October 25, 2005 (Tue)
Camp Walmart, Columbus, OH
Indianapolis, IN to Columbus, OH (208/946 total) Q026439
Frannie is well on her way to full recovery from her brain operation and very able to be on her own until her husband gets home from Oregon. Even so it was hard to leave. It has gotten steadily colder over the nine days we were there. Last night was the coldest at 41°. At 9:00, when we left, it was only 42°. The sun tried to come out all day but fought a loosing battle.
We'd found US-40 (Historic National Road) such a good alternative to the busy I-70 last month that we came all the way to Columbus, OH on it today. Most of the corn fields are stubble now having been harvested since we last passed. The rest were brown and waiting. On the way out we found the price of gasoline lower in Ohio than Indiana so our goal was to get back to Ohio before buying gas. Consequently we passed up $2.28/gal for what turned out to be $2.34/gal when we had to stop. This appeared to be the best price we were going to see. 20 miles later it was selling for $2.23!!
This Walmart north of Columbus shares its parking lot with Kohl's and several other smaller stores and restaurants. Even so it appears to be an OK place to spend the night. At the moment (6:30) we are the only motor home here. And the Chinese Buffet was quite good.
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October 26, 2005 (Wed)
Camp Walmart, Harborcreek, PA
Columbus, OH to Harborcreek, PA (251/1197 miles) Q026690
41.0° overnight, 42° and clearing when we got off at 8:35. We backtracked a mile to SR-750 that would take us back to I-71 north. We stopped at the Flying J truck stop to dump, take on fresh water and put some air in the rear tires then proceeded on up I-71 to a camping World store in Brunswick, OH. We had nothing on our list to buy but spent $40 anyway. They have such neat stuff for camping!
The trees have been spectacular today, much more colorful that yesterday it seemed. We thought it might be because the sun was out but they glowed even when it clouded over and sprinkled a bit. The road across to I-271 (we'd had to bypass the interchange to get to the Camping World) was hilly and beautiful in fall colors. Lunch was at a rest stop (48° and cloudy) off I-90. Thinking that the price of gas would be less in Ohio than in Pennsylvania as it was when we came out 10 days ago we went searching, on narrow, construction laden, traffic heavy US-20 and found the best price to be $2.34/gal. We filled up and of course found it much less expensive in PA. at $2.21/gal!
Henry found us 2 Walmart Supercenters in Erie, PA along our route. The first was located in the middle of a low income area in Erie and was surrounded by a high chain link fence. We decided it might not be a good place to spend the night. The other, in Harborcreek just East of Erie, seems to be quite new. In fact, the parking lot is still being paved. The young woman at the customer service desk seemed surprised at the idea when Mark asked if it was OK to spend the night in the parking lot. She called the manager and asked him about it.
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October 27, 2005 (Thu)
Susan and Paul's driveway
Harborcreek, PA to Belfast, NY (196/1393 miles) Q026865
Up at 6:30 (41.1°), showers, breakfast and off at 8:50 (45.7° cloudy). After getting back to I-90 via US-20 and SR-53 we drove East about 2 miles to I-86 East. The fall colors were again brilliant making the normally very picturesque Southern Tier Expressway even more beautiful. We were a bit ahead of schedule so we decided to take a detour to our old alma mater, Alfred University. Not much had change since we'd been there last but it was fun to see it again and reminisce a bit. There was snow in the air as we ate our lunch in a Tops (supermarket) parking lot.
We arrived at Susan (Mark's sister) and Paul's at about 1:30. Susan was recently diagnosed with colon cancer and is 2 months into her recovery from successful surgery. She and Joy had a lot in common to share. She is in the process of working through her options and it was very interesting to hear about what she has learned in her research. They treated us to a delicious dinner at Sprague's Maple Farms Restaurant in nearby Portville, NY. On the way home we stopped to see nephew Rod and family.
