August 27, Visit of Another Runner

Woke up in our quiet little park on the highway at the township of Gilboa. It was so serene there! Jeff left early, as he had an appointment! More about that in a minute. I actually didn't sleep much later, then took care of those things I could and headed down the road.

 

So, off he went to meet Leon Niebrzwdowski, alias Slo-pol from LVM21! He and his lovely wife, Ann, drove down from Detroit to run with Jeff today! Well, Ann didn't run with them, but you know what I mean! It is really great that some of our running friends find the time to meet us on the route.

                 

The big town of the day was Findlay. It was much larger than I expected. In fact, they had MULTIPLE Walmarts! Not that I needed a Walmart. I actually did a bit of shopping at the Kroger, and with the town having a university, they had a lot of other things. I picked up some state maps at the local AAA, and then I spent over an hour at the Panera Bread, using the WIFI and drinking hibiscus tea. Turns out the guys went to lunch somewhere in the downtown area. I told them I would remain where I was and get some work done on the blog. Little did I know that Leon's wife was also joining them. I feel terribly rude skipping the lunch knowing that now! Sorry, Ann, but no one told me! I thought it was just the guys going to lunch.

As I said, Findlay was a nice surprise. There were several interesting things about the town.

                

                

                  

               

 

And not only did Findlay have some interesting murals, which we have not seen much of in several states, they painted their fire plugs in the cutest ways!

                 

             

There were other things to note along the side of the road.

                     

                          

                  

                     


This lady, whose name I don't know as I wasn't there at the time, brought the guys out a couple of bottles of ice cold Gatorade! She said she had seen them running earlier in the day, and wondered what they were up to. Of course, Jeff told her! She has even gone to our site on Facebook and posted some pics! Thanks! We love getting support from people as we pass by.

There, of course, were numerous old churches and other old buildings that were really cool. I know you are probably getting tired of seeing the old buildings, and frankly, I have no idea why we are so keen on them. I like living in my nice, brand new house, but old things usually have a story to tell. The story for my house in Denton has not really been written yet. Although I will say that there is plenty written inside the walls. When it was being built, we took a couple of friends, Rick and Theresa, over one night with Sharpies, and we all wrote stuff on the framing and even some on the sheet rock. It was really cool.

                 

This is the style of home that we are seeing more of than
the prairie with the big porches. I have no idea what it is called. 

The scenery is really changing a lot, as well. I really like the changes that I see, if only just because it avoids the monotony. Pretty much every area we have been through has it's own type of beauty, if you open your eyes to it.

              


Something else I am noticing. There are a number of fields of soybeans that are just terrible looking! All I have seen have been such healthy, green, shiny plants, and now I am seeing the odd field that is yellow and sickly looking. They don't irrigate here that I can tell, so all the fields must be watered by the rain. So I wonder why some do well and some don't?

Both fields are soy. See the difference?

At the end of the day, after saying goodbye to Leon and Ann, we headed for Tiffin. I was hoping to get there as there was supposed to be an RV park just outside of town. We got to Tiffin, late, and almost dark. It was a cute town, too. There were tons of old interesting houses there!

         

Blew through the town as the sun went down, and began looking for the RV park. I even called them and got directions. There was no way we were finding this place in the dark! They had no signage or anything that we saw, anywhere. So, we went back to the Walmart parking lot just inside the west edge of town. (Jeff hates back-tracking, and I don't blame him!) Only to find big old signs that indicated this was one of those Walmarts that did not allow overnight parking for RV's or trucks! Bummer.... Finally, we came across a Quality Inn with a big empty parking lot, and a truck parked there.... hmmm..... So, I pulled in and we ate leftovers, instead of the steak I had bought for today, and went to bed.

There was an interesting mailbox for today, also! Go big or go home, as they say!