Journal Entry #17 - Butler, Lyndhurst, Willoughby Hills OH

Sunday 9/15/02

Day Seventeen

     KOA, Butler, OH
     Starting mileage 91464 / Ending mileage 91684

More thunderstorms last night, although I really only heard the rain. The classic “torrential downpour”. When I did dog duty @ 5:30, it was so warm and muggy, but ceased raining long enough for Vince and Tessa to do their thing. Then back to bed, except we both felt wide awake. Good thing we were too stubborn to get up, because we did fall asleep again, until @ 9:00.

(Flock of wild turkeys in camp)

Today is Sunday when I get to see *Leslie! So, a quick breakfast & gathering of stuff, and on the road to Cleveland/Willoughby Hills by 10:00. Stopped to fuel up before getting on I-71, and talked to my dad on the cell phone. Sounds like Pav is loving the royal treatment.
An uneventful trip for the most part, until I realized I hadn’t brought Leslie’s address with me, and we only got her answering machine when we called for directions. They did call us back in time to give us directions to Leslie’s parents house in Lyndhurst, where we headed to meet up with them. Got there @ noon, and hung out for awhile while Leslie gathered up their stuff. Vince & Tessa got to meet the kids, and explore the fenced back yard. Tessa was Miss Congeniality as usual, and Vince handled the new people & surroundings pretty well. The kids were very good about not trying to touch him.
We headed to the Barni’s by 12:30, and David got to see the area I talked about after my visit last year. Leslie had a gathering planned for later to celebrate Alex’s 9th birthday, so she had to get busy cooking a pot of “Cincinnati Chili”. It was fun watching

David play ball with Alex, and he supervised when Alex & Matt wanted to walk Tessa on a leash. The dogs had a great time romping in the back yard. It was quite humid when we were there, so David borrowed a T-shirt (a Mt Rainier t-shirt…) from Dave to spare his dress shirt.
After a bit, Leslie’s parents and Lisa & Tim arrived, with Margaret and baby Timothy James, 1 week and 1 day old. Leslie’s chili was excellent, and lots of fun toppings. Leslie forced me to put our name on one of Alex’s presents, and it was a toy he really liked, so I felt a little guilty taking credit. Maybe I’ll tell him—some day. After presents, cake & ice cream, it started to get dark, and due to our unfamiliarity with the area we decided to leave @ 7pm. We’ll be back next weekend to *drop the trailer, so we didn’t have to have a long, sad good-bye.

[David writing] I was chosen as the “object of interest” by Alex & Matt upon our arrival. They were good kids & fun to play with, even though I really don’t know how to throw pitches. They were also good around the dogs, and vice versa.
100+ miles one way to their house—a little more than expected. Looking forward to house hunting on Monday. Hope one or more looks appealing. Note: sleeping too much. Musn’t get too used to it.

Fuel: 24 gal / 34.25 / 405 miles

*Leslie: My best friend that I met at BGSU in 1982

*drop the trailer: The plan was to leave our travel trailer at their house, travel back to WA and stay in motels, then pack up and move back to Ohio with a moving truck, car hauler and U-Haul trailer.

End of Entry