Let That Be a Lesson...

Apparently, Mother Nature did not like my comment about how cloudy it's been on our roadtrip so far.  As we were approaching Springfield, Illinois, we saw storm clouds ahead, and right now as I type, we're in between Rounds 2 and 3 of a 4-Round thunderstorm coming west-to-east across the Springfield area.

The first round seemed bad until the second one hit.  The second one had so much hail we could hear it bouncing off the roof of the RV.  The National Weather Service said to expect quarter size hail, and that sounds about right.  Lots and lots of lightning and thunder, but thankfully, none hit too close to the campground, and the winds weren't too bad.  I went into the front seat of the RV to take some video of the storm, and will post that later.  The power went out in the campground for a bit, so I'm working off the laptop battery.

Jeff has the Weather Channel app on his iPad, and it looks like Round 3 should be worse - and longer - than the previous two rounds.  Fabulous.

Ruth went to sleep in the middle of Round 2, and Henry just fell asleep.  They inherited my ability to sleep through anything, which is good for them.

It sounds like Round 3 is about to start.  The rain just picked up again and so did the lightning.  We had a fun-filled day in Springfield today, but we'll be writing about that tomorrow.  For now, we'll just hunker down and ride out the storm.

Here Comes the Sun!

We haven't seen the sun since we left Virginia.  It's been cloudy all of the trip, with rain sprinkled in throughout the days and nights.  

There was one moment yesterday when we were in the car when a little patch of bright blue sky appeared - it was such a surprise that I took a picture of it. 

I am happy to report that the sun is shining brightly this morning.  We're off to Springfield, Illinois in a few minutes.  It will take about 3 and a half hours to get there, give or take a stop at a gas station.  We'll spend this afternoon checking out the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, house and tomb. 

Henry's Review of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway

After lunch, we went to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum and Hall of Fame.  When we got there, I found out they were giving a Grounds Tour today, and asked my Dad if we could do it.  Of course, he said yes.

First, we looked in the museum and saw lots of race cars that won in previous Indianapolis 500 races.  Some were really old, from the 1930's.  Then they called us for the Grounds Tour to begin.

The first thing we did was ride the bus once around the race track.  When you go around the turns, you would feel like you were leaning sideways.

At the Finish Line, the bus stopped and we got out. There's a thin strip of brick from when the track was first built, and when a NASCAR driver wins the Brickyard 400 race, they get out of their car and kiss the bricks.  Dale Jarrett started that tradition.  So Dad and I got our picture kissing the bricks, and then we took a family picture on the track.  Roger, the tour guide, pointed out marks on the track where Jimmy Johnson burned out his tires after winning the Brickyard 400 in July 2009, and other marks where Jamie McMurray did donuts after winning the race in 2010.  I ran on the marks and got my picture with them.

He also showed us where Dario Franchitti climbed the fence after he won the Indy 500.  We weren't allowed to try that ourselves, or else I would have done it.

Roger also told us that once when he was on the bus near the finish line, lightning hit the pole that shows what place all the cars are in, and he said it "lit up like a Christmas Tree." 

Then the bus took us to the Pagoda.  That's where the reporters watch the race and write their stories, and also where they some of the luxury boxes.  It's also where the winner gets his picture taken.  We got to sit in the Media Room, and I got to pretend I was giving a press conference.  When I was up there, Dad said "Speech!"  That was funny.

After the Pagoda, we rode the bus to Gasoline Alley, where the race cars get their gas and have garages.  When you go to the Indy 500 race, you can get a pass to go walk around that area and meet drivers.

I really liked the tour guides, Roger and Bill.  They knew lots of stuff about the speedway. 

Here's a slideshow of pictures from our tour.

Children's Museum of Indiana

We all had a great night's sleep, and those of you on the East Coast should be jealous that we didn't need the air conditioner - we left the windows open with the cool breeze. 

This morning, we went to the Children's Museum of Indiana.  They say it's the biggest children's museum in the U.S.  We've only been to a handful so far, but it was pretty big. 

The first thing you notice about the museum are the mom and baby dinosaurs peeking in the front window.  As in the very top window of the four story building.  There are also dinosaurs in other areas outside of the building.  Pretty cool.

They had a bunch of exhibits, including a dinosaur one with two paleontologists there working on fossils they found in South Dakota.  One of them gave us some tips for when we visit South Dakota later in the trip.  Ruth liked the Barbie exhibit and I did too.  They had lots of Barbies from when I was a kid.

Henry liked the whole museum, including the exhibits on Egypt, Captain Kidd (with a real cannon from one of his ships), and the Terra Cotta Warriors of China.  He completely cracked up when he saw his image in one of those mirrors that distorts your body.  Int he China exhibit, he got to put one warrior statue together.  In one of the Egypt exhibits, Ruth and Henry put together a sarcophagus puzzle, and in another, they rode on an airplane and learned how to say hello and goodbye in Arabic.

