Thursday-Friday, May 12-13, 2022

No photos for this blog, I'm afraid-- we spent our time driving, antiquing, and driving home. We left Tom, Kent, and Andy sometime in the late morning, after filling our tank with fresh water and rearranging the RV and Jeep so we were all hooked up again. Then we headed south-east toward Ravenna, OH to a large antique mall just at a ramp to I-76. We got a little bit lost, and ended up taking a scenic backroad tour of the edge of Ohio, arriving at the mall at about 2pm, I think. 

We had some lunch, and then I went in to see what I could find, while Joe and Cassie relaxed in the RV. Alas, despite the large size of the building, I had no luck whatsoever in finding anything memorable or desirable for my collection. It would be worth a return visit, because it WAS large. But there wasn't anything much of interest. 

From there, we got onto I-76 and drove due east, connecting with I-80 after an hour or so. The rest of the day was uneventful. In the late evening, we found a Walmart at about Exit 80 (almost 1/3 of the way across Pennsylvania) and parked far away from the store for the night. The entire stay was uneventful.

Friday morning, we continued on our way, with our "goal" being Tannersville, PA in the Poconos, the site of yet another supposedly large antique mall. On the way, we found a Flying J with a functioning RV dump and were able to empty our tanks after 5 nights (high time!) Other than that, we just drove, arriving in Tannersville at 3:30 pm. I had plenty of time to go through the antique center, which was only about 1/4 the size of the last place in Ohio. This one had a dealer with a LOT of Roseville, all of it priced as if it were made of solid gold. I went through the place slowly, but all I found that I truly coveted was a wonderful mid-century-modern lamp with a red mica shade and a red and white base. 

It was a bit before 5pm when I left the antiques, and we had already decided, it did not make sense to do anything but continue home from there. We were only about 90 minutes away, it was still early and light outside, and why not go home and have the entire weekend to get resettled? So that is what we did, pulling up in front of home at about 7:30 pm. And that was the finale of our "shakedown trip" this year. Not so much Roseville, but lots of family and friends. Less rushing around than usual, which was also good. And of course, new projects to fix on the RV before we go to Delaware in a month. 

And that was that for this time around.

Mother's Day

 

Our site tonight at "Desiderata", Boondockers Welcome

Sunday, May 8, 2022

Today was a transitional day. We left Buck Creek State Park at a little after noon, after sleeping late, having breakfast, enjoying a few Mother's Day phone calls, packing up, and then negotiating dumping our tanks and filling up the fresh water. We stopped 10 minutes later at Heart of Ohio Antiques, where I took Joey inside for the first time since last year. I wanted him to see the pedestal I was buying to hold a Roseville jardiniere that Aimee gave me for my birthday. He liked it, so we made an offer to the seller via the system used at the antique center (a manager had to call the dealer and relay our offer, which was about $50 less than the asking price.)

While we waited, I showed him some other really nice pieces of Roseville that I had liked, but in the end, I didn’t buy anything. Joe looked around briefly and left the building, and I waited a little longer before going to the desk. The dealer had okayed our offer, so I paid for the pedestal and a young man carried it out to the Jeep for me. Joe and I spent some time cushioning it and stablizing it for the ride home in the back of the Jeep. Then, it was about 2pm, and we had some late lunch.

By 3:00 we were ready to head for Delaware, Ohio, and tonight’s anchorage in the driveway of another Boondockers Welcome host. You can see from the photo it’s a nice little neighborhood. Our hosts came out to greet us-- the first time in 3 stays that we’ve gotten to meet the hosts! We spent a long time chatting and getting to know each other (Joey and I got a tour of their renovated shuttle bus, which they turned into a fully contained RV by themselves.) I also spent some time chatting with our hostess’s mother, who lives right next door. Her daughter lives across the street with HER children, so there are 4 generations living in the same cul-de-sac. I thought it sounded lovely!

Now Joe and I are just hanging out for the evening. I spoke to Gary, and we will go over there at noon tomorrow to visit and just hang out. Having a low-key no-agenda day sounds good to us!

