August 28 - September 4, 2018: Salem, Ohio
Salem, Ohio is the furtherest East we are traveling before we head back across the States. If you ask why Salem, well...Craig's dad and Michele live here! We've been coming to visit them for years and really enjoy the area. In the past we've went to a football game, baseball game, Football Hall of Fame, Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame, Niagra Falls, etc. so this time we wanted to visit with family and friends, relax, and take care of little maintenance items on the truck, trailer, and bicycles.
Before we left Milford, OH we noticed that the air conditioning in the truck was pretty weak. Needless to say the drive from Milford to Salem was a little uncomfortable because we decided to not use the A/C and further any problems it may have. It was about 92f with 50% humidity, hence...we drove to Salem with all of the windows open. We dropped the truck off at a Ford dealership in Canfield, OH to see what the problem was. They were booked solid, but worked us in which was awesome! GREAT customer service! Thank you ****. They replaced the air conditioning relay cables and air conditioning switch. Now...the A/C works like a charm! Thanks Dennis for letting us borrow your car during this time!!
I decided to mix it up a bit and ride in the back seat for more airflow and let Chauffeur Craig take the reins
We stayed at Chaparral Family Campground which was about 4 miles from Dennis and Mickey's place. Since it's pretty humid here and we were staying for a week, we wanted to have power, water, and got a septic spot also. This campground is an older RV park with about 90% permenant residents. This means the spots are close together. Our neighbors around us had 4 dogs, another neighbor 2 dogs - which of course barked everytime something moved : ) Can't pick your neighbors right? Because the RV Park is older and they don't have a maintenance person on staff, it is pretty run down. We started having issues with power outages (thank goodness for a surge protector) and then 2 days before we were leaving, we started having water issues. No water for hours at a time and on the last day, the water was rust colored. We have 2 filters on our water system and it ruined one of them, so...we unhooked from the water and luckily we had a full fresh tank we could use. Let's just say that we won't be staying at this campground until they do a remodel or refresh.
Typical Ohio countryside
Campsite at Chaparral Campground
While in Salem, we tend to golf a lot. On our first day in town, we played at Salem Hills Golf Course with Dennis and his neighbor Rich. We played at Buck Run Golf Course which is one of our favorites from years past. We enjoy the tricky rolling hills on this course. On Labor Day, we played in a Golf Shamble (yes, that is spelled correctly) at Salem Hills with Dennis and Mickey. Although we didn't win, we had fun and then attended a BBQ after the shamble. Great food and we met some really nice people that gave us good recommendations for our further travels.
Craig, Dennis, Holly, and Rich playing
Salem Hills Golf Course
Salem Hills Golf Shamble with Dennis and Michele
Playing Buck Run Golf Course
Mickey and Holly
Dennis and Craig
No, we did not coordinate clothing colors for the shamble!
Holly, Craig, and cousin Jenn
Holly and Akeso (Dennis, Mickey's doggie)
Had a great visit with Aunt Susie and missed taking her picture : (
Of course, one of the things we always have to do while in Salem is go to the Rogers Flea Market. It is HUGE! We didn't need anything but did find a few treasures for the trailer and of course had to get some banana bread and a watermelon from the Amish vendors.
Yummy donuts that we normally get, but passed it up this time and were being good
In Craig's right hand, 2 things for toasting over an open fire. Our friends Tom and Carol introduced us to these when we met them in Indiana. You butter 2 pieces of bread, put pie filling in between and toast over an open fire. Then we topped with ice cream. OMG....AWESOME! You can also do this with ham and cheese or anything!
In Craig's left hand, a metal coal fire poker from Mickey's house. It is from the early 1930's and will be perfect for stirring the open fires!
We attended the 172nd Canfield Fair - yes...it's been around that long! We have attended this in the past and it is HUGE! It is about 5 times the size of the Boise Fair. We always like to get our fix of animals, photography, music, bad fair food, and...people watching. We watched a group of female singers that sang Joni Mitchell songs - great voices! This time around we watched a little of the Truck and Tractor Pull. Wow...this was my first time of watching this and what a redneck, cool thing! It was loud, obnoxious, and totally fun to watch.
We DID NOT have any of these funnel cakes and just seeing this table made our stomach's hurt. ONE bite would be good to try it though : )
We had dinner here one night with Dennis and Mickey. GREAT food, wine, and view! This is set on Pine Lake which you cannot have any type of watercraft on or even swim in, unless...you were grandfathered in. Pretty interesting.
Handel's Ice Cream. Wow...the story behind these guys is great! They make all of their flavors fresh daily and had so many to choose from. We both got a 4 scoop sampler. We rated them an 8 in our Activity Catalog. YUMMMMM.
Cute little caterpillar that was in our camp. Yellow fuzzy body, red hear and black antennas. I think it is a Banded North American Caterpillar.
Thank you Dennis and Michele for helping make our stay great! And thanks to everyone else that we already knew or just met!