Saturday, July 30, 2011

BACK TO OUR OLD STOMPING GROUNDS

Thursday, July 28 – BACK TO OHIO......We pulled into the FMCA Campgrounds, Family Motor Coach Association, this afternoon. This is a very nice place! Concrete street, concrete pads, full hook-ups, we have some shade, and it's FREE!!!

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You have to be an FMCA member to stay here (We are because we got 15% off at Gaffney Freightliner Service Center last fall). You can stay two days free and then it's $20 per night. Only about five miles off the interstate and plenty of shopping areas nearby. We'll make this a regular stopping point when returning to Ohio.

If you stop here, be sure to go to Newton Village Tavern. We had the best pizza EVER! Marsha said…except for the ones she had in Italy. It is just five minutes from campground on  39.

We would have been here early, EXCEPT, we lost an hour moving into the Eastern Time Zone, and we sat on I-65 for about 90 minutes in a construction delay. We never did see why the traffic was stopped. That happens frequently. You're stopped and eventually traffic resumes moving and there is no apparent reason why we were stopped in the first place.....CRAZY!!! No wreck, no bulldozer blocking the road, no flag guy, nothing! Another one of the joys of living the traveling gypsy life...LOL

 

Friday, July 29 – Back home in Canton, Ohio! After an uneventful drive from Cincinnati, other than the TERRIBLE bumpy roads around Columbus, we pulled into Bear Creek KOA. This is the first KOA we've stayed in since we began full-timing. They are usually too expensive and offer options more targeted toward families with young kids and weekend campers than what we as full-timers are looking for. Unfortunately, with the very few campgrounds in the Canton area, we decided to stay here because of its close location to Marsha's dad's house. We were a little disappointed at first with the sites available for monthly stays but once we got backed in and set-up we are quite content. The monthly rate is $500, so that works out to $16.12/day.....not bad! And we are only about five minutes from Marsha's dad and brother....cool!

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We are at the top of the hill. The road is rather close to the motorhome but we get little traffic here.
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This is the steep road we had to bring the MH up. The MH had an easy time navigating the hill.
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Due to the tree next to our site, we can't use our satellite but fortunately, they provide cable with tons of channels. They also provide free WiFi. Not our first or second or third choice, but we will live.

This is Football Hall of Fame week in Canton. There's numerous entertainment opportunities including parades, ribs burn-off, fireworks, fashion show, the enshrines dinner, enshrinement celebration, and our favorite the Hot Air Balloon Classic. The Hall of Fame football game was canceled due to the players strike. Although, it is now ended but teams haven't had time to practice.  We have been to all events at one time or other when we lived here. We're here to visit with friends and family, so that's our first priority.

During the evening we visited with Marsha's dad and some family members. Marsha has been keeping her latest basket creation a secret because it was for her dad.

This time she died the pine needles and used a new stich called the wrap. Paul thinks it is her best basket yet.

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Remember when she shared the story about picking up needles at Helen Keller's house. The needles come from the tree that went to the moon. She spray painted them a metallic gold. This is the first basket she included one of the needles. She put it in the last coil on the top. It turned out great.

Look closely at the inside top row, and you will be able to see the gold needle.
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She finally got to give it to him, and boy was he surprised.

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Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see ya'll back real soon. Have a great day!

7 comments:

  1. Best pizza ever. Did you know we used to own a pizza shop? I will make you one some day. But....we sure had great pizza in Yuma at Da Boyz! Didn't we guys!

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  2. That sure is a nice basket. You are getting good at that. All the times we stayed at FMCA we never at pizza at that place. I guess the next time we go to visit our daughter there we will have to try it.

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  3. It's nice being able to visit with family and 5 minutes away is just about perfect. Your spot looks ideal and I'm sure you'll have a marvelous time. Enjoy yourselves!!

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  4. Wow...that basket is just gorgeous! What a creation of art!
    And I agree on the KOA's...we usually don't use 'em, but every once in a while they make sense. That monthly deal is pretty good.
    Nina

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  5. When choices are limited, KOA will work but we prefer other campgrounds. Five minutes from Dad - that is priceless. Marsha, your basket is just beautiful. I'm just amazed at what you can do with pine needles.

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  6. OK, I want to be there when Toni makes pizza! Of course, I want to be there when Toni makes nearly anything. :)

    It looks like you found the best place for your visit with your Dad and the rest of the family. Hope it all goes well.

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  7. Thanks for introducing us to the FMCA campground. Although we're members, we've never stayed there. We really enjoy Caesar Creek State Park (one of our favorites) but we'll have to try FMCA and the pizza when we're just passing through. Loved the basket...it's beautiful. Enjoy the fam!

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