Another storm and more repairs

After picking Linda up on the 16th from the Akron/Canton Airport, we stayed another day in Amish country.  Linda wanted to see her sister and brother-in-law before we left the area.  We had dinner with them on the 17th and played one more game of canasta, which they won again.  With our tail between our legs we hugged and left the next morning.

Our destination for the 18th was Cincinnati.  We had an uneventful trip to Columbus, then headed southeast towards Cincy.  Linda looked at radar and saw a bad cell ahead, so we just made it into a rest area, when the skies opened.  We waited until the storm passed and continued on to Cincy.

We noticed the storm was following us towards Cincy.  We hoped to get setup at the RV park there before the storm hit.  It didn't work that way.  Pulling into the RV park the skies opened again.  The bus rocked and rolled in the wind as the rain came pouring down.  The weather radio was broadcasting a tornado watch.  We kept our eyes peeled.  Looking over the a building at the RV park, we watched a dumpster float.

With all the wind, none of the parked RVs lost their awnings.  They were lucky..  After the storm we unhooked the car and settled into a campsite.  When unhooking the car, Tim noticed oil all over the front of it and some on the back of the bus.  This doesn't look good.  A small puddle of oil collected under the bus.  Tim crawled under the bus and saw oil dripping from 1 of the 2 oil filters.  Tim tightened the filter as much as he could by hand.  The filter stopped leaking, but only with the engine off.  With the engine running, oil pressure built up and the filter leaked again.  The next morning we called around trying to find a shop to take a look at the bus.  After a couple of hours making calls, we located an independent truck repair shop in western Cincy about 20 miles away.  We didn't hook up the car to spare it getting another oil bath and headed to the shop.  Arriving we saw nothing but dump trucks, school buses, and other trucks of all descriptions.  Tim goes into the office and meets the owner.  He leads Tim to an area that he tells a couple of techs to move trucks out of the way, so they can look at our bus.    A tech with a long pony tail slides under the bus, then pops back up and says he has seen many Detroit Diesel Series 60 engines that have filters work loose.  He uses a large, industrial size band oil filter wrench to tighten the filter.  He reports to the owner what he found.  The shop owner is concerned the mating lip of the filter might be damaged and leak again.  He suggests to replace both oil filters.  Filters are relatively cheap, so 2 new filters were installed.  Yeah, no leaks and a clean car behind the bus.

Next up, Nashville.  We drove to just north of Nashville after getting the oil leak solved.  Tim made an appointment at Inverter Service Center for the next day.  1 of the 2 inverters bit the dust during our visit to Pittsburgh for the nephew's wedding.  The other inverter was flaky also.  The next day tech, Randy, got right to work on the bus performing his surgery.  First, he carefully removed the old inverters.

Randy has removed 1 inverter and is working on the 2nd

Linda was curious on the progress being made, so she took a look.

Linda sees both inverters have been removed

The inverter that stopped working in Pittsburgh showed a large water stain on the top cover.  Water and inverters don't mix, so water may have lead to the inverter's demise.

Two new Magnum Energy inverters (made in U.S.A.) are installed.  Randy did a neat job.

Randy & P.J. in bus bay figuring out how to integrate auto gen start

We decided to have auto generator start capability based upon the temperature inside the bus.  We have always worried about traveling with the 2 cats and leaving them during the day when we're sightseeing.  If the power at the campground goes out we want the generator to start to keep running the roof air conditioners.  It can get toasty very quickly inside the coach without the air conditioners running.  Got to make sure we have a couple of cool cats on board the bus.

Next stop Nashville.  We had an appointment on Monday afternoon at Prevost service located in Goodletsville just north of Nashville.  Friday night we went to the Grand Ole Opry.  We always enjoy the shows and the people who attend.

Entrance to the Grand Ole Opry House

 We moved the bus on Saturday from Inverter Service Center in White House to Goodletsville at Prevost.  Prevost has a great place to park while waiting for  service.

Big Red parked at Prevost service in Goodletsville

We had made arrangements for dinner with one of Tim's fellow prostate cancer patients and his wife who live in nearby Franklin.  Before dinner we went to Opry Mills outlet mall.  Boy, was that a mistake!  Linda found the Vera Bradley store.  If you've never heard of Vera Bradley, just ask your wife, daughter, or almost any female.  After about two hours of shopping, Tim was called in for "back up."  Tim was told to stand in line, so Linda could continue to shop.  Finally we got out of there and needed a hand truck to take purchases to the car....whew!!

Saturday night we met John & Betsy Yarborough for dinner at a great place just north of downtown...Germantown Cafe.

We got to know John & Betsy while Tim received proton radiation treatment in Jacksonville.  John & Betsy are great  and friendly people.  We enjoyed them in Jacksonville and had a great visit with them.