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October 28, 2005 (Fri)
Camp Flying J Free B
Home
Belfast, NY to Gibson, PA (179/1572 miles) Q027044
The thermometer got down to 30° last night, the coldest we've seen since last winter, but it was 36° when we got off at 11:11. Thank you Susan and Paul for your warm hospitality. Hang in there.
The light fog and frost softened the colors on the hills but the drive down SR-17 (future I-86) was still beautiful. There were long hilly stretches of road with barns, silos and patchwork fields adding color to the landscape. Lunch was in a rest stop near Corning, NY.
The area set aside for RVs in the Flying J parking lot was full so we found a corner near the restaurant just the right size for Q. After we'd settled in a fellow with a badge informed us that RVs weren't allowed in that area. We didn't feel comfortable about taking up a whole long trucking space with our little motor home but we did. Before the evening was over there were several other RVs around us. We still only occupied a third of a parking space but we felt better about it. The couple next to us was on their way home to Biloxi, MS. They'd lost 2 homes to Hurricane Katrina while they traveled in New England. To add to their misery, they'd gotten their motor home stuck in the mud earlier in the day.
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October 28, 2005 (Sat)
Home
Gibson, PA to Home (178/1750 miles) Q027222
Except for a truck parked nearby with the air brake releasing every 20 seconds keeping Joy awake for a couple of hours (Mark slept through it) it was quieter than many truck stops. There was no road noise, engine brakes, or shower announcements and the idling diesel was a constant drone that became background noise after a while. We were off for the McDonald's across the road at 7:50 (39.7° - 32.5° over night) and were on the road by 8:25
We were home before noon.
A swing by Belfast, NY - #53-02
Brain surgery - #53-01
October 14, 2005 (Fri)
Today Joy's sister Frannie had her brain aneurysm surgery. She came through it fine. Tomorrow we start out for Indianapolis to be with her for a few days.
October 15, 2005 (Sat)
Camp Cabela's, Wheeling, WV
Home to Wheeling, WV (416/416 miles) Q025909
We got off nicely at 7:36 (61.5°) but had to go back for some things from the refrigerator we'd forgotten. Off again at 7:45. On the way up the parkway we saw the sun for the first time in about 9 days - a strange and beautiful sighting. A full arc rainbow gave us the promise of no more rain for a while as we traveled West on I-78.
But there was no promise of light traffic. Just after crossing the Delaware River into PA and before the toll booth we hit the first of several accident and construction slowdowns. The CB chatter informed us that the interstate had been particularly bad today. We passed the overturned 18 wheeler they talked about but the FEDEX tractor and double trailer stuck in the mud had been freed and was gone. Rubberneckers watching a crew clean up after an accident slowed us down further on and another accident stopped traffic in both directions completely for 30 minutes while a helicopter ambulance came and went. Fortunately we were close enough to the action to know why we were stopped. Later on we saw a billboard that said "Drive like your mother is with you."
We hit Wheeling, West Virginia at about 4:40 and headed for the big Cabela's ("Outfitters For The World") store. They, like Walmart, allow and encourage overnight motor home parking. We set up shop in their parking lot, wandered around the store for a while and bought Angus Dogs (beef hot dogs) for dinner.
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October 16, 2005 (Sun)
Lee and Frannie's driveway
Wheeling, WV to Indianapolis, IN (322/723 miles) Q026231
Off at 7:38 (49.5°) We were worried about being so close to the truck parking area and having to listen to their noise all night but it was very quiet. We learned as we left that the trucks weren't allowed to be there overnight.
We needed to do some shopping so we went looking for the Zanesville (OH) Walmart and for the second time couldn't find it. While Henry was booting up we decided to go on to the one in Columbus. OH. As we found on our way East last month, all (well, almost all) the rest stops along I-70 are closed for rebuilding so the one that was open was very crowded. We stopped anyway and parked outside the lines to eat our lunch.
We got set up in Frannie and Lee's driveway and borrowed Lee's blue Jeep, to go to the hospital. We found Frannie doing very well. She had a rather bad head ache (to say the least) and an uncomfortable looking "seam" across her head but otherwise was pretty much herself. She will be coming home tomorrow.