My Life as a Museum

 Friday-Saturday, May 6-7, 2022

Today started out rainy. VERY rainy. And almost all day continued getting wetter and wetter. But somehow, we were very lucky. The rain let up while we drove into town, filled the RV with gas, and hooked up. From there we went straight to the Zanesville Art Museum to finally get inside and see the pottery collection.

Roseville and More Roseville

The collection lived up to its billing-- it was fantastic. SO much Roseville, as well as Weller, Owens, and other examples of the Zanesville pottery industry. We ooohed and aaaahed at the gorgeous glazes and examples of all kinds of shapes and techniques of pottery decoration. Joe said that seeing all the examples of Roseville made him more impressed with MY collection--I actually have two exact pieces which are on display in the museum! We really loved seeing it all.

I own 2 of these!

The rest of the museum, while not large, was also very enjoyable. There was a special photography exhibit by an Ohio photographer which we thought was excellent. There is a nice collection of art from various periods--a little bit of everything, really. It’s a small city and a small museum, but extremely well done and well worth the couple of hours we spent there.

Before leaving, we almost took a vase home with us! It turned out that we had noticed in the back of the museum there was a large painted vase in the vicinity of the back door, looking very forlorn and unloved. We surmised that it was one of the 7' vases we’d looked for yesterday, part of “Vasehenge.” We asked the man at the front desk as we were leaving what had happened to the Vasehenge display downtown, and he said the vases had become so decrepit that they had been taken down, because they couldn’t be saved. He added, “We have one of them out back.” So we were right! We asked what they were planning to do with it, and he said, probably throw it away. So we said we wanted it! He wasn’t sure what the plans were, but he took my name and number so they could get in touch with us about it.

We went back to the RV for some lunch, but about 10 minutes later, there was a knock on our door. A young woman working at the museum said, “The man at the desk told me you were interested in taking the big vase outside--was that a serious inquiry?” We said yes, it was (with Joe adding, “Uh oh!”) So I went with her to look at it more closely. She said they had been “trying to find someone to take it for a while.” Joe and I both thought it would be cool to bring it home, renovate it somehow (perhaps asking Beth to repaint it) and put it outside the house as a piece of sculpture.

Alas, I had to let my common sense overrule my heart this time. The vase was, indeed, about 7 feet tall, and dilapidated. There were chunks of plaster chipped out and the paint surface was significantly peeled. The plaster where the paint had come off had also started flaking off. That part didn’t bother me so much--I thought it could be sanded down to get all the old peeling paint out of the way, replastered, and repainted. The problem was the SIZE. It was simply too big for us to manage. I could not figure out any way to do it. It was too big for inside the Jeep (especially with the spare tire in the back) and the only way to take it in the RV, assuming the diameter wasn’t too wide for the door, was to let it take up our entire living space for the next week. I thought that would be a little bit too much--we would have to climb over it or squeeze around it constantly. As we ate lunch, we discussed putting it on the roof of the Jeep. But, it was so heavy (undoubtedly 100 pounds or more) and I couldn’t imagine how we’d get it up there and secure it. Sadly, we had to leave it for some other fool(s) who might want to rescue it.

Roseville Olympic

We left the museum after lunch, and drove for a couple of hours on I-70 to Buck Creek State Park. It rained on and off as we drove, but the heavy rain (and some lightning) arrived just as we were arriving at our destination. I scooted quickly into the office to register, and miraculously, the rain let up just then to let us unhook the Jeep before heading for our campsite. It began to rain again just as Joe was hooking up the electricity, so we curled up inside our little den and listened to the rain hammering on the roof for hours. At some point we had some dinner; I was deep into my book and I think Joe was reading and dozing on and off. Cassie was curled up by the bed too. And that was how our day ended-- LOTS and LOTS of rain. There was some pause around 11pm, so we walked Cassie then, and went to sleep as the pounding rain started up again.

Saturday: We woke up to a very wet campground, but at least the rain had stopped. However, the sky was heavily gray and it was quite chilly. We dressed in several layers, thinking how cold it seemed for May. I felt bad for the campers who had tents-- they looked pitiful. Most of us are in RVs though. The park is enormous, with a huge reservoir for boating and fishing, walking paths, and all kinds of amenities. But the weather certainly wasn’t great for enjoying them.

