Friday – August 17 – See You Down the Road

This morning we gathered one last time as a caravan to enjoy a continental breakfast before the caravan disbanded.  After breakfast, three of the coaches headed out to Springfield, OH to help with preparations for the Monaco International Pre-rally next week.  Three couples will spend the weekend at our current location and drive to Springfield on Monday.  Our final couple will start working its way home, but stopping at every antique market between here and Mississippi.  We wish everyone safe travels.

This is the last entry in this blog.

Thursday – August 16 – Our Farewell Dinner

After returning from the Longaberger tour and a brief rest, we headed off to Marysville, OH for our caravan’s farewell dinner at Doc Henderson’s Restaurant. This is an old house converted into a lovely restaurant.  We enjoyed a nice, relaxed-pace dinner.  In between the main course and coffee, Bill and JeanAnn, our caravan leaders, were presented with a token of our appreciation for their efforts in organizing and leading the caravan.  We presented them with a framed copy of our group photo entering the Willis Tower in Chicago.

Thursday – August 16 – The Longaberger Basket Factory

We drove to Newark, OH for a quick photo stop at the basket shaped Longaberger headquarters.  Then, we were off to Frazeyburg, OH, for a plant tour and shopping.  We saw how artisans take leftover materials from a cabinet shop and turn them into very expensive baskets.  Each craftsperson is responsible for making a basket from start to finish and then performs a quality inspection of the finished product.  Most of the workers have been employed there between 20 and 30 years. 

After the tour, we went to the showroom/sales area where a wide variety of baskets, pottery, and linens were displayed and available.  Not many sales were made in our group.  First, the prices are high and second, baskets take up significant space in a motor coach.

Wednesday – August 15 – We Explore Columbus, OH

This morning our carpool drove into Columbus, OH to tour the statehouse.  Our guide explained the history of the Ohio state capitol and how it was located in three other cities until finally being centrally located in Columbus.  The statehouse is located on ten acres of land with construction starting in 1839.  The statehouse was not completed until 1861.  Prison labor from the Ohio Penitentiary was used to construct the foundation and ground floors of the building.  The statehouse underwent a major restoration in 1996 to bring the structure up to 20^th century building codes. 

After leaving the statehouse, we drove into the German section of Columbus to enjoy an excellent German buffet lunch at Schmidt’s Sausage Haus.  In addition to the usual bratwursts, we also enjoyed a sampling of Schmidt’s Bahama Mamas, a sausage with a little “kick” to it.  Several people purchased additional sausage from the fresh meat market on the first floor of the restaurant.

After the delicious lunch, it was off to the Ohio Stadium, the home of the Ohio State University Buckeyes.  With a seating capacity of 102,329, it is the fourth largest football stadium in the United States.  We were led on an excellent tour of the stadium to see some of the corporate suites, press boxes, and suites used by Ohio elected officials and Ohio State University executives.  Our tour led us down onto the playing field, which is covered with athletic turf and not grass.  We were fortunate that the stadium has several modern elevators to transport us between the various levels.  The stadium crew is in the final stages of installing a new 45’ x 157’ “jumbo tron” screen at the south end of the stadium. 

  

This season, Ohio State University will host eight home football games.  Please check the dates to know when to stay away from Columbus, OH.  In addition to football games, the stadium rooms are rented out to host receptions of all sorts.  A local tradition is to get married at the stadium flagpole.  That will cost you $2,500.  If you want to get married at the 50-yard line, it will cost you an additional $10,000.

Tuesday – August 14 – आप का खाना स्वादिष्ट हो (āp kā khānā svādiṣṭa ho) [Bon Appetit]

The dining team of Wilt, Barbara, John, Pam, Jim, and Nancy served an excellent Indian (Asian Indian) supper of a delicious menu consisting of:

Appetizer:

            Vegetable Samosa with mint and tamarind sauces

Entrees:

            Chicken Tikka Masala

            Lamb Curry

            Basmati Rice

            Garlic Naan

Accompaniments:

            Mango and Ginger Chutney

            Mixed Pickle

            Raita

            Sliced Bananas

Desert:

            Gulab Jammum

Tuesday – August 14 – A Driving Day

This morning we loaded up our motor coaches and headed southeast from Elkhart, IN to Delaware, OH.  We drove in two (2) waves—some took the direct route (more or less) by traveling on state routes, while the remainder traveled via Interstate highways.  The direct route was advertised as being more scenic, but we all saw our fair share of Indiana and Ohio farmland.  All of our travelers arrived safely.

Two of our nine couples left the caravan this morning in Elkhart.  Dick and Nancy left for Springfield, OH to work on preparations for the Monaco International Pre-rally next week.  Ed and Shirley headed back home.  Ed wasn’t feeling well and thought it best to get back to his local medical facility before the situation gets any worse.  We wish them safe travels and speedy recovery.

Monday – August 13 – Up, up, and away!

On the way back to the campground from the Navistar RV facility, we stopped by the Hall of Heroes Museum.  This is a small site built into a man’s garage to honor the super heroes from comic books.  The owner and curator is a comic book collector and owns a very large display of super hero comics books and action figures.  The owner has comic books that date back to the early 1940’s.  In this collection, he has issue number 5 of Captain America. 

Without knowing anything about the museum, we all thought this was going to be very “cheesy.”  However, the owner in addition to being a collector of comic books is also a teacher, so he provided an interesting half-hour talk about the collection and the history of some of the super hero characters.   Alright, it was a little "cheesy," but still interesting.

Tomorrow, is a travel day to Delaware, Ohio.