CANTON, OHIO

Canton, Ohio – We've been pretty busy visiting with family and friends. We went to “First Friday in Canton” in downtown Canton on July 2. Each month they have a theme. July was “Chalk the Walk.” Kids from area elementary and middle schools show their chalk talent.

This kid was really good. He did this picture and the next one.

The Downtown Canton Special Improvement District sponsors the event. The SID is dedicated to preserving the aesthetic, architectural, and historic character of the downtown area. The event is held mostly in the arts district.

One of the art galleries was featuring the work of Art Wolfe. He will be at the gallery in the near future. We really enjoy his show on the History Channel called “Travels To The Edge.”

There are many sculptures around the city made out of different materials. This is Marha’s brother, Rick, checking out the duck made out of washers.

This is the newest addition to downtown. It is made out of tires.

There is street entertainment on most corners.

There was some sort of drum group and dancers down one street.

We did walk through several art galleries. But seems like an good excuse to get people downtown to hangout in the bars.  Most of the lounges had outside entertainment. This group was really good.

Our daughter, Kelly, and her two cousins, Keith and Craig, enjoyed downtown…LOL

We ended up at one of our favorite downtown places, Peter Shearers. As you can see, Rick and Chris are a bit camera shy.

Had a great 4^th of July weekend visiting with family. We spent Saturday, July 3 at Lake Mohawk.  at Marsha’s, brother, Rod, lives here. Rod and Katie have done so much with their outside. Rod just put a new deck around the pool.

And he and Katie made the pond look so nice with a new waterfall.

We had food…well, Rod gave it his best at being the chef. That is our cousin, Stephen, trying to get out of the way.

We played corn hole.

Kelly and cousin, Craig.

Everyone’s favorite…Bocce.

This team is waiting to find out who is closest to the pallino.

Throwing into the sun can be a problem.

Lots of relaxing.

I wanted a picture of Kelly and her cousins, so I said just get together. After I looked at the picture, Kelly’s tan was a bit too dark. She looked like a Hershey Kiss between two marshmallows. Time for a retake.

This is better.

The 4^th at was spent at Rick’s house. All was fun, but tooooo much food. Now we gotta skip eating for a couple days....whew!!!

We start the doctor/dentist visits this week. Since Paul met his medical insurance deductible for the year, he is getting the full workup of tests. Marsha needs to see the eye doctor and “female” doctor. She'll be busy visiting with all her friends! We also have to work on travel plans for the next leg of our adventure. Do we head north or south.....hmmmm????

Thanks for stopping by. See y’all next time.

BACK HOME IN CANTON, OHIO

Wednesday, June 30 – We've arrived back in Ohio and are parked in Rick’s, Marsha’s brother, driveway. This is so great of them to let us do this. Marsha’s dad lives in the house in back of Rick. Marsha is so happy to be able to see her dad everyday. Kelly is staying with her grandpa.

Kelly and Marsha’s dad together for the first time in a year. Of course the celebrating began immediately!

It took a little figurin' to get the electric hooked-up. We had to give-up on our attempt to get 30 amp electric out of an old A/C shut-off and simply plug into 115 volt plug in the garage. So far we can run just about anything we want...just not all at the same time. We have an EMS (Electrical Management System) from Progressive Industries which has a digital monitor that allows Paul to view our electrical usage. Pretty neat!

It's nice to be in cool weather for a change. It was 53 degrees this morning when Paul got up this morning. He even dug out a sweatshirt....brrrrr! Nice weather for all the jobs Paul wants to get done around the MH. Yesterday, he installed the electrical devices he got for Christmas (Voltage monitor,

 

Indoor/Outdoor thermometer). The top number is the temperature in the MH. Marsha put her heavy robe on and blanket around her legs. She said that we were worried that we wouldn’t be able to run the air condition…now we wonder if we can run our furnace…GEESH!!

He also rehung (Is that a word?) Marsha's book rack for the third time. Hopefully, this time it will stay put.

