2016 RV Trip - August - OHIO! CHM-Russells - Minerva - Oakwood - Belau Melon Farm!

Sunday Aug 14^th – Wow….rain rain go away!!! We had scattered rain on our way here. Got in to Streetsboro, OH to to Streetsboro/Cleveland KOA outside of Akron, OH. ($38 a night for my RVing friends). We were blessed that it did not start raining until after we got set up yesterday. But then it started in.  I fixed dinner in the RV and we had that yummy peach cake Arlene sent home with us for dessert.

This morning I made a delicious breakfast with the “just out of the coop” fresh eggs. Is it my imagination or do really really fresh eggs taste different/better? And the yolks were almost orange!

Either way, we enjoyed our bacon and eggs this morning! Then we live streamed our service from Lifepointe Church. What a blessing technology is! We worshiped together with our church family, took communion together, long distance, enjoyed praise and worship and Rick’s message was so on point with Life’s 7 Rules…wow, you should go online and get it.

Rainy rainy weather and supposed to be this way all week!  FROWN! I do know they’ve been having a real drought up here though, and they need the rain, so I will TRY not to be selfish by wanting it to stop. It does hamper our going and doing, though. This afternoon we enjoyed quietly reading – that’s always a delight to me, but if the sun doesn’t shine pretty soon, I will start to feel gloomy. I have decided FL is definitely the right state for me, as I love being in the sunshine!

Here's a few scenes from the area....

Monday and Tuesday we did nothing blog worthy, but definitely wonderful restful days.  I worked on the blog, we read for hours which is my favorite thing to do anyway, and did some catch up/cleaning, etc. in the RV. Tuesday was Earl’s birthday, so I was intent on doing his favorite thing, going out to breakfast at a quaint diner.....

And....we did go out to a really nice Thai restaurant for his birthday dinner.

This was my fortune from the fortune cookie - made me think of Donald Trump - ha.

Earl, wearing his tee shirt -birthday gift from Lisa. Missing the family today!

Wednesday found us driving over to Minerva – not a big place or a destination point, really, BUT we’ve heard stories about Minerva and “the farm” for many many years. Our former pastors Tom and Pat Crawford grew up in Minerva, so we wanted to actually see the place we’ve heard so much about and the scenic views he’s posted on FB. And it is delightful. What a treat for us to see this beautiful peaceful valley. Tom was actually in town, so we had thought we might possibly be able to get together, but unfortunately he had meetings all day.

 We went into Minerva to eat at Grinder's which Tom had recommended....enjoyed a great lunch!

We were told  NOT to miss the famous Minerva Dairy, oldest family owned dairy in America, so we headed over there to sample cheese and eat ice cream!

Check out the names on the milk tanks....

This cracked me up....

 And y'all! The ICE CREAM!!!! Oh my goodness, look at this single dip ice cream cone! ONE DOLLAR!!!!  Whaaaat?  How do they even do that?

One funny story about the ice cream. My new favorites are the sea salt caramel flavored ice creams that have become popular, so they had this one, Salty Dog! Yum!!  The lady that was somewhere behind me heard me saying how good it was, so as we were leaving she came up to me and said, "What flavor is that you got?" I answered Salty Dog, and she looked at me with eyes glazed over - then in my head I heard myself and realized it SOUNDED like Sawltee Daaawwwg!  I quickly saw her puzzled expression so precisely pronounced in as northern an accent as I could muster, Salty Dog (almost dug) and she got it!! Her face lit up and she knew what she wanted.  Earl was about to split a gut laughing. My southern accent would not fit in around here. hahaha

Thursday we got up earlier than usual to get dressed and go to Barberton to visit Christian Healthcare Ministries. We went through Canton on our way and drove by the NFL Hall of Fame.

Then on to Christian Healthcare Ministries. We’ve been members there for several years, but had never toured the ministry. Talk about impressed! For all I knew it was a small place with a few offices. I had no idea of the magnitude of this ministry! They own and operate out of a former school – a big old 25,000 sq. ft. 3 story brick building, with over 100 employees!

Check out this SIGN on the outside! Not your everyday occurrence!

 

The CEO is Howard Russell, who we went to college with AND who sang in our wedding! He married Barbara Wheeler who also attended with us, so what a delightful reunion we had! They have a chapel service every Thursday morning, so we timed our visit to be able to attend.

It's really a full blown service with music,prayer and a message and it was wonderful of course, for us to hear Howard sing again, though we have a CD at home – he’s even better in person. We met Larry and Lisa, a delightful couple that we hope to see again in Florida when they come, among several others, got to meet Howard and Barbara's two sons, Steven and Joseph, and saw another old friend, Christine.

Howard was so generous to take us on a tour of the whole building. Here’s a few photos of the inside, and some of the offices we toured.

 I don’t think I’ve ever seen a place where every single employee seemed so blessed to work there, and so friendly and happy. If I was still working, I just might want to move here and work in this ministry.

 Going down the "Hall of Fame" - this is just a few.....

Look at these beautiful desks! All custom made by a carpenter they have on staff!  What an amazing job of creativity and artistry, throughout all the building!

SO much fun to see Howard and Barbara again and spend a little time catching up. I have to say, they rolled out the red carpet for us. We felt so blessed and honored.

