After a one-night stopover at a commercial park in Lexington, KY, finally, finally we were on our way into Ohio to reunite with loved ones after three long years. The weather, with the exception of a brief bout of sprinkles as we crossed the river into Cincinnati, was clear and calm. I was keeping everyone updated with excited texts. Our first stop was to be Delaware State Park, about 30 miles north of Columbus and 10 miles from my Brotherman's home, and we were making great time.
Then, as we approached the capital, a high-pitched scream erupted from the dash, and the Check Engine light illuminated. Not being at a place conducive to stopping immediately, we continued on until we could pull over safely, but TBG could discern nothing obviously amiss, and (older) idiot lights live up to their names in that they don't at all pinpoint the problem. We called and vectored in a Cummins shop on the west side of Columbus, and headed there when they said they could take a look for us. After a speedy diagnostic test, the extremely nice fellow said it indicated the #5 fuel injector was at fault. It was not a critical malfunction, but it would need to be fixed at some point, and we decided to continue on, mulling over the repair situation as we rolled. The decision we came to would throw the rest of our trip into a bit of chaos.
I'll let the tale unfold in order using as much prose as I can without talking out of school about family and friends and with photos taken exclusively with someone or other's phone.
Wouldn't you know that Delaware State Park was almost deserted except for a few host rigs and one other camper -- in the site right next to ours. No matter, we weren't going to be at the park very much anyhow, and as soon as we got the rig set up, we headed off to see Brotherman (S), Sissy (H), NeFew (F), and Neecie (K).
Sissy was lying in wait to capture the moment of my reunion with Brotherman!
We had four days total in Delaware/Ashley, and we packed a lot into that time.
They have lots of cats, which made me so, so happy. Clockwise: holding Hogan who is a million years old and still tearin' it up; the beautiful and elusive Snow Patrol (Snowie) who only likes Brotherman -- and me! Boo, who is blurry because he is always on the move to avoid the other cats who are mean to him; Bitty, the cuddly sweetheart who is nice to everyone, including Boo; and Mario, aka Chonk aka Mr. Albanese aka Portnoy aka D. R. Railsback aka Margeejoe Lee, just to name a few of his aliases.
We had the whole gang out to the RV for a big pot of my taco soup and cornbread. My sibling and I took a walk in the woods, during which he named all the trees for me, and we tracked some deer that we eventually caught up with. When we returned, we conducted the long-standing family tradition of Bug Eyes.
This is a thing we all do and surprise my Poppy with whenever we can because he does not care for the Bug Eyes. We texted the one on the left to him since torturing one another is what happy families do.
The guys got in some range practice while Sissy and I stayed home to color and chat. For our final evening, S&H treated us all to a ton of take-out Thai/Japanese/Chinese food. We had to say a sad so-long to F that night, K was able to stop by the rig the following morning for another tearful last visit before we headed out, but we would see S&H in another week's time in our hometown to the north.
Here's where the curve balls began to be thrown directly at our heads.
We stayed at Punderson State Park, a place I have been to many, many, many times due to its proximity to where I grew up. My mom took us to the lakeside swim beach often during our childhood summers, and we spent many hours on the sled hill during our childhood winters. Speaking of winter...
A few days earlier, they had been enjoying temps in the 70s, and a few days later, it would near 80, but first we had to endure this bullshit, pretty as it tried to make itself.
Across the lake you can see the Manor House and the cabins. One of the things we were looking forward to was being in the park with S&H, who had rented one of the cabins for four days at the end of our Ohio time. However! Although the fuel injector repair was not an emergency, if we didn't do something about it before beginning our Wisconsin summer gig, we wouldn't be able to get it fixed until September at the earliest, and that didn't seem like a good plan. TBG worked hard to arrange for it to be worked on while we were in Ohio, which was great, but it meant we would need other living arrangements, and we wouldn't be at the park with S&H. Enter my BFFF (D), who once again (see Ohio 2018) generously offered her beautifully appointed basement apartment to us for the low, low cost of FREE. We still had five days at the state park before the move, three of which were booked with planned appointments. I'm a little ahead of myself, so let's back up.
After getting settled at the park, we hurried over to my folks' place, where Momma had a big pot of delicious chili and warm cornbread waiting for us. We had that evening and the following day to relax, HUG, and visit.