However, we are not huge outdoor enthusiasts anyway (except for Cassie). My day was spent antiquing. I left Joe and Cassie at about 10am and drove to the Heart of Ohio Antique Mall. I spent hours there, but wasn’t hugely inspired by the choices of Roseville I found. I had a small list of items i was interested in, but nothing made me jump for joy. I had some lunch at their small snack bar, then went out and drove 2 miles down the I-70 to the Springfield Antique Malls 1 & 2; yes, TWO huge buildings full of MORE antique dealers. The first one was a bust, but the second one had quite a bit, including a wall pocket for my collection at a very good price. There were also some more expensive items I was interested in, but I decided to wait, think about them, and come back tomorrow morning--I was very tired, and felt as if I wasn’t at my best.

I went back to Heart of Ohio, where I had left one piece that I thought was interesting and a good price, and before I bought it, I went back to look at the pieces I had been considering. I suddenly found a pedestal which I thought would be perfect for the new jardiniere Aimee got me for my birthday. I took a photo of it and sent it to Beth, who agreed it would work. By that time, the place was starting to close. So I decided the pedestal, too, could wait for the morning. I bought the piece I had had put aside earlier in the day, and drove back to Joe.

Joe, meanwhile, had spent the day with Cassie taking walks, resting, and just hanging out. He said they had a wonderful time! He made us a lovely steak dinner while I told him about my adventures, and he approved both my purchases and the idea of the pedestal for tomorrow. It’s made by Weller, not Roseville, but as it happens I have always liked these large Weller pieces. It should look quite attractive with my new jardiniere standing on it.

We finished the evening by listening to the Nava Tehila concert on the Anshe Emeth live feed. Now Joe’s asleep, and I am going to upload this blog. I hope I can get the photos of the museum up to go with it. Tomorrow, our plan is to leave here, stop at the Heart of Ohio right down the road again for the pedestal, and then head up to Delaware to our next Boondockers Welcome anchorage. The drive isn’t more than a couple of hours, so perhaps we will find a place to stop along the way as well. Meanwhile, I think I might be tired of antique malls for at least a little bit. (Or.... maybe not....)

Walking In Memphis (also Driving)

 Wednesday/Thursday, August 25-26,2021

I didn't plan well enough for this vacation, I think. This was our 3rd time through Memphis, and we've seen the most compelling museums-- Graceland, and the National Museum of Civil Rights, and the Rock and Soul Museum. So I started searching the Internet and finally decided we would go to the Stax Records Museum of American Soul Music. But meanwhile, we realized we had a number of items we needed, and that finding a Walmart might help.

So we decided we'd go to Walmart, then to lunch, and then to the Stax museum. The park is about 15-20 minutes away from downtown, but it is the same distance also from Walmart (in a different direction.) We went to Walmart, where besides picking up what we needed, Joe was able to dump the old oil he'd drained a week earlier at Betsy's. That was all successful, but we messed up our plan by buying meat. We couldn't leave the meat in the car while we went elsewhere, so instead we went back to the RV, unloaded all the stuff, and had lunch there, opting to put BBQ off until dinner.

At about 2pm, we went back into town to go to the Stax Museum. It turned out to be a really good museum. There weren't many people there, and they were being active about cleaning everything all the time (the entire county was under a mandatory mask order--so you can't go ANYWHERE in Memphis at the moment without a mask, including restaurants.) In any case, almost no one else was with us in the museum. So we weren't worried as we wended our way through exhibits on the history of Stax Records, the development of soul music in Memphis, the impact of stars such as Otis Redding and Isaac Hayes, and wonderful stories about the founders of Stax Records. There were also exhibits about soul music from other cities, and a cute area with a dance floor which was playing vintage video clips from Soul Train. It was almost impossible not to dance along with the audiences on the screen!

