May 26th
KENTUCKY TO COLDWATER
Nothing “cold” about Coldwater. It’s in the 90’s here with that hot, hot land
breeze blowing. The good news is that
we’re alongside a lake , a private lake, VJ’s Pond and it’s wonderful. Billy is having the time of his life. The property is so large we don’t have to
worry about his running near the road and he’s good about staying around
us. In fact he hasn’t been out of the
pond for very long!
CADDY DOES THE HULA
We got here around 4PM but not without incident. As we were traveling down the highway Dave
noticed the car was swerving back and forth.
We pulled off the highway to check it out. A red car also pulled up behind us. Coincidentally he was with the Commonwealth
of Kentucky. He told us we looked like
we were about to lose our car. We checked
everything; steering wheel was locked, emergency brake on, straps were attached
and tight. Nothing moved. So, we decided to continue on down – what choice
did we have – I couldn’t take the car off the dolly because I’d be heading into
the oncoming traffic – never a good idea.
There was an exit a couple miles down the road if we needed to get off. Oh Joy!
As we continued down with both of us keeping our eyes on the
back-up camera and side mirrors, the car seemed to be tracking well. So…..we did what the pioneers did in their
day ….. we kept on going!
CINCINNATI ...... ARGH!
Our route up took us to Frankfort on the Bluegrass
Expressway then up through Lexington to I75 through Cincinnati to US 127 to
Coldwater. WE HATE CINCINNATI. They must have an “evergreen” grant of road
money because they are never finished!
The highways are AWFUL. It was
through this section that the handle bars on our bikes shattered the back
window of our travel trailer! If the car
was going to come loose, it would be here and it would not be pretty.
FARMLAND - THAT FAMILIAR SMELL.....er... ODORIFEROUS'NESS
Finally, finally, finally we got off the interstate and
headed up US 127 driving through the farmlands of Ohio. You can just sit back and feel the history of
these states unroll. The westward movement
bringing the farmers out of New York down to Kentucky and the Ohio Valley. From here the movement went west on the Lewis
and Clark trail through St Charles Missouri.
The land is rich and the farms are large. The land is also VERY FLAT, unlike Kentucky
with rolling hills. You can silos for
miles and miles and miles and miles!
VJ CAMPING RESORT
5+++ STARS
We volunteered to Host Here this summer!!!
VJ has opened up the VJ Camping Resort and it is
BEAUTIFUL HERE!!!! As soon as we pulled
into the driveway we let Billy out. He
stood at the top step waiting for his leash to be attached. I encouraged him to come out and he jumped
out tentatively. Once he realized there
wouldn’t be on a leash he Enttook off over the grass, down to the pond where he
walked into the water and drank deeply.
Then he ran to the grass and rolled over and over and over down the
hill, making sure his back was rubbed by the grass and his ears were
dried.
Entrance to the property. Lots of running room!
In the meantime we unhooked the car. Dave then realized the coder pin had fallen out
of the bolt which may have caused the initial issues. Guess we are very lucky nothing bad happened.
I pulled the CADDY off the dolly and heard a “clunk”. Dave pulled the MH behind the garage so that
we would be pond-side. I put the Caddy
in reverse but it wouldn’t go and I heard a “clunk”.
Once Dave positioned the MH I told him I couldn’t put the
car into reverse. Over the past few
minutes I saw $$$$ flash before my eyes thinking transmission replacement to
car replacement. Amazing how you can leap
to these thoughts!!
Dave got into the car and put it in reverse. Then he looked down and saw that I had not
released the emergency brake! Car backed
up with no problems. Thank GOD!
We settled in quite nicely.
Billy is totally focused on the pond.
He did venture over to the soy field planted alongside the property and
gloomed onto something that looked like a dried turd – which is probably what
it was – I dug the turdish thing out of his mouth and dragged him back to the
RV scolding him about going into the field.
His tail was tucked and he got the message because he hasn’t even looked
in that direction since! The pond
holds way too much promise.
As dogs do, Billy sniffed his way around the pond, across the deck and came face to face with this guy! I few barks to ensure his Alpha Dog Status then a quick sniff showed that he had nothing to fear from his pup!