Sunday we drove southwest  from Nashville to eat dinner at the famous Loveless Cafe.  The cafe is located next to the Natchez Trace Parkway.  People come from all over the country to visit both.  Loveless Cafe did not disappoint.  We have a tasty dinner and the biscuits were awesome.  We bought two bags of biscuit mix.

Tim in front of Loveless Cafe, Nashville

After our mid-afternoon dinner, we drove a small part of the Natchez Trace Parkway.  The Parkway starts 444 miles away in Natchez, MS.  We have driven many parts of the Parkway in the past, but never the northern section.  The Parkway is gorgeous.  If you have a chance to drive any part of it, we recommend it.

View from below of one of the Parkway bridges

Wild turkeys crossing the Parkway

Monday the bus had some service work done at Prevost, then we headed for Allatoona Lake, which is northwest of Atlanta.

Ohio Amish, family, repairs and more

We had planned to stay a couple of weeks in east central Ohio in an area many people call the Ohio Amish area.  Since we had no electrical power at the damaged campground and area around Salt Fork State Park, we decided to leave a day early as soon as the campground road was cleared of trees and debris.  Finally about Noon the road was cleared.  Tim called the RV park in the Amish area to see if they had a site available early.  They said yes and come on over.  The RV park owners said they had other people staying there that had planned to go to Salt Fork, but either cancelled or delayed their trip because of the damage.

Driving through the campground roads we dodged fallen limbs and debris, but managed to steer clear.  Outside the campground  the road leading to I-77 was three fourths blocked because of a fallen tree.  The sheriff was directing traffic.  We had to partially drive in the ditch through mud to get around.

Despite all the stress of the storm the last couple of days, at least one member of our traveling party on the bus didn't seem to mind at all.

Muffin highly relaxed on the passenger seat of the bus

 I guess we should all take a cue from the cat, Muffin.  We just need to relax and not stress out.  Muffin sure epitomizes that philosophy.  Muffin always seems to find a way to chill out regardless of the circumstances.

It was about a 60 minute drive north on I-77 from Salt Fork to near Berlin, OH to Scenic Hills RV Park.  Fortunately there was no debris or problems on I-77.  We have stayed at Scenic Hills many times in the past.  We find it is a great place for us to stay to visit Linda's sister's family in nearby New Philadelphia and explore Amish country and Cleveland to the north.

We have visited Amish Country many times before.  There is always something new and different to see and do.  Usually we spend 2 weeks in the area and never get bored.

Typical Amish farm with multiple relatives living on the homestead

 Since the Amish settled this area, their population had grown.  Land it no longer economically available for purchase, so many generations live on one farm.  Work horses are the "engines" used in their lives from transportation to working crops on their farms.

Young work horses through gate

We visited a bakery and store in the country which also has a petting zoo for the kids, small and big like Tim.

Goat searching Tim's pocket for a handout

Bikes parked behind the bakery used by the Amish workers

You'll never go hungry in this area.  There are so many great places to eat wonderful food.  After two weeks in the area, Tim feels like he has to waddle around.  The pies and rolls are irresistible. 

Linda and her sister, Karen, love Independence Day celebrations.  Linda and Tim had already attended a celebration in Millersburg the weekend prior to the 4th, but Karen wanted to go to a celebration on the 4th.  Karen works as a medical technician at a hospital in Canton.  She heard about the celebration at McKinley (President) Park featuring the  U.S. Army Band from Washington, D.C.  We made the half hour trip to the park late afternoon to find a shady spot to enjoy the celebration.  The park is located where President McKinley and his family are buried.

Mall in front of the McKinley Memorial

Stage for the U.S. Army Band concert

Band playing on stage

Karen and Linda (with popcorn) enjoying the concert and fireworks

Karen, Linda, & Tim has a wonderful time at the July 4th celebration.  The U.S. Army Band was great.  Not only did they play traditional patriotic songs, but show tunes and other songs that embraced America.  Many of the band members sang and danced with lots of enthusiasm on a very hot day.  Karen's husband, Kerry, missed a great show.  He didn't want to come because of the heat and crowds.  His mistake.  The show was great and price of admission was terrific.....free!

The next day we visited Cleveland to enjoy two of our favorite things...gambling and The Rays.  We knew the Rays would be in town to play the Indians on July 5.  Ohio has allowed a few casinos to open around the state.  Horseshoe Casino in downtown just opened a few weeks before our visit and is only a few blocks away from Progressive Field, home of the Indians.  We arrived early afternoon to hit the slots in the casino.  The casino was swamped on the Thursday afternoon.  It took 15 minutes just to get our loyalty cards.  After elbowing our way through the crowds we managed to find some slots to make a "deposit."  Yes, Tim lost and Linda won.  That's the way it always works.

