Day 10 (June 28th) – Columbus, Ohio

This is our last full day in Columbus. We have several things and people that we want to see today, so it’s going to be a busy one. Last night, we decided that we would rest in the morning and go to church at 11 AM. This was a welcomed decision, as it gave us all a chance to sleep late and not have to rush. The day before Lisa had bought some bacon that beckoned to her from a deli case when we were in Amish Country. It was thick country style bacon that was peppered. She cooked it up for all to eat, and it was devoured very quickly.

Our first stop of the day was at Jake’s farm. Jake is a cousin of my dad, and he owns about a 100 acres of land. On part of this land he has a pond and a lake. The area by the lake is called Jake’s Ville. When you own something, you can call it whatever you want. The lake is spring feed so the water is real nice. He did actually build several buildings in this area. There is a Saloon, a Cathouse, log cabin, a barn, a beach area by the lake (that’s what he called, but it’s no beach by Californian standards), and a dock/dive platform on the lake. The lake is deep enough that you can dive off the platform. The highest dive is 14 feet. The dock also has a swing that you can use to swing out over the water and a small slide. The kids went crazy when they saw it all, and promptly put on their bathing suits. They both were a little timid at first, but they eventually got into the swing of things. They tried to paddle a raft across the lake to a floating trampoline in the middle. The wind was blowing kind of hard and they went speeding by it and eventually ran into the shore. After some coaxing, they both started to jump off the platforms. They first did the small one which was about 3 feet. After a few jumps off this one, they went to the 10 and 14 foot high platforms. I was surprised that Miles made the leaps. He is usually pretty cautious around water. On his last jump he what I can only describe as a butt flop. Yup, he hit the water square on his bum. He didn't care for the feeling that this dive left so he decided that he had enough. This was fine since it was time to get back on the road to see Don and Carolyn.

On the way to Don and Carolyn’s my brother calls my dad and says that we have to get to a TV right away. He sounds really excited as if something has happened. It wasn’t any big deal. He just wanted to let us know that USA was up 2 to 0 on Brazil in a soccer match. As he was calling us, I saw a sign that said Hoover Dam. I bet you thought that Hoover Dam was over in Arizona and Nevada. Well, you would be wrong. We found it in Columbus, Ohio. It’s real close to Don and Carolyn’s home. In southern Illinois, it would be in the next town over, or at least to the RV sales man.

While we were at Don and Carolyn’s my dad gave up on visiting with them to sit down and watch the soccer match. Don was watching it when we arrived, so no problem there. For those of you who don’t know, Brazil dominated the second half and beat USA 3 to 2. Carolyn had some watermelon and asked if we wanted some. I told her be ready for it to be all gone. Now, we talked about Samantha’s eating habits earlier, but I didn’t mention that she loves watermelon and cantaloupe. She always has. I bet at some point this changes. She used to eat hot dogs and chicken patty sandwiches almost every day. Now, she won’t touch them. This wasn’t a gradual thing either, it was like overnight. Carolyn said that she had two big containers full of watermelon, so we should be alright. Let’s just say that Samantha devoured both containers. She did have some help as we all had some, but by the time we left she may sure that there was no more watermelon in the house. I did warn her.

After visiting with Don and Carolyn, we went to go see a covered bridge. We were going to see one yesterday, but it got late and my mom wanted to get back to Aunt Jerry’s home. My dad had forgotten where the closest one was, but he had some general idea. Well, he couldn’t find it, so he wanted to go back to get John to help navigate, which was about a 15 minute drive back to Aunt Jerry’s home. This would have been this next county for some in southern Illinois, but as we started back I remembered that we were close to Ralph and Peach. We got directions from them and found the last covered bridge in Franklin County. This is the same one that I saw when I was a kid. You can’t drive over it anymore, but you can walk over it. There are a couple of reasons that they give for the covered bridges. One is because horses don’t like to go over water and the other is during the Civil War it gave protection to the troops. They both sound like Grade A Bologna to me.

Our last stop of the day was at my Grandmothers Grave site. Since she is buried in the family plot, Lisa was asking my dad about those buried in the plot. My Great Great Grandparents and my Great Grandparents are in the family plot.

Jolynn, who is Aunt Jerry’s daughter, came by for a visit. We sat and chat, and then Aunt Jerry wanted to play some Eucher. It’s a big card game that is played in this part of the country. It was Aunt Jerry and Jolynn against my dad and I. My dad and I won 3 games to 1. By the time we played the last game, it was already late, so it was time for bed.

We drove a total of 73 miles to day. We have driven a total of 3174 miles for the entire trip. We didn’t purchase any gas today.