You gotta love this tin man! He used to be over by the side of the porch and when we brought Alex here for the first time the water was running and the Tin Man was peeing. Alex looked at the tin man and saw what he was doing, he put his hand over his mouth and laughed! I think he was only 10 then!!
There are a set of yellow balls on a swim line and he has been trying to damnest to get to. He even tried swimming out to them but got a mouth full of water and it also went up his nose so he walks in until his belly is touching and barks at the yellow balls.
Looking out at the "play area" where the swings swing you out 10' over the water. The diving board will be put up soon and the zip line goes across the pond. The kids always have a blast on that zip line!
Looking out from the deck across the pond is so peaceful. This is a beautiful spot.
It was over 90 degrees with a west (land) wind so it was a
hot wind! As soon as we got
settled, I put on my bathing suit and
got into the water. Tried to lure Billy
into swimming with me but he wanted his feet to touch!
Billy's favorite game is to have the tennis ball thrown and he'll catch it. When it lands in the water, he just climbs down and fishes it out. He's getting braver and braver.
Purple Martins – eat their weight in mosquitoes. I wonder if they have these in Vermont!
Slowly but surely he is going deeper into the water. Even tried swimming a bit but didn’t like
water up his nose.
This property is beautiful and is used by VJ and family for evenings and weekends. VJ is very involved with community programs
and opens the property up to schools and organizations involving kids. I walked into his garage and there had to be
100 life jackets of all sizes. Those are
for all the kids when they come out to use the property. He also hosts special programs for special
needs or at risk kids. This family is
just wonderful.
VJ is also very, very talented as is Mert. Together they make a fabulous team --- you should see the house they designed! VJ has S&K Products which makes tin cans such as garbage cans or even those large popcorn cans. He creates these wonderful characters out of the cans such as the Tin Man and the flower girl.
For years I have been wanting one of VJ's creations and finally mentioned it last night. This morning VJ brought out Gertrude! Oh..........how I love Gertrude! She will sit on our table in the campsites and have a prominent place on the porch when we get home. I told VJ that Gertrude qualifies as a family heirloom!
BILLY GOES FISHING
May 28, 2012
It dawned hot with a promise of hotter. VJ came over this morning bringing fresh donuts. I had already made strawberry pancakes from their fresh strawberries. Yum! He brought out the fish food and started to feed the fish; bass, catfish, brim, etc. Billy became quite excited about this so made his way into the water to eat the food. At one point he and a catfish were going for the same piece of food - both were quite surprised!
Around noon we went in search of turtle soup
--- for Dave. I don’t eat amphibians. We were also looking for hand breaded fried
tenderloin sandwiches which is a specialty up here.
At least I’d never heard of them before we
came here. We found both at Sunnysides,
a restaurant on a canal that leads to Grand Lake which is a huge lake with a
huge problem. Ohio has no natural lakes
(except maybe Lake Erie but I’m not sure about that). Grand Lake is
large and popular with a tremendous algae problem so swimming is not
recommended. Imagine having a home on
this lake and not being able to poke your pinky in!
Sunnyside
interior is decorated as though it were located on a Florida coast or the
Carribean. Palm trees, beach scenes,
sailboats off in the distance. You’d
almost think you were somewhere else until you look up at the mounted fish on
the wall. Those were obviously caught
from the mid-western lake. Oh well!
Soup
came and Dave ate. Sandwiches came and I
just tried to figure out how to engineer this into my mouth! You can tell we’re out of the south because
you can no longer get sweet tea!
NEW BREMEN
From
here we headed over to Donna and Gary’s house (Dave’s sister). The roads are laid out in one-mile grids with
four way or two way stops every mile
. The trick is to pay attention to these
stops as you can get lolled by the straight roads and roll through assuming
it’s a four way and it’s a two way. Lots
of accidents happen out here in the flatlands.
On
our way to Donna’s we went through a familiar town. It’d be hard to get lost here since the
town’s names are on the water towers.
New Bremen…….now I know a very special person from New Bremen…. so it
caught my attention. As did an interesting building so I asked Dave to stop so I could take a
picture.
Now,
according to Dave, the history of this area primarily centers around the
Westerheides so imagine my surprise when I found something else in the area
that qualifies as “historical”.