Between D's place and the folks', I was able to catch up on all the "big" laundry, and both my brother and my Pop gave us gigantic bags of quarters that will keep us in good stead for months to come.
The weather took a turn for the better in the second week of our stay, and it was downright hot for a day we all spent at S&H's Punderson cabin. H and Momma enjoyed a beverage on the sunny Manor House patio, TBG, S, and I took a boardwalk stroll (chubby muskrats espied!), and S and I went for a swim at the indoor pool. Well, it ended up being only me because although the pool was touted to be heated, it was not all that warm, and S was not having it. He played lifeguard while I did some laps.
Looking back over it all in order to write about it, nothing seems as hectic as it felt while it was happening. The results of all the medical appointments are A-OK, and Hond is operating smoothly again. On a more discouraging note, the RV shop was unable to duplicate the problem, therefore no repair was made. As I said, it's not a critical or dangerous condition, but after all the stress of having to vacate it, that was frustrating news to hear.
The evening before S&H were to return home, S's best friend visited. We had lots of laughs sitting outside on the balmy night, so reminiscent of our teenage days. We had a half-day of whole-family time the following day.
My favorite part is the pine tree.
Or maybe all the cornbread.
One of those.
Ha, until I was writing this post, I totally didn’t realize how much cornbread was involved.
The backyard of my youth is so much smaller and more crowded than when that little pine was first transplanted. It was reassuring to see it still stands.
Such a great post getting to see you with your family! I totally get what you’re saying about being out of your motorhome, and also the stress that comes along with changing up your routine. It can quickly get overwhelming, especially in the face of all the weirdness of the past year. When it feels like life has been so limited, to suddenly be dealing with all manner of change to our daily lives can feel really chaotic. I’m glad you were able to enjoy your visits though, and find a way to make it all work – except the mystery issue with your RV. That’s definitely gonna be a thorn in your side at a super inconvenient time – as it is written in the “Bible of Fulltime RV Living.” Anyway, glad you guys had a good visit, love your tree story, and hope the cold weather is behind you for real now.
I think a few of those days were THE most stressed I’ve ever been, and this coming from someone who’s had careers in both 911 Dispatch and the operating room. WTH?! But, as you say, we did have a wonderful time with our loved ones. It was beyond nice to be able to be right WITH people again.
The injector issue probably will come up again at some point, but whatcha gonna do? Carry on, we will!
I think we’re finally past freezing nights, but now that we’ve typed the actual words…
I see that a penchant for shenanigans runs in the family, along with artistic and culinary talent. What a visit you had! I am so happy for you that you had plenty of quality time with family and friends. Being away from loved ones is one of the hardest parts of being on the road so I hope this helped restore those communal ties — even while the visit seemed like an exhausting whirlwind of activity.
We’re also known to break out in random song at any moment! My mom is a professional artist by trade who majored in Home Ec in college, so craftiness and yumminess were never in short supply in our home. Even with all the planned activities and unplanned twists, we really did have a stellar visit and very much re-established those ties. 🙂
What shines through in your post is the fun you have with your family…and they all sound like they participate in equal measure! That ‘bug eyes’ photo LOL!!! And that series of family portraits hahaha! I’m glad you managed to get one with everyone looking at the camera and smiling, but the others are my favorites.
I was exhausted just reading about all that you did during your visit. I’m glad you got maintenance stuff taken care of, although bummer about having to move out of your home and not figuring out what the danged problem was in the first place. 😦 Here’s hoping you guys are rested up now.
Oh, my people are a zany bunch all right! 😀 I love those family portraits, too. Even though the last one is all of us smiling nicely, my favorite is the one in which we’re all making angry faces except for my mom, who didn’t hear the directive to do that. I laugh every time I look at that one, so that’s my “keeper.”
It was definitely a jam-packed time, with more on our plates than we’d anticipated, but we wouldn’t trade it for the world. *love*
Hope you named your tree! Aren’t you proud!
Sounds like a hectic but fun and loving family visit. Sometimes its good to see family once in a while for then the the bonding moments are unforgettable and emotional.
So has TBG added what Steve suggested for the injector issue? That is what I call the joy of living in an RV 🙂