Paul also did some errands around town. Funny how things seemed to have stood still during our nearly one year on the road. He also went to the Wellness Center to sign-up for his back surgery rehabilitation and exercising while in Ohio.

More HM “to do list” items on tap for today. Going to paint the new air conditioner cover, check the roof for any needed caulking, clean the roof vents, and hopefully have time to work on the kitchen faucet. Another busy (Paul's type of fun) day!

Thanks Rick and Chris for letting us stay here!!!

Thanks for stopping by. Y’all come back again.

ON OUR WAY BACK TO OHIO

Thursday, June 24 – Travel Day. We checked out of Rainbow Plantation Campground and hit the road at 8:30. Our target is Noccalula Falls Campground in Gadsden, AL. The Noccalula Falls Park and Campground area is part of the City of Gadsden's Parks and Recreation Department.

This is a very nice campground. We are in site P-1 in the woods. The have cable so we didn’t need to worry about the satellite. The roads are paved and the sites are concrete with plenty of trees for shade. Bella (our cat) loves the place. Kelly went immediately to the pool to work on her tan. Marsha and I chilled.

Us chillin’

Beautiful landscape

Pavilion

Pool

The Noccalula Falls is at the entrance to the campground. There is a beautiful water falls.

The LEGEND OF NOCCALULA came from these early times. There lived a great Indian Chief whose young daughter, Noccalula. Many gallant braves sought the old chief for the hand of Noccalula, but only one was favored by the girl's father, a rich chief of a powerful neighboring tribe. Vainly Noccalula pleaded that her heart was already given to a young brave of her own tribe. But this young warrior, though noted for his skill and valor, possessed but little in worldly goods.

The old chief refused to listen and ordered his daughter to make ready for the marriage he had arranged. The girl's lover was driven from the tribe, and a marriage agreement was made with the neighboring chief.

The wedding day came and a great feast was prepared. In silence Noccalula allowed herself to be arrayed in festive wedding robes. Overcome with grief, she quietly slipped away from the merrymakers during the festivities.......the soft rhythmical rush of waters called her.....a moment she stood poised upon the brink of the yawning chasm. One leap--and her troubles were over.

"Heartbroken, the remorseful father gave the great cataract his daughter's name and since that day the falls has been called Noccalula.

A very nice park and a quaint chapel for weddings.

We will definitely stopped here again.

Friday, June 25 – Another travel Day. Our next one-day stop is at Raccoon Valley another Escapee’s Park. When we began our adventure in October, we stayed at this park the second night. It is only about an hour from the Smoky Mountains. Our friends, Louise and Duane, are workkampers here at the park. Marsha says she is sorry…she forgot to get a picture of them. We had a wonderful visit. We all went to a super dinner and then back to the campground for more catching up. Thanks for a great time, Duane and Louise!

Their have several walking trails in the woods. Bella loved the trails, our first time here. So we thought we would see if she still enjoyed them. YEP, she did!

So did Kelly.

Don’t forget Paul.

Saturday, June 26 – Almost to Ohio. Today,we traveled through the rest of Tennessee and up into Kentucky.

We are staying at Cincinnati South Campground which is really in Crittenden, KY. This is the first place we stayed when we left Ohio in October, 2009. Matters-of-fact, we are in the same site we were the first time we visited. This is a really, nice place. Lots of room for Bella to walk around. As soon as we got set up, Kelly saw a deer. We hope to see more later this evening. We got great satellite reception. There is one drawback…there are railroad tracks about a quarter of a mile away and the whistle is loud!

Entrance

Office with fountain

They have a great game room. We may play some pool later tonight.

One of the guys that work here stopped by to just be friendly. As we were sharing stories, he says that he and his wife are from CANTON, OHIO! Even more amazing is that his wife graduated from the same high school, Perry, that Marsha did. He told Marsha her last name and Marsha says, “Is her first name Susan?” “YES!” What a hoot!  We have learned that…You never know who you will run into!

Tomorrow…OHIO.

Thanks for stopping by. See y’all again real soon.