name few people can pronounce and even fewer can spell. But what makes Bucyrus Copper Kettle Works truly unique is the continued tradition of handmade copper items in the same location at 119 South Walnut Street in Bucyrus, Ohio for more than 140 years.” from http://bucyruscopperkettle.com/

The original family ran the business until 2015, when the last family member passed away. All the current orders were completed. “Bucyrus Copper Kettle Works Ltd”. began operations shortly thereafter under the leadership of Steve Schifer, a coppersmith with 39 years of experience”

We began the tour in the office, which had the original desk and safe. One of the original owners had a fascination with elephants, so there are a lot of them in the building. Note the one over the door above Trish’s head. There was elephant art, pictures, and ceramic statues etc.

We moved into a packing room. Below, are rolls of copper material that comes into the factory.

Below was Steve Schifer, the owner who did our tour.

He demonstrated how they make the kettles. They are made by hand, one by one, with the machinery from the past. They are hand hammered. I am not going to try to explain the process. They make kettles for popcorn and candy companies. The candy companies include Fanny Farmer, Sees,Russell Stover, and many more!

We left and walked over to the town square where there was an incredible mural. This is the Great American Crossroad Mural in Millennium Park. The mural cost 70K and the dimensions are 34’ high and 130’ wide. It is painted primarily with Sherman Williams house paint.

As you can see, it is 3 dimensional. It was possibly the best mural we have ever seen, and if you follow the blog, you know how many murals I have posted!  The artist is Eric Grohe of Maryville, Washington.

Starting on the left,

In the window on the left, it shows a woman ( who had been head of the Chamber of Commerce) looking down with a cell phone in her hand keeping a watchful eye on the park. Then the agricultural panel salutes the largest industry in the county, which of course is farming.

In the center is the town. 130 Bucyrus citizens modeled for the artist, 88 of whom can be found in the mural. On the left is a man with some children. The children have a violin. the man is Augustus Juilliard, the great uncle of local banker Julliard Blicke. He made note of  their names and went on to found the Juilliard School of Music in NYC. 

There is a newspaper boy,a popcorn machine, a banker and soldier . This mural has so much, you could stand and watch it for quite awhile! To the right is the industrial panel representing a portion of the past and present. Note the man is hammering a copper kettle!

We walked over to St. Paul’s Lutheran Church with Trish. She went to the back and came through to the front to let us into the church to see the Groche mural inside.

It is called The Light.

We left and drove uptown to see the last mural. This one is the Liberty Remembers Mural, also done by Eric Grohe. It was begun on June 6,2001 and completed November 11, /2001. The cost was $115K and is painted with Keim Mineral paint.

The faces in the statue in the center of based on the artist and his brother. Local veterans were nominated for their time in serve and a narrative was submitted. there were over 500 submissions and 285 where chosen.

If you note on the sides, there are the Veterans of the services, going up the pillars. There are various locals included in the rest of the mural. Since this was being completed after 9/11, there were flowers and notes left at the site of the mural as a site of mourning in the community, during the time around 9/11. The artist then added to the mural ”Her Torch Still Shines, Our Flag Still Waves” in  memory of the 9/11 attack.

We left and returned to the MH and settled in for a quiet evening, after preparing the MH to move.  We needed to take in some items from outside as we were expecting rain.  

Friday- We woke to heave rain. When it temporarily stopped raining, Bob took the dogs for a quick walk. While he was gone, it started to pour again. The three of them arrived back at the MH soaked.

We worked on getting the MH ready. Another dry time occurred, so Bob raced to take the dogs out again to finish their business. It poured, again. We spent time both times trying to get the dogs dried off!

Finally, we had a little bit longer break. So we rushed to get the MH ready to move. We drove to the dump station and Bob dumped the tanks. We hooked up the car and off we went.

As we were traveling south on Rt. 4, the wind picked up and we had intermittent rain. We were glad that we were only traveling 128 miles to South Charleston. Due to the closed roads in Bucyrus, we turned west on Hwy. 30. We had stopped at a rest area  on Hwy 30 and I took over driving. We turned south again on Hwy 23 and turned back onto Hwy. 4. Once we were past Marion, it poured rain.

Of course, that was when the windshield wipers decided to give up! So I could not see anything. We were on a 2 lane road, with no shoulders. There was only 1 car behind us, so I put on the hazard lights and stopped in the middle of the road. Bob jumped out to see if he could do a quick repair. He got it running, and climbed back into the MH dripping wet.

I continued on and it broke again. This time there was a line behind us. I spotted a driveway to a house, so I pulled over as far as I could, and put the hazard lights on again. I am sure there were a lot of people cussing as us!

Bob hopped out and got the wipers going again. We drove about 1 mile and they broke again, but before they broke, we spotted a truck stop on the right. Well, truck stop was giving it more credit than it deserved! It was a mud stop with lots of huge potholes with water in them. I had to dodge around them, while not being able to see. Oh what fun!

I finally found a safe spot to stop and Bob went to work. He had to go under the front hood ( we have a diesel pusher so the engine is in the back) and there was a lot of banging going on. He got them Gerri-rigged, and we continued on our way. It still rained all the way to South Charleston.

We drove into Tomorrow’s Stars RV Park at the corner of I-70 and Hwy 40. This is an RPI park. We were given a 50 amp FHU site right behind the office, $14 per night, we are staying 4 nights. Bob set up, in the rain, doing the outside. Then came in and changed socks, shoes, and clothes including his underwear! I changed clothes and shoes also, since I was also pretty wet.

We ate lunch and had a quiet afternoon in the MH. We ate dinner at home. Finally, the weather cleared out, but we remained under a flood watch. When we left Bellevue we were in a front; as we traveled south, we moved into the tropical storm that was moving north east.

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