Horsehoe Casino downtown Cleveland

Almost next door to the casino is the Cavaliers area (minus LeBron James I took my talents to South Beach).  On the sidewalk between the area and Progressive Field was this guitar.

Cleveland is home to the Rock Hall of Fame, which we have never visited, but is on our Bucket List.
After throwing our money away at the casino we walked to Progressive Field.  We were hungry, so we headed for some ballpark food.  We arrived early and bought bleacher tickets in left field (that's all we could afford after blowing our money at the casino).  Actually the bleachers are great seats and the sun is a your back, so you don't get burned up or blinded.  By game time most of the bleacher seats we bought, so they are popular.  We were hoping to see a Rays win, but it was not to be.  We had fun watching the game and interacting with the Cleveland fans including one who called out to Tim and said for the "q-tip" to go back to Florida.  Well, Tim has been called worse.

View from the left field bleachers

Scoreboard above left field bleachers

Former Ray, Johnny Damon, played left field for the Indians

One of the activities we enjoy in Amish Country are the auctions.  There are about 4 auctions every week within a 30 miles area.  These auctions feature hay, livestock, produce, baked goods, and crafts from the area.  There are also a few fund-raising auctions throughout the summer.  The beneficiaries are disable Amish children or various Amish schools in the area.  Amish and locals business donate new and used items for the auctions.  Each auction occupies multiple, huge tents or buildings and run most of the day.  Amish made quilts and furniture are featured items.  The craftsmanship is outstanding.  Tens of thousands of dollars are raised at these auctions.  We enjoy going to people watch.

Amish charity auction

Quilts being sold at auction

Amish boys walking to auction

Amish kids in bleacher at auction

New buggies for sale at the auction

Linda a auction preview looking at kids rocker

We attended the big charity auction preview on Friday afternoon and evening.  Linda has a flight the next morning to return home to check on the house and spend some time with our grandson, Caden.  Tim stayed in Ohio to attend the auctions and get some repairs done on the bus.  We mentioned in earlier posts that 3 of the 5 air conditioners on the bus weren't working.  A new front roof air was installed in Florida just before we left town.  It failed on our way to Ohio.  Tim found a trailer dealer about 30 miles away from Scenic Hills RV Park that agreed to diagnose the unit.  We had an appointment on a Monday morning.  We called over and over again on Monday to confirm with no answer.  Calls to other businesses in the area also weren't answered. Finally we hoped in the car to see what happened.  We discovered a storm passed through Sunday night which knocked out their power and phone lines.  These utilities were to be restored on Wednesday.  We made a new appointment for Wednesday.  The manufacturer of the roof air conditioner requires it to be diagnosed by a dealer before they will supply a replacement.  This required two trips to the trailer dealer.  The first time it was diagnosed....yep, it is defective...duh! The second trip was needed after the dealer got authorization to replace it and a new unit was shipped.  A week later Tim took the bus for the second trip.  Turns out the manufacturer sent the wrong version of unit, but we made it work.  After some frustration and 4 hours of time, Tim left with a working front air conditioner.

Also the bus dash and over-the-road air conditioners weren't working.  Tim found it was challenging to find someone to work on these.  On a hunch he called a small shop in New Philadelphia who claimed to have 26 years of mechanics experience along with air conditioning.  This shop turned out to be a great find.  The owner and main employee turned out to be a great guy.  He said bring the bus in and he'd do what he could.  Turns out his son-in-law works as a mechanic for a nearby truck dealer.  The dash air was diagnosed with a faulty clutch.  Tim ordered a new clutch and compression from Prevost and brought the bus in a few days later for the installation.  The over-the-road air was very low on "freon", so more was installed along with dye to diagnose a leak in the future.  Yeah, we now have 5 working air conditioners.

Tim had some time for sightseeing between bus repairs and auctions.  The Amish countryside is beautiful.

Highly adjustable solar panel providing power to an Amish store

Tim along with sister-in-law, Karen, and her husband, Kerry headed to Cambridge to meet their oldest son Robert and his bride, Kim, for a quick lunch.  They were returning from attending a wedding in Cincinnati.

Kerry, Karen, Kim, & Robert

 Before Linda returned from Florida, Tim had time to attend one more Amish school charity auction.

1 of 4 large tents holding auction items

People looking through auction items

Tim picked up Linda on the 16th from the Akron/Canton airport and the next day we headed south to Cincinnati.  We had more bus repairs to do and some weather to withstand.

