Cleveland

We had a very restful visit with my sister. We did very little except rest and eat. We actually really needed that and the timing was just perfect. Sis looks pretty good although she is still in some pain in her knees. Niece looks good and is now better since we convinced her that she might be lactose intolerant. We spent a lot of time playing with Mac, the scottie. He is really good company for sis and loves being around people. During the visit one of my socks developed a very large hole, so I gave it to Mac. He loved it. He would carry it around everywhere and try to get one of us to pull on it and try to take it away. Sis reported that he even took it to bed last night. (We spend all this money on toys but kids and pets love the simplest of things.)

I did have a chance to have a fairly long Skype visit with daughter and grandson. Oh I miss them all so much. It is wonderful that we have the ability to Skype. The phone would undoubtedly be enough if grandson was not changing so much every day. He will be walking soon.

Bob really want to cook something at Sis's house and finally convinced her that he would prefer that to going out to eat. He made pasta puttanesca and it was delicious - one of his better efforts. Sis loved it. I will have to remember to send her the recipe.

This morning we got up well rested and ready to continue the trek. (Bob admitted this morning that he was getting tired enough before the rest that he was thinking of ending the trek. We have to remember to find the time to sit and do absolutely nothing on a regular basis.) We are spending the night in Cleveland to visit my sister-in-law. The drive here from Steubenville was nice and the rolling hills are very familiar from my childhood. It is funny how some things just look familiar even if you have never really seen them before (we took a different route than we usually do because we did not want to stay on Interstates). It is also funny how I am looking at things from a different point of view. For instance, when I lived here (over 40 years ago) I took the Ohio River for granted. Now I look at it and realize what a big river it is and how different from the many ther rivers that we have seen. No wonder it was such a common form of transportation. (I just never thought about it before.)

There are no good places to camp or rv around Cleveland, so we are staying in a motel (Wow this feels different and it is not really that much more expensive than some of the campgrounds that we have stayed in. We got one with a kitchen and all so it doesn't even feel too crowded.) Then tomorrow we will head off again. I really have no idea where it will be from here. Bob and I have to talk tonight. I am definitely more interested in state parks and looking at the scenery than the big cities. Lots of time to go and take our time.