Summer Music, Food and Relaxation

Sue and I had a great time in Cincinnati over the past weekend. We got to visit with Kris and Mark and Mark's family. We also got to attend the CD release party for Josh Eagle and the Harvest City. Mark is the drummer for the band and has written some of the songs that they have recorded.

After all the excitement of the Saturday night party, with 300 fans dancing to music by JEHC and other bands, we (Mark, Kris, Sue and I) looked for something to do on Sunday that was relaxing and would keep us out of the very hot weather. We decided to have some Mexican food for lunch and then go to a movie. The movie choice was "Cowboys and Aliens". If you like westerns and slimy aliens, you will like this movie. I enjoyed it. The cast certainly featured some well-known actors. I have included a link to more information about the movie in the Hot Links section of this blog.

Now, Sue and I are at Evergreen Park RV Resort in the heart of Amish country near Mount Hope, Ohio. We will be here for a week and plan to do some sightseeing and, of course, eating at some of the many Amish-style restaurants that are in the area. An antique tractor show starts nearby on Thursday and I would like to check that out.

The RV park has great cable TV and WiFi. If we can have this in Amish country, what's the problem with IBE where we stay in the winter?

That Sue Was Quite A Driver, Even In Her Younger Days

I stumbled upon a rare photograph of Sue putting her car, "Clyde" through its paces on her way to McDowell HS. This was when she had a part-time job as a test driver for Motor Trend magazine. I can attest to the fact that her driving talents have not diminished over the years.

After 8 years, We Got A New Car

Even though our two Hyundais were dependable cars and fun to drive, Hyundai does not make a vehicle that can be towed behind a motorhome with all four wheels down. So when we started shopping for a new car a couple of weeks ago, we had to look in another direction. I, for one, will miss the 10 year/100,000 mile warranty.

Thanks to publications from groups like TrailerLife and FMCA, we could identify cars that were able to be towed (we RVers call them Dinghies). As we narrowed our search, we could check online to make sure that towbars, baseplates and all the other stuff was available for the cars that we were still considering.

So yesterday, after the usual friendly haggling, we bought a 2011 Ford Escape XLT from Klaben Ford, right here in Kent, Ohio. Sue and I feel very good about our choice and are having fun learning where all the controls are, etc. It will seem a little strange for us to only have one car, but I think we will be ok. The Elantra, one of our trade-ins, had only about 32,000 miles on it. That's after 8 years! We'll also save a significant amount on insurance, license, etc., without a second vehicle. And, of course, if we find that we really need a second car, next summer I can buy a nice little Porsche two-seater.

(click on the pictures to enlarge them, if you want)

Grape tomatoes from the garden.
They were the inspiration for our choice of color for the car.

Maybe we'll nickname it The Towmato

Between now and the time we head south, we will buy the necessary towing equipment and get it installed. That will involve some more shopping, because there are several different manufacturers, like Blue Ox and Roadmaster, who make these things. We also want to work at selling or trading in the Roadmaster tow dolly that we used to tow the Elantra with the front wheels up. Fortunately we have a lot of time to do this.

So, that is the big news for us this week. Thanks to niece, and Ford employee, Sara , for enabling us to get the X plan, Friends and Family discount on this purchase. She stepped right up and admitted that we were related to her.

Maybe we'll go for a drive after the sun goes down and the temp falls below 90.

Check Out The New "Hot Link"

I used to really enjoy Ripley's Believe It Or Not each day in the newspaper. It isn't in the paper that we subscribe to, so I started getting it emailed to me every day. Beginning today, I have added the link for Ripley's in the Hot Links section at the top right of my blog page. I hope you like it.

Keep On Truckin'

I've been listening to some CDs that Kris made for us a few years ago. On one of them is "Six Days On The Road", the Grateful Dead version. I used to sing this song in the first band that I joined back in the early 90's. In the lyrics, there is a line that goes, "I got ten forward gears and a Georgia overdrive" (The Grateful Dead said Georgie overdrive). I never really knew what that meant so I looked it up. It refers to when a trucker puts the transmission in neutral to coast down hills or especially mountain roads and can go faster.

This video shows Dave Dudley singing this song in 1970. Check out the clothes and hair style on the electric guitar player. Very typical of the 70's. Evidently, Dave recorded this song at Sun Records in 1963. The Dead did it later.

Recordpub.com - Food Network to show Ray's Place burger on Monday: Kent restaurant to appear on "Best thing I ever ate'

Check out the article from The Record Courier and if you can, tune in to The Food Channel at 10:00pm on Monday to see the story about the burger at Ray's Place.


Recordpub.com - Food Network to show Ray's Place burger on Monday: Kent restaurant to appear on "Best thing I ever ate'

Sleepy Man Banjo Boys

I saw these three young men on The Late Show with David Letterman a couple of days ago. When they finished, Dave said to Paul Shaffer, "They're like the Jonas Brothers' right Paul?" and Paul said, "Well, no, they're not".

The song starts out slow, but catches fire quickly.