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....)

Driving Down the Eastern Shore

Friday Aug. 6, 2021 We woke up to bright blue skies and a quiet Walmart lot, where we both slept great last night. We took our time getting dressed, having breakfast, and before we were ready to pull out, we decided to walk “next door” (the other side of the parking lot across the street) to the Dunkin Donuts and get some iced coffees. We took Cassie with us, and although in the end it got hotter than we’d thought, we enjoyed the exercise. We finally pulled out of our “site” at about 10:00 in the morning, and headed south down US 113. We travelled this route last year, and I recognized some of the places we passed. But it was an uneventful drive-- local traffic when passing through towns, and otherwise a rural landscape. It sure beat the heck out of I-95! We stopped for lunch by pulling into a large supermarket parking lot along the way, and decided it had finally gotten REALLY hot. We switched drivers, and kept on going. At about 2pm, we made it to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. We’d loved going over it last year, and it was just as beautiful today. There were so many fishing boats out enjoying the bay breezes, and the views were awesome. Unfortunately, the bridge-tunnel ends at Virginia Beach and then Norfolk, and the traffic was HORRIBLE. We crawled along for a while before getting out of Norfolk. I don’t know if it’s always like that, or if it was due to a problem on the road plus friday afternoon traffic. We also had a first--just before the tunnel entrance, we had to pull over for a propane check--they made sure we’d turned off our propane tank. We’d turned it off already, though, from the bridge-tunnel, and hadn’t had a chance to turn it back on. (The lady at the toll booth had asked us about it; then she gave us a dog biscuit for Cassie!) The check only took a minute, though, and now I know how to turn the propane on and off.

On the other side of the tunnel out of Norfolk, we had some fast highways for a while, and then a two-lane road that took us into North Carolina. Somewhere along that road, we went through a huge cell hole where NONE of our phones could get a connection, even using our new wifi booster. But we knew we were on the right road, and besides, I could always refer to my paper map if the online mapping program wasn’t available. We headed directly for Kings BBQ in Kinston, NC. We’d heard about this place on the Drew Barrymore Show (don’t ask-- it was an accident that I saw it and when I realized they were having a BBQ Taste-Off, I kept it on.) Kings won the taste test, and Joe and I put it on our agenda for this trip. However, before getting to Kinston, we had noticed that the sky was getting darker and darker, and the weather reports said rain. We saw some incredible thunderhead clouds, and soon we were driving through a torrential downpour. It seems our beautiful blue skies are gone for the time being. We found Kings BBQ with no trouble. It wasn’t quite what I was expecting-- it is a very small neighborhood place (although there are two of them, so it must be popular.) We went in and ordered dinner. Sadly, as it turned out, we were disappointed. This is supposed to be premier “Eastern NC barbecue”, and I guess maybe I don’t like that variety. For one thing, the only bbq sauce we got with it was way too vinegary for my taste. I did love the collards, though, which I got as a side dish, and the hush puppies were good. Joe liked his collards and slaw, too. But we thought the actual meat was just “meh.” Joe’s comment: “Don’t watch Drew Barrymore, and don’t take her recommendation for barbecue!” We’re planning to make up for it tomorrow at lunch, when we’ll got to the BBQ House on Oak Island. Their stuff is fantastic, and you get a choice of sauces too.

After dinner we came right to our favorite campground franchise, Walmart. I picked up a few things (I’m seeing my granddaughter tomorrow-- I needed to get her something, right??) including a bathroom scale to keep in the RV. I’m trying to lose weight before our reunion in October, and the scale will help keep me honest. (Joe was appalled when I mentioned it!) So now we’re ready to call it a night, and to try and stay comfortable in all this humidity.

Nuts to the Pandemic!

 Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2020

As everyone knows, it’s been a crappy year. Since March, no one has really gone very far from home, and we felt that it was probably not a great year for a long-distance, long period of time vacation. We did take the RV for a long weekend down to Lum’s Pond State Park in Delaware, so we could celebrate Juniper’s first birthday in June. We stayed at the exact same site we had in 2019, with a lot of grass all around us. We brought down pop-up tens for some shade, and Beth invited only close relatives and the friends who were part of their “pod.” We all stayed socially distance outside, with masks handy, and had a lovely time together. But that was the RV’s only outing since our wonderful trip last fall.

This year, after “things” started loosening up just a LITTLE bit, I thought it would be good to just maybe take a short trip, 10 days or so. So we left home this morning and came down to Assateague State Park in Maryland to start things off. The immediate draw here was that tonight at 10:27pm, there was scheduled to be a rocket launch from NASA’s Wallops Island base. Wallops Island is only 30 miles due south as the crow flies from Assateague, and supposedly we would have a pretty good view of the launch and the rocket going up from here on the beach. So I made reservations and we hustled, trying to get out of the house the morning after Yom Kippur.

The holiday being the day before made it very difficult to really feel under control with our departure. I tried to have everything smooth, but in the end, i hadn’t even collected all our clothes together by the night before. As a result, this morning was a madhouse, including me oversleeping after staying up until midnight. I was running around like a nutcase, and in the end, i forgot a few things, like the Travel Journal I’ve taken on all of our previous trips for the past 15 years. I also forgot the set of new camera lenses Joey gave me for my cell phone. This is especially annoying because Assateague has wild horses, and having a zoom lens on my camera would be extremely helpful. 

Then the weather got ugly. I knew by last night that the launch had been delayed, due to the forecast of thunderstorms for the next two days. We got out of HP before the rain hit there, but we drove through some incredible rainstorms coming down here. The visibility was non-existent. Fortunately, we didn’t have much traffic and we arrived with no problems, and the rain stopped during the few hours when we arrived at the campground. It picked up again around 7:30pm or so, and indeed, it is raining quite hard and is miserable outside. There’s a strong breeze (or wind) blowing, but I can’t keep the windows open because the rain blew into the RV when i tried that. It’s supposed to rain all tomorrow as well..... i don’t know if we’ll just catch up on our sleep and our reading, or take the Jeep (which we have with us) and see if we can find someplace indoors to visit.

I guess the bottom line is, at least we aren’t still stuck at home. The rules here in the park are pretty strict regarding Covid 19 precautions, such as masks must be worn in the bathhouses. But we probably won’t be near many people here, the beach is huge, and I’m sure we’ll be safe. We are staying until Friday morning. The launch is currently rescheduled for “no sooner than THursday, 9:27pm”..... and Thursday night would be just fine with us. We are keeping our fingers crossed, and even without my zoom lenses (Waaaahhhh!!!) i should get some photos, at least i hope so.

No photos today of anything—although we did see some of the wild horses grazing in the marshes when we drove over to the island. So they ARE here, and we’ll see if we can get shots of them when the rain lets up.