We all enjoyed the constellation show in the planetarium, and will be using the map later in the trip to look for stars when we get to where we get a good view of the night sky.

If you're ever in Indianapolis, we'd recommend it.  Here's a slideshow of some of the highlights. 

A Taste of New York in Indianapolis

When we were watching "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" on the Food Network one day, they featured a place in Indianapolis called Shapiro's Deli.  The deli makes their own breads, as well as corned beef, peppered beef (the sandwich featured on the Food Network show), pastrami, and lots of other Jewish deli specialties.

Henry asked to visit there when we were in Indianapolis, so that's where we went for lunch.  It's right by the Colts football stadium.

The first thing you see when you get your tray and silverware are the desserts.  Jeff thought that was interesting marketing.  They all looked so good, we each picked one so we could all sample.  Henry got red velvet cake, I got a German chocolate pie, Ruth got strawberry shortcake and Jeff got carrot cake.  Henry and I had roast beef sandwiches, Jeff got the peppered beef sandwich, and Ruth went with grilled cheese.

The sandwiches were piled high with meat and the bread was fabulous.  A bit of crunch to the crust but soft and chewy.

All of the desserts were fabulous. 

On the way out, we picked up some pastrami and pepper beef, a loaf of their rye bread and some bagels for breakfast tomorrow.

Henry gets two thumbs up for his pick on this one.

Pictures from the Campground Today

If You Want to Drop Us a Line...

When I set up the blog, I accidentally disallowed anonymous comments.  I fixed that today, so if you want to comment on a post, ask us a question, or just say hi, all you have to do is click on the orange "comments" word at the bottom of each post and you'll be able to write a message.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Back Home Again, in Indiana

Cornfield next to the campground.

Okay, it's not our home exactly, but it will be for the next two nights.  We arrived in Indianapolis around 1:30 p.m. today.

The drive through Indiana on I-74 takes you past lots of farmland.  In fact, we're camping right next to a cornfield here at the KOA Campbground in Greenfield, Indiana.  Ruth is beside herself that our RV is parked in a spot right next to the pool.  She has declared it's a dream come true for her.  The campground also has a resident pony that we will be visiting after the swimming is done. 



The crew in the pool with our
RV and Jeep in the background.



The campground is fairly empty, probably because it's a Thursday and the weekend folks haven't arrived yet.  If there were more people here, they'd think we were Canadians since the kids are swimming in a freezing pool.  I swear, my children are related to polar bears.

The weather is wonderful:  cloudy, cool, breezy and no humidity. 

We stocked up on supplies at Walmart on the way, which allowed me to get some things I forgot to put in the RV before we left. 

Well, now that the polar bears are out of the pool, it's time for showers and then some ping pong in the campground building next door.

Heaven on a Bun

It was slim pickings finding a campground near Cincinnati, but luckily, the Family Motor Coach Association has a campground about 15 minutes from the baseball stadium.  Even better, it's free for members.  Hard to beat that.

The outstanding price is probably because there aren't any amenities - no pool, picnic tables, snack bar, fire pits, or miniature golf.  Since we're here for just a night, it wasn't an issue for us.

So tonight, instead of cooking at the campsite, we looked for a local place for dinner.  Jeff had chili on his mind, since Cincinnati is known for its chili: 3-way, 4-way or 5-way.  Here, they serve chili over spaghetti, and you can add onions, cheese and other stuff.

I consulted my go-to website for good places to eat, Roadfood.com, and Jeff checked out his "Diners, Drive-In and Dives" app, and we both found Terry's Turf Club in Cincinnati.  Roadfood lists it as "Legendary - Worth driving from any place."

After eating there, we would concur.

It's not just the food.  The place is a work of art.  Neon signs, inside and out, and other signs that leave you visually overwhelmed.  And peanut shells everywhere because of the free peanuts inside and out.

Terry's got its start as a bar that tended to the needs of local ironworkers.  One of the employees was telling a group of women next to us that the ironworkers would come there after work to play pool and drink beer each night before going home.  No women were allowed.

Today, Terry's is known for its burgers.  The buns are made locally and toasted with butter before meeting a huge, juicy burger and your choice of toppings (lettuce, tomato, onions, peppers, ketchup, mayo, etc.).  We shared two orders of hand cut fries.  All delicious.

We had hoped to meet up with my co-worker Bob, who is from the Cincinnati area and here on vacation this week, but it didn't work out.  The only thing better than burgers at Terry's Turf Club would have been burgers at Terry's Turf Club with Bob and his family.   

If you're near Cincinnati, you must eat here.  You will wait for a table, but it's worth it.  And they let you order drinks at the bar and take them outside, along with the peanuts.

