Painted Bronze Sculpture in Troy, OH

8/16/05 - Ohio
Friday, the day after going to Buffalo Crossing, we left Kentucky for Ohio. We decided to stay somewhere just outside Cincinnati for the night and seemed to have two choices. We had directions to the one furthest south in Warsaw, KY and spent about half an hour driving up and down the road we thought it was on, before calling for further directions. Then we drove for another half hour, only to find that the place was totally unacceptable. There was nobody running the RV Park, the spaces were very poorly marked, and there was course fresh gravel everywhere, not a blade of grass in sight. So we decided to leave and continue toward Cincinnati.

Our second choice was much easier to find and turned out to be a lovely park next to a small lake, called Indian Springs Campground in North Bend, OH . We decided to spend a couple of days, catching our breath (so to speak) after several days of traveling all over Kentucky.

On Sunday we drove up to Troy, OH (Map) where we had an appointment to get some problems with our coach looked at Monday morning. We pulled into Arbogast RV about 4PM and found a nice place to camp for the night. The next morning we got up, checked in and left for the day. Here we see a rare 1992 37 ft Airstream 350 Motorhome.

1992 37 ft Airstream 350 Motorhome.

Monday morning we went into a drug store to pick up a few things and all of a sudden I got very dizzy and had to sit down for awhile. I happened to notice a blood pressure checker and it said my bp was about 200/140 so we decided to call Kaiser and see what they recommended. The advice nurse strongly suggested I go to a local hospital and get checked out. So we spent most of the rest of the day in the Emergency room. When I left I felt a little better, but my bp was still a bit on the hight side (140/90).

Yesterday I still felt a little unsteady, but Arbogast needed to finish up a couple of things, so we left for the morning and my wife checked out a couple of large craft stores in nearby Springfield. After a good lunch at Red Lobster we picked up the coach and drove to Hilliard, OH (a suburb of Columbus) where we have an appointment to have our diesel motor and chassis serviced in the morning.

Tall Office Building

8/17/05 - Columbus, Ohio
This morning we checked in a Cummins Bridgeway and then left to go exploring. My sister, who works in Columbus (Map) and lives in one of the eastern suburbs, met us at the original Wendy's restaurant. Back in the 70s I spent about four years in the Columbus area, going to Ohio State and trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. So I have some fond memories of Columbus and was a frequent customer of this Wendy's. More photos of Wendy's and Columbus can be seen here.

Next my sister Laura and niece Amanda followed us to where my wife Dayadevi has some Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) displayed along with a few hundred others in the first such showing in the US. ATCs have been around for many years, mostly in Europe, and are finally catching on in this country. They are small, playing card sized, pieces of original artwork, and my wife is very excited about this format. Unfortunately the show is only open Friday and Saturday, so we'll have to go back then.

Old Church near new office building

As with most American cities (with the exception of many on the West Coast), Columbus has a wide variety of buildings from very old to very modern. Again I was particularly fascinated by the older stone buildings, but I found the contrast of the new scyscrapers very picturesque.

Next we went to the Law Offices where my sister is a receptionist and met many of her coworkers. One of the Partners is an avid photographer and has decorated almost every wall in the office with dozens of large, nicely matted and framed photographs that he has taken from all over the world. It was quite a nice show and fun to talk with him about the photos and his travels.

Then we followed my sister back to her house, stopping on the way to see the house my parents bought in 1972 in Bexley. They had painted it white (it used to be barn red) but otherwise it looked much the same as it had 30 years ago when I saw it last.

Scioto River, Columbus, OH

At my sister's house we got to meet their three dogs, two cats, one hamster and many fish. They have a big, rather overgrown yard, where the dogs have plenty of room to play. Unfortunately they have discovered how to escape the yard and often wind up in other parts of the neighborhood. Anyway, we had a nice visit and a good dinner.

