More grandkid time!

One of the reasons we were in Charlottesville was to help grandson Ronan celebrate his eighth birthday! It just doesn't seem possible that he is eight years old. He is growing up so fast and is a very pleasant lad to be around. For his birthday he was able to ask some friends over on Sunday for a play date. They celebrated with cake and ice cream. Since he is eight, all we grandparents got to see of him was when they would run through the room on their way out the back, the front, or to his room. Tom and Sharon, his other grandparents were there, so we spent the day visiting and catching up with them.

His birthday was actually on Tuesday, but I let him unwrap his presents from us on Monday so he could kind of drag out the excitement. We got him a video game and some legos and another game. He really liked everything and was happy to start playing with it all right away.

On his birthday we all went to the park where the homeschoolers were having a get together and he got to play with even more friends. That was Tuesday and since we were leaving on Wednesday we all met back at their house so we could say our goodbyes. I love them all so much and it is very hard to leave. Especially the little ones. Aenea seems to really love having grandparents around and it is hard to say goodbye.

I did get to go to Aenea's gymnastics class. She has a lot of fun there. She walks on the balance beam like Brynlee does and did a head stand as well. It was fun to see her interacting with other kids.

Our time there was too short and it was soon time to leave. We left Wednesday morning amid rain and wind and cold temperatures. We are going to have to plan that better next time. The weather got pretty bad around Lewisburg, West Virginia, so we stopped in a Lowe's parking lot and had lunch. After we had waited awhile the storm passed and we drove on. We really had pretty smooth sailing then. When we leave Charlottesville, we always plan to go all the way through West Virginia because there are very few flat spots to park a big rig, so we drove to our usual night spot at Gallipolis, Ohio. We stay at the fairgrounds there which is normally open all year. However, there were no campers in the park and the campground manager's office had been moved into the campground and no one was there. It was quite strange and we didn't know if we should stay or not, so we moved on. We stopped at another place along the way, but his small camp was overcrowded and it would have been difficult to get our rig in. We drove on and had no idea where we would stop. That's not a good feeling. A Walmart was starting to look good and we don't do those. But we may be desperate. Terry had tried calling the Ross County Fairgrounds at Chllicothe, Ohio, but never got an answer. We decided to try anyway. We got there and the gate was open and there was a residence at the gate. Terry knocked on the door and a very nice woman answered and said we definitely could stay the night. We paid the fee and found a site away from other activities going on and had a quiet restful night.

The next day we drove on to the factory shops in Jeffersonville, Ohio. We used to shop here frequently when we lived in central Indiana. It was a fun stop and I found a couple things. Then we moved on to Buck Creek State Park in Springfield, Ohio. Another of our haunts in our younger years. It was a pleasant stay as well. From there we drove on to our friends in St. Paris, Ohio. Tab and Deanna were the friends we went to Alaska with and we always try to stop and see them. We stayed two nights and had a good visit.

Today we drove to New Lisbon and we are all settled in camp. We are here for the week for doctor appointments. The dogs also have to see their vet and we have an appointment with our tax person as well. We wish the weather was better. It is cold and until today, it was raining a lot. It was sunny today and our furnaces have a break. When the sun heats up the coach we stay plenty warm.

When we leave here, we have to go to Elkhart and empty the basement of the motorhome. Phaeton Place has developed a fuel leak apparently in a return fuel line and it's getting worse. So we want to get it fixed first thing.

Till next time. . .

Dale