We're capping off the night watching the Reds play the Yankees again.  Tomorrow morning, we're off to Indianapolis.

Henry's Review of the Baseball Game

The Reds faced the Yankees. Yesterday's game was cancelled so they played a doubleheader today so the older players rested the 1st game and played the 2nd game. That meant A- Rod, and Mark Teixiera wouldn't be playing and Derek Jeter was injured so he couldn't play. So when we walked in into the ballpark, a couple minutes later Dad looked at the scoreboard and said "guess who else isn't playing?  A-Rod."

I was pretty mad, even more when I saw that Mark wasn't playing. Besides that I liked the game, in the 6th inning it was 2-2 then came a good part for the Yankees - Jorge Posada hit a home run. Now it was 4-2 Yankees, and the score would be the same at the end. 

There was probably one Sportscenter top ten play.  Nick Swisher hit the wall while jumping to catch a fly ball that was almost a home run. 

You can see the Ohio River from the stadium.  We saw barges go by that were being pushed by tugboats. Out in centerfield, they have two smokestacks with a Toyota sign in between them.  If a player hits a homerun that hits the Toyota sign, the player and a person the stadium picks gets a Toyota Tundra. 

I had LaRosa's cheese pizza at the game and it was really good.  Dad had bratwursts, and mom and Ruth had cheeseburgers.  Then we had slushies and Ruth had an ice pop too.

They didn't have the eagle fly from centerfield to home plate after the National Anthem at the game.  I would have liked to seen that.

I got a Joey Votto t-shirt.  He's the Reds' first baseman and last year, he won the MVP award for the National League.

It was a great game.

Henry

The Yankees (Well, Some of Them) Let Us Down

The rain is holding off for today's baseball game at the Great American Ball Park, but the the Yankees let us down. Because of the storm last night, there's a day-night doubleheader today. From the looks of the starting line-up for the Yankees, it seems that some players took the afternoon off. Both A-Rod and Teixiera are MIA. Jeter is on DL. Henry is not amused. Jeff is a Reds fan, but he would have liked to see the starting line-up.  He was crushed when Jeter went on the DL, because he was hoping we'd get to see him hit his 3,000th hit.  Stay tuned for Henry's review of the game.

Day One: Greetings from Columbus, Ohio

The worst part of any trip out of DC is the first 30 miles.  They should make “I Survived the Capital Beltway” t-shirts for people driving RVs, especially those towing vehicles behind them.  The DC Beltway is one of the biggest confluences of insane and/or bad drivers in the world.

Today was a long haul so we’d have a shorter drive to Cincinnati tomorrow morning.  Our first major Jeep towing drive – about 440 miles – went well.  The only near-emergency was when we pulled out of a Sheetz gas station and realized that no one shut the RV door in the middle of the vehicle.  Ruth got up to get the door, and I envisioned her flying out the door onto the side of the road.  She gets points for quickness, but in the end, I got the door as Jeff pulled over.  Crisis averted, and we took the opportunity to talk about things we need to make sure are done before we hit the road, like shutting the doors.  So many teachable moment opportunities…

Today, we passed through Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, West Virginia again, and then Ohio.  We stopped twice for either gas, drinks or to check on the Jeep, and all told, we spent about 9 hours on the road.  This will be one of our longest driving days, as well as one of the hilliest, and I know Jeff is glad it’s over.

I brought my Kindle with me, and finished "The Help" today.  I'm lucky - I can read in the car without getting sick.  I've started a new book called "Elizabeth Street" about a woman who comes to America in the early 1900's from Italy.  So far, so good.

Once we got to the campground, we unhooked the Jeep and connected the RV to the electric, sewer and water hook-ups.  Then it was off to visit Jeff’s friends Jay and Sherri, who live here in Columbus.  We went to dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings, one of Jeff’s favorite places.  Jeff’s golf clubs will be vacationing with Jay while we’re on the road, until the guys go golfing when we pass through Columbus again at the end of our trip.

Tomorrow morning, we’ll hit the road early on the way to Cincinnati.  We have tickets to the Reds-Yankees game at 12:35p.m.  Jeff is a Reds fan, I’m a Yankees fan, and the kids are leaning towards the Yankees as well.  We’re hoping the rain they’re predicting won’t be too bad so we can see the game, or at least some of it.

One day down, many more to go. 

Counting Down

We're getting close - almost everything is loaded in the RV now.

Clothes - check
Bedding - check
Towels - check
Non-perishable food items - check
Grill - check
Pots, pans and the electric griddle for pancakes - check
Plates, cups, etc. - check
Bathroom stocked - check

All that's left is our various computer, electronics and camera stuff, and the food that will go in the fridge and freezer.

Tuesday is just around the corner...