More Rain!

I have to make a note about all the Fredonia pictures in my slideshow. David was raised in Fredonia, AZ. Mom and I drove through Fredonia, NY, so I took a bunch of pictures. My favorite is the truck- St George, from Fredonia. St. George, UT, is the nearest 'city' to Fredonia, AZ. It just seemed so improbable to see a truck with a St. George and Fredonia sign on it 2000 miles away!

I know, I shouldn't complain about the rain, it's heaven sent and all. Still this morning there was a tornado warning along with the storm that swept through here. We were fