Central Ohio

I haven't had time to post much these last few days as there has been a terrific amount of work for me both in Columbus and now here in Mansfield. I know why there was a bunch of work now in East Central Columbus but I'll get into that later in the post! Also I have been a bit upset since last Friday as we got a call and were being served foreclosure papers on the Oshkosh house. The lady was in our driveway in Pickerel and was wondering when we would be back. Ummmm...who knows? I told her that and she said she would call me back next week and I said that I didn't think she understood --- we really DON'T know! Another instance of trying to explain this lifestyle and someone just not getting it. She thought we were on vacation or just being difficult. When I explained where we were and why she said she would have the papers overnighted to someone here in Ohio, which she did and they served them on Monday. I will be posting a very long thought about this wonderful recession and the effects it has on personal relationships later on. I am calling it "The Collateral Damage of the Great Recession" so if you don't want get philosophical with me, please go ahead and skip the post! I wrote most of it the night we found out they were foreclosing and of course I couldn't sleep. Although I know this blog was set up to be mostly a travel and adventure blog it really helps me to get things out because 1) Bill mostly just doesn't understand my stress as he refuses to worry. Plus this foreclosure could have been stopped a year ago but he refused. So we do not see eye to eye on this situation at all. No wonder his blood pressure is only 110/70! And 2) I don't want to always dump on someone in a phone call where they have to listen. Everyone has their own problems too. This way you can choose to read the post or not.

http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/parks/alum/tabid/711/Default.aspx

We ended up getting a campground at the Alum Creek State Park near Columbus on Saturday night as it was so humid. It was a very nice park and we would have loved to stay longer as it was only 10 miles from the Target but they charge $28 a night and boondocking is far cheaper when the weather cooperates. It was nice being able to turn on the air to cut the humidity and as we had picked a shaded spot, the temperature was much lower just being there and not in an asphalt parking lot. At least the weather is the only problem right now as the stores are going better now for Bill as he is working with three experienced people who are regular Prime Retail employees.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbus,_Ohio

When we first arrived in Columbus it looked pretty good. "Good" being not dangerous or run down and I thought everything was great seeing as it IS the state capital as well as the home to Ohio State. So I picked up quite a few Marathon audits that were out there not taken yet. Well, we found out why they weren't taken for sure! Bill decided to come along with me and play chauffeur on Sunday. We were in the East Central part of town when all of a sudden there were speeding squad cars everywhere and a chopper in the air circling in tight circles right around a block near where we were. I had Bill turn down to see what was going on as we hadn't seen so much excitment even in inner city Chicago. We did turn once and saw someone being led to a squad with cuffs on but then Bill said no way. I talked to people at the Marathon nearby and they say it happens there all the time. But as one guy put it, "We have to work and be here". I looked online in the Columbus newspaper and couldn't even find anything mentioned about it! It MUST be common here which with a metropolitan area population of more than 1 million is to be expected I guess. It is actually rated 38th in the nation in crime.

Interesting facts about Columbus include that it was named for Christopher Columbus and was the first city to have a water filtration and softening plant which reduced deaths from typhus. It is used frequently as a "test" city by retail and restuarant chains as it is considered a "typical" American city due to it's wide mix of races, incomes and urban and rural areas. People born in Columbus include gymnasts Morgan and Paul Hamm, football player Archie Griffin, Olympic athlete Jesse Owens, the founder of Wendy's Dave Thomas, Eagles band member Joe Walsh, country singer Dwight Yoakam, country band Rascal Flatts, author R.L. Stine, and of course golfer Jack Nicklaus. In fact, Jack's golf tournament was held in Dublin, which is a suburb, last weekend but Bill didn't remember in time to go.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mansfield,_Ohio

On Tuesday we moved to Mansfield where we are right now until moving on to Massillon this afternoon. Mansfield is a more comfortable sized city for us at about 50,000 people. Even so there was a full afternoon worth of work for me. We were going to get a campground and did try to get one at the Richland County Fairgrounds as they had advertised in the Escapees book to be $15 a night and open year round. Well, guess what? This is the second time we have driven to a campground advertised in the Escapees directory only to find them not open and no one returned a phone message. So we ended up going to the Target. We are glad we didn't spend the money for a campground as it rained all Tuesday night and Wednesday until late afternoon and was in the 70s instead of being in the 80s as reported.

Interesting facts about Mansfield include the fact that the majority of the movie The Shawshank Redemption was filmed in and around the city and is the hometown of actor Luke Perry. What we like about it is that there is a large field next to the Target so Dozey can play some tennis ball!