We're ready

On June 28th we drove to nearby Cambridge, Ohio.  Tim heard there was a great donut shop and a glass museum.  The donut shop was OK and the National Museum of Cambridge Glass was great.  The exhibits were extremely well displayed inside of well lighted cases reflecting the chronological history of their glass.  The museum also had a couple of rooms depicting a setting using period glass.  We had the museum to ourselves and were given a "private" tour by a knowledgeable guide.  Worth the visit.

We walked around downtown Cambridge and decided to return to the RV because it was hot and getting to be late afternoon.  We just got out of Cambridge and received a text message from Linda's brother-in-law that a bad storm was headed our way.  Looking at radar the storm was about an hour away.  We got back to camp, put things away, secured everything, and turned to electrical power off in case of a power surge. 
We grabbed food, water, ponchos, lights, & something to read and headed to the shower/shelter house.  We warned some nearby campers.  The campground host seemed oblivious to the storm.  We were the only people initially in the shelter.  A half hour later it was packed.

The storm soon came in.  We watched trees fall, limbs flying, awnings wrapped over RV roofs, canopies sailing, and tents dislodged.   Of course the power went out, but we were prepared.  We could see Big Red from the shelter.  It seemed to hold up well.  After the storm passed we ventured out to inspect damage.  Big Red was unscathed, but the campground was not.  We had no power that night and the prospects were grim about power returning.  We decided to try to leave.  Tim road his bike up the campground road and found it blocked.  Hours later equipment arrived to remove the blockage.

Downed trees blocking campground exit road

Equipment to remove trees from the road

I hope the above video runs on this blog.

The campground road was finally cleared by 1 p.m. the day after the storm.  We got in Big Red and headed a day early to Holmes County for Scenic Hills RV Park.  We watched the national news as we drove to Holmes County and it talked about the damage done in and around Cambridge.  Yep we were there!

Black Cloud continued

In the last post, Black Cloud, we detailed some of the travails of traveling and otherwise.  We had driven from Pittsburgh to Salt Fork State Park in SE Ohio for a week of relaxing.  Over the years of traveling to Ohio, we had never stopped at this park.  After some research, we found it to be a beautiful park and it is reasonably close to an attraction, The Wilds, that Linda wanted to visit.

As the picture depicts above the entrance to the campground area is beautiful.  The park is set in rolling hills.  This area is in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains.  The campground has 5 or 6 loops.  Some of the loops have about 20 sites other loops have 50 or more.  Some sites are wide open, other sites have some shade or are almost completely shaded.  Our aversion to trees required an open site.

After arriving late the 1st night and parking behind a tree, which blocked out satellite TV reception, we went to the office to inquire about another site.  The staff gave us a recommendation and we moved.

Salt Fork S. P. site

View down the road of the campground

We got setup on our site, tuned in satellite TV and all was well.  The next day we visited The Wilds.  The Wilds is a private, non-profit safari park and conservation center that combines cutting-edge conservation science and education programs with hands-on experiences and one-of-a-kind adventures that include ziplining, horseback riding, fishing and more. Located in southeast Ohio, the Wilds is home to rare and endangered species from around the globe living in natural, open-range habitats. http://www.thewilds.org/
Linda had a great time taking pictures and the weather was perfect.

One of many zip line towers

Linda looking at zip line tower. Will she do it?

I don't see Linda in this group orientation

Linda boarded the open bus for a tour instead

Wild horses checking out the passengers on the tour bus

Wild dog cooling off in pond

The above pictures show only some of the wildlife we saw.  Everywhere you look brought another animal into view.  The uneven terrain among the rolling hills made for a very enjoyable ride.  It great to see animals in a more natural setting.  The only thing to top off the day would have been an appearance by Jack Hannah!

Rhinos with a calf

We left The Wilds exhilarated from our exposure to wonderful nature.


June 26th is a very special day for us.  We celebrated our 41st wedding anniversary!  It sure doesn't seem that long.  Besides our two wonderful children and their families, we have experienced many terrific events and adventures over the years.  We hope we have another 41 years to go.....wishful thinking.


Being invited by Linda's sister, Karen, and her husband, Kerry, to celebrate is an offer we couldn't pass up.  We drove a little less than a hour north to visit.  We had dinner at a great Italian restaurant and some cake and ice cream afterward.

Anniversary celebration with Kerry, Karen, and Linda & Tim

Tim & Linda showing off 41st anniversary cake

We also made a stop at the New Philadelphia town park, so Linda could get a bag of fresh popcorn.  She just loves popcorn.

Linda enjoying popcorn with her sister, Karen

We headed back to Salt Creek for a few more days of relaxing and enjoying nature (we thought) before moving a hour north to Scenic Hills RV Park near Berlin, Ohio in Amish Holmes County near Karen's house.  We had an adventure though before we left.


See the next post.