If any of you reading this are really fed up with the cost of your health insurance and have ever questioned or considered joining CHM, I cannot begin to convey to you the genuineness of this ministry, the caring of EVERY person from start to finish. A team of people came forward to lay hands on and pray over the needs that had come in the previous week. Very touching. Howard is like a pastor to this team of people, and obviously does a great job affirming them, encouraging and inspiring them.

After our tour, they gave us some names of “not to be missed” places, so we headed to Kidron and Berlin – AMISH country!  We ate a delicious lunch in a basement of a general store across the street from Lehman’s.

Nothing like getting a glimpse of how the locals live.....

Paul Weaver's hand carved pictures of Amish life - just amazing details!

 I told Earl to look REALLY serious for this, as that's how most of the Amish men looked.  Then he cracked me up - I never see him with this expression. haha Lisa would call it his "mean face."

Driving over to Berlin.....what a beautiful area of scenic farmlands...so peaceful.

I couldn't help but think of the contrast when I saw this...Federal Express, guaranteed to get there the next day, always rush rush and the Amish who live such a simple life.

Friday we enjoyed sitting outside almost the entire day, enjoying our books and chatting about our trip, missing our family, but feeling so blessed to be seeing the country like this. We had moved our chairs to sit in the shade and so we were at the back of the RV where we seldom are and couldn't help but be grateful - the saying we had put on the back of the RV when we first bought it is so true - we are definitely "enjoying the journey!"

We found a wonderful Mexican restaurant on the way back into Barberton. Howard had gifted us with tickets to a gospel music concert, and what an enjoyable evening of good music, followed by special coconut cake, a favorite recipe of Vestal Goodman (for those familiar with Gaither music) - and more visiting with Larry and Lisa, Howard and Barbara - what a blessed time!

This is Lorne Matthews, very gifted pianist.....

This is The Guardians, a men's trio that is just phenomenal!

And The Dixie Melody Boys..... a night of excellent music.

Howard is an excellent emcee, and never fails to make me laugh....he really is one of the wittiest people I've ever known.

We reluctantly said our goodbyes to Howard and Barbara - with plans to get together in Florida the next time they come down!

Saturday morning, we headed out again – going about 4 hours west over to Oakwood, a small town in Ohio where our neighbor in Florida, Carol Belau owns a huge melon farm! Every summer she hosts a big watermelon fest and it was YUMMY! Lots of people who live in our neighborhood are from around here, so we got to visit with several couples we already knew and met several new ones.  We said, nothing like going to Ohio to meet your Florida neighbors! Ha.

What a beautiful farm! Carol had a perfect place for us to park with hook up and everything! Check it out - isn't it great? We didn't even have to unhook the car! There's room for 2 RVs here on either side of the power hookups on a pole. You can't beat that. She had invited us to stay as long as we would like but we need to get back on the road tomorrow - our time is running out.

In this building, every Thursday night in the summers they have a big cookout and anyone and everyone is invited! How awesome is that! 

Carol's house.... 

This is where everyone around comes to get the best and freshest melons!

Carol collects giraffes.... I knew that in FL she has a giraffe outside in her yard, and she had mentioned that she collects them.....this is outside - just wait till you see the inside, and that's a drop in the bucket to all of them! 

 Ok, these are just a FEW of the over EIGHT HUNDRED giraffes Carol has!  They're all numbered too so she has a list of who gave them to her and when.... amazing!

Even a giraffe teapot!

Y'all check this out!  Have you ever seen yellow and orange watemelon? (as well as red, of course)...the yellow is my favorite!  Amazingly fresh and delicious!

And this is Carol! Such a sweet neighbor and friend.

Richard, Carol's neighbor across the street, took us over to see his plane (in an immaculate hanger, by the way, loved how clean this place was!) This is a TaylorCraft 1946 vintage plane. He takes it out a couple of times a week. Really interesting! He's been flying since 1950!

How cool to have your own runway!

Carol has an amazing family! We were so happy to meet them!  Keith (who everyone calls Bear) runs the family business of Kirchner Flowers in Oakwood. HUGE nursery as well as a full service florist his wife Julie runs. They have an amazing old home next door....

Earl and Bear....

Now for the florist shop....

On the way over to see Bear and Julie's house....

 Amazing restoration here....this was all painted over the years and Julie and her mom painstakingly removed all the old layers of paint and look at how it looks now!

Isn't this just a beautiful old home?

This is my favorite part of the house!  LOVE this wrap around porch!

Bear drove us all around Oakwood where he has a contract with the city to supply them with all the hanging baskets and large containers of flowers all over the city. Just beautiful!

Sunday morning on the farm.... I've gotten quite a taste of farm life on this trip, and I love it.

This is Kassidy's adorable little girl, Kenzie (Carol's GREAT granddaughter). By the way, every single one of Carol's kids, grandkids and great grandkids ALL have names starting with K! I'm surprised Carol didn't legally change the spelling of her name to Karol, ha.

This morning we went out on the trailer pulled by Kassidy driving the tractor to see the farm up close!

They also grow pumpkins on the farm as well as other vegetables. Carol loaded us up with red and yellow melons, cantaloupe, tomatoes, cucumbers, and various peppers....nothing like FRESH food!

Saying goodbye....

We left about 10:30....heading to Indiana!