We then returned to Hilliard, where our coach was being worked on, but when we got there the coach was nowhere to be seen. After finding someone to ask about this, I was escorted into the building where I found the coach. After storing the jacks, I backed it out of the building and parked it back in front, where we had spent last night.

Discovery Park - A Tribute to Educators

8/18/05 - Exploring Columbus
This morning we left the coach with the Cummins people and met my sister and niece at Wendy's again. Next door was a great tribute to educators called Discovery Park, which I took a few photos of. Then my sister and I dropped off my wife and niece at the convention center where HOOT (a big local decorative painting trade show and convention) was taking place. This was one of the highlights of the trip for my wife.

Santa Maria

My sister and I spent the rest of the morning exploring the downtown Columbus area which includes an old German section to the South and an Italian section to the North. We also saw a replica of the Santa Maria (one of Columbus' three ships), a great statue of Columbus and many other interesting things.

We had lunch at the great North Market in the Short North area of Columbus. The ground floor of the building has dozens of little shops that serve many kinds of food and sell everything from flowers, to produce, to soy candles. it reminded me of a similar marketplace I frequented in Emeryville, CA near Oakland.

The Short North also has many great murals and other places to eat and shop. Here are some other photos I took of this very interesting area, including this beautiful Greek Orthodox church. More photos of the Short North can be seen here.

Greek Orthodox Church in Columbus, OH

Next we picked up Dayadevi and Amanda and drove down to the Lancaster area to check out a couple of RV Parks that we thought we might stay at. On the way we stopped in Canal Winchester where I rented my first apartment for a couple of years until 1976. I remember paying only $90 per month for a fully furnished two bedroom apartment on the upper floor of this building at the main intersection in Canal Winchester.

We decided on the Lakeview RV Park just south of Lancaster (Map). So we drove back to Columbus and while I went to move the coach to Lancaster, my wife went shopping with Laura and Amanda.

This evening we had a good dinner and conversation in the coach. It's great to be spending time with my sister and niece who I don't see very often.

8/19/05 - ATC Show
Friday we all went to the first artist trading card show in the USA, where Dayadevi had 5 cards on display. These 2.5 by 3.5 inch pieces of original artwork that have been traded in Europe for hundreds of years, but experienced a resurgence in Switzerland in 1996 and are now becoming popular in the USA. Dayadevi enjoys the medium partially because of their small size and also the fact she can sell some of her practice pieces of artwork. She is very proud to be in this show which will travel to many US cities in the next couple of years. Some photos of the ATC show can be seen here.

That evening, we had dinner at the Pizza restaurant that Amanda's boyfriend, Eric, works at. We heard that he gave her a diamond ring on her birthday. Eric seems like a very nice and industrious young man. Both he and Amanda impressed us with their maturity.

Old Man's Cave

8/21/05 - Hocking Hills
On Sunday Laura, Amanda and I drove out to the Hocking Hills and had a great time exploring several of the big caves there, including Ash Cave , Cedar Falls and Old Man's Cave . I love this rock that looks very much like the profile of someone contemplating the beautiful mossy rocks and other plants.

Unfortunately, there was little to no water running. In the winter I have seen some magnificent frozen waterfalls here. In the spring, and for most of the summer, the falls are very beautiful. Still we enjoyed our hikes and the area very much. As you can see the caves are great in height but not particularly deep. Some photos of the the Hocking Hills can be seen here.

8/23/05 - Goodbye Columbus
On Monday we stayed close to home but on Tuesday we went back up to Columbus and had lunch with Amanda at the North Market. Here are some of the little shops taken from the second floor where there are some tables and artwork.

After Laura got off of work on Wednesday we went to dinner at the Arthur Treachers Fish and Chips restaurant where Amanda is working and said our goodbyes.

8/24/05 - iBook Problems
Thursday morning Dayadevi's laptop's hard disk died and so we took it to the Apple store in north Columbus to get it fixed. They said it would take about a week, so we had them send it to Milwaukee, WI, where we picked it up after they repaired it.