I
was taking a picture of the building ….. there is some debate what the building
is …. when I woman asked me what the building was. I told her I didn’t know but ask the guy in
the car …. He’s the Subject Matter Expert.
The couple were from Oswego NY on their way to Indy 500 and found the
area interesting because of the Ohio-Erie
Canal that runs through this section.
I
had heard briefly about this canal …. mostly in connection with bootlegging …
and that, of course, is in connection with the Westerheides. There is more to this canal…. though!
THE OHIO-ERIE CANAL
In
1820, the Ohio legislature was convinced
to establish the Ohio Canal Commission whose purpose was to survey a route for
a canal that would connect Lake Erie with the Ohio River. To finance the canals, the Ohio government
relied on loans. The initial loan was for 400,000 dollars. The
canal commissioners estimated that the Ohio and Erie Canal would cost
approximately 2.3 million dollars, while the Miami and Erie would cost 2.9
million.
Once
construction was completed, the canals combined actually cost 41 million
dollars, 25 million dollars of which was interest on loans. DARN…….I HATE WHEN THAT HAPPENS!
 |
| LOCK KEEPERS HOUSE |
The
Ohio and Erie Canal cost approximately ten thousand dollars per mile to
complete, and the Miami and Erie Canal cost roughly twelve thousand dollars per
mile to finish. The canals nearly bankrupted the state government, but they
allowed Ohioans to prosper beginning in the 1830s all the way to the Civil War.
Most
canals remained in operation in Ohio until the late 1800s. There is a short
stretch in the Muskingum Valley near Zanesville still in operation today. By
the 1850s, however, canals were losing business to the railroads.
So,
being a history buff I had to walk over to this park. If I hadn’t been viewing life through a lens
and saw this interesting building, we would never have stopped and I would
never have been to this park!
The
Ohio and Erie Canal comes right through New Bremen. Lock 1 North holds back the uppermost level
of water at the north end of the 21 mile plateau of the Miami and Erie
Canal. This plateau is called “Loramie Summit”. Just down the road is Fort Loramie.
The
original Lock 1 North was built in 1845 of white oak but was replaced with a
concrete lock in 1920. This current
lock, fashioned after the 1910 lock was completed in 2007. The oldest bow string girder bridge in Ohio just south of Lock 1.
TOO
COOL.
So,
after talking with the couple and then taking pics, we headed out to the
country to Donna and Gary’s little piece of paradise.
Gary
is quite clever and both are very artistic so their property has much
interest. It is nestled between two
farms so has a very expansive feeling.
Their chickens are free range and oh so pretty!
Since
the temperature was topping out at 95, 105 in the sun, we opted to visit inside
the AC instead of sitting out on the beautiful grounds.
Free range chickens. They also have a large vegetable garden.
The rest of the property is so pretty I could have walked around all afternoon taking pictures except for the heat! Gary recycles EVERYTHING and makes something interesting out of EVERYTHING!
Matt
and Mo (Milissa) with son Luke who was always a toddler until this year when he
became 15! Came over to visit Uncle Dave and me. Mo
has started a candy business and is quite excited. She markets marinated chocolate covered
cherries to the local winery Versailles.
Right now it’s a cottage industry which keeps her under the radar of
licensing but the plan is to grow.
Matt
is recovering from a motorcycle accident working hard on mobility of his one
arm. He’s lucky to be alive. Luke is delightful, getting ready for his
driving permit and already has been working on three cars!
We
left Donna’s around 5PM and returned to VJ’s where the back deck and pond were
full of Mert’s family enjoying this hot, hot Memorial Day weekend. Can you image a more perfect place to park
your butt in 90+ degree weather!
Billy
is exhausted. He ran, and ran, and ran
all day. Mostly he was in the
water. By nightfall he could hardly
move. There are certain things that we
does not like at all ….. skateboards, roller blades, razor scooters ,
children’s wagons and now THE ZIP LINE!
They all have a similar sound of bearings in the wheels and every time
one of the kids got up on the platform and pulled the zip line to them, he went
nuts. Barked and barked and ran around
the pond until the kid let go of the line and jumped into the water.
For
Billy --- there was no peace!
Peace
did finally come around 10:00 when everyone left and we collapsed in our air
conditioned motor home.
LIFE IS GOOD
