It’s time to admit that Tom and I have a problem. An addiction. . . . an inability to quit! We just can’t stop. What is more – we don’t want to stop! Here we are camping again – In January! In Ohio! Just nine days since we got back from Florida! We are not totally to blame – most addicts have an enabler. Our enabler is Alan. He keeps one eye on the 10 day weather forecast and then starts working all angles for an upcoming weekend. That is how we ended up here at the KOA in Lebanon, Ohio – just north and west of Cincinnati. . . on January 25th! Wednesday night the low was 28 degrees and the driveway was icy as we left Thursday morning. Our plan was to leave at 9:00 – and we were off by 8:55! As predicted, the temperature climbed quickly, the sky turned blue, and the sun shined. Eventually we reached 48 degrees. We stopped for lunch at a Chipotle and arrived at the KOA at noon. There is an assortment of trailers set up for the winter with skirtings, and a sprinkling of trailers without any wind/cold protection. There were few vehicles attached to any of them so it is hard to know if people are living here, camping here for the weekend, or just storing their trailer on a site. We set up, walked Charlie, and headed out for a shopping trip to Jungle Jim’s and IKEA. We were successful to the tune of $100 at the Jungle, but walked out of IKEA empty handed. A text from Alan updated his arrival time to 3:30, and we barely made it back to the KOA before he landed. We had two hours before it got dark to sit and enjoy what was left of the sun (getting weaker by the moment) and to cook supper – pie iron pizzas on the grill. I have some new little no-stick pie irons with short handles and it easier to use them on the grill than to use the long-handle cast-iron ones over an open fire. Pretty good pizza, but the waning sun made it more sensible to eat inside! Alan presented us with a trailer-warming gift from him and Carie. He used his cad skills to craft an exact replica of our new Airstream, framed in our true silver & salsa colors. (I couldn't get a picture without a glare . . . so drop by my trailer and ask to see it in person! Friday morning I peeked out the window at 8:00 to see Alan with a nice-sized fire burning brightly, and that was all the enticement I needed to get out of bed (along with Charlie Button pawing at me that she needed to go out.) Within minutes Tom was up and out and in another 10 minutes we were in chairs by the fire with hot coffee. It is great the way left-over dinner pizza toppings do double-duty for breakfast egg omelets: ham, mushrooms, cheese, onion, green peppers . . . . served sandwich-style. Tom worked griddle duty, and again we all ate inside to avoid the chill. Mostly we wanted to enjoy the campsite today (predictions for 58 degrees and sun), but I did have one little morning trip in mind – a shopping outing to Field and Stream. We never get tired of looking at camping and outdoor equipment, and this trip had the added bonus of meeting a store manager who was . . . interested in buying an Airstream! We spent at least 30 minutes with Rich, and more time posing for pictures with the impressive wildlife exhibition. There was a lot of shopping/looking, and Tom and I even made a purchase. We have been interested in getting a French coffee press for those times that we are boon docking. We have looked at a lot, but couldn't find one that would work for us. BINGO! Lunch hour required a quick stop at a new-to-us restaurant: Mike’s Nashville Hot. Great fast food, and my chicken wings were the size of turkey wings – and wonderfully breaded! Back at the KOA it was warm enough to sit outside and close my eyes and listen to an hour of my current audio book; the sun felt ever so good. As it cooled down, I moved inside, the boys ran an errand, and we made a call to the Golden Lamb for dinner reservations! Maybe this is a good time to WARN YOU: I am growing my hair out to it's natural color. For this camping trip it is a sort of reverse frost/tip job with silver roots and brown tips! The Golden Lamb is a historic spot in downtown Lebanon, and while we have toured it several times, we have never stopped for dinner. The upstairs is a hotel with three private dining rooms, the main floor is a bar, several dining areas and cozy period lobby, and the basement is a gift shop. Friday night Tom and Alan sat out late around a campfire, knowing it might be the last for this camping trip . . . rain was predicted for Saturday. Saturday morning the rain started, and continued most of the day. We crashed Alan’s trailer for breakfast and he snapped this picture of us on his U-shaped mega-lounger. We settled on a short trip to Cabela’s for a morning diversion and were back at the trailers by noon with hamburgers in hand. An all-day drizzle confined us to the trailers for the afternoon – My ideas of a perfectly lovely, lazy time! There was a diversion in the works for Saturday night. Carie (who had been working long weekend hours at H&R Block during tax season) joined Alan, and Micah met us at the Envision Bar & Grill in Blue Ash. It doesn’t get much better than a movie theater with reclining seats. Yes it does . . . they deliver adult drinks and grill food to your seat! Oh, and we enjoyed the movie, too . . . Jumangi, Welcome to the Jungle. That pretty much wrapped up the weekend. We were off Sunday morning by 9:00, stopped for breakfast at The Waffle House, home by noon and unpacked and cleaned up by 1:30. Now we find ourselves looking at the long-range weather forecast to determine when and where we can go next . . . .
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October 2021
We don’t go camping any more . . . we go ‘streamin’ ! The “SIlvermine and His” is our 2018 25' Airstream Serenity with Salsa interior and front twin beds., and ‘streamin’ is the name we use to describe our adventures. Stream along as we document everything from weekend trips to longer summer excursions and full-blown vacations. You know what they say: if you’re not in an Airstream – you’re just camping!
Tom & Ella Brown |