Ike and Tina Turner Memorabilia

Isaac Hayes's Gold-Plated Cadillac

Soul Train (dance along and Express Yourself)

"Soul Man"

When we left the museum, we decided it was too early to eat dinner. But we didn't feel like calling it a day. So we drove to Beale Street. We'd been there two years ago, at night, when the place was jumping in neon and music and energy. But at 5pm, the souvenir shops were already closed, but the restaurants and bars hadn't gotten started yet. Other than a few other tourists like us wandering aimlessly, there was not much to do or see there, although i did take a few photos. It was STILL too early to eat dinner (although the menus posted in restaurant windows made Joe think he COULD eat, so once again, we went back to the RV for about an hour. We had a big discussion as to which BBQ place to go to, and eventually, after looking at 10 Best and 16 Best lists, decided on Central BBQ, which appears on all the lists and which we hadn't tried last time. So for the third time in one day, we drove back into the city. 

Central BBQ has a few locations, but we went to the one in the center of town--just a block from the Museum of Civil Rights, and a block from where we'd driven only a few hours earlier. The restaurant had tables split up so there was plenty of space to eat. But despite the fact that Central is rated high on all the Best BBQ lists, we were totally underwhelmed. We thought it was really just average, nothing special at all. My best "bite" was my collard greens, and Joe's was his baked beans. The ribs were very disappointing, he said, and my chicken was just average. I took half the latter home, but without much enthusiasm. I was wishing we'd just gone back to the BBQ Shop, where we ate last time we were here, and loved. Or even to someplace on Beale Street (none of those restaurants are ever on any lists--I guess they are just for tourists) where at least it would have been lively. But we just drove back to the RV again, the exact same route we'd taken a couple of hours earlier.

Joey on Beale Street

Thursday, we woke up determined to get some good BBQ at the BBQ Shop, but other than that, I could not find anything at all we really wanted to do! The museum we wanted (The Mississippi River Museum on Mud Island) was closed, and nothing else sounded that exciting. We frittered away the morning with a very late start, so we decided we'd 1) go for lunch, and then 2) decide what to do. 

We headed for the BBQ Shop, but were SO upset when we got there-- it was closed this week so they could refinish their floors!!!!  Besides being disappointed and hungry, we were then at a total loss. We got back in the car and looked up the Best Lists yet again, and finally decided that we'd go to wherever was closest. That turned out to be Payne's, about a mile away.  So we headed that direction.

 Payne's is a tiny place in a cinderblock building with peeling paint in a very decrepit part of town. Inside, the place had 4 tables set up around the perimeter and a small counter with a menu containing about 12 items (all pork, which i don't normally eat) and only 4 side dishes. And yet..... WOW!  The raves were absolutely correct-- the chopped pork sandwich (which is what we both got) was FANTASTIC. It was served on a bun with sauce and slaw. I had them hold my slaw, because i'm not a big slaw fan, but we got it on the side. It was a bizarre yellow color, and upon tasting it, was sort of mustard-vinegary flavored. It was fabulous, and I quickly piled some onto my meat where it "belonged." I didn't eat my bun (extra calories) but the meat was amazing. Joe was moaning with joy, and he proclaimed his baked bean side dish to be "not just good--SPECTACULAR."  (Even I liked them.) This was definitely the kind of place where, if it was local to us, Joe would eat at a couple of times/week. The whole time we were there, a steady stream of customer came by the little service window and left with bags of BBQ. Our only regret was that we had not tasted the sausage and cheese, which was also highly recommended. But I know Joe will want to go back there (he was ready to go back at dinner time!) So our disappointment meant that we'd found a new favorite place.

After leaving, we had to decide what to do. Our choices were 1) the zoo, 2) another small music musuem, and 3) return my dress to JJill, and then go to an antique mall. It was stinking hot again, making the zoo an unappealing option. And we weren't really up for another museum. So we drove further east, found a JJill, and I returned a dress I'd bought before we left home (an errand which had been following us since we left the beach.) Then we drove 10 more minutes to the antique mall. Although I did see some Roseville, none of it was appealing, and there was nothing else to be had. And so, after frittering away the entire day in Memphis, we drove back to the RV. It's hard to find things to do when it is 100% outside, and we just wanted to relax "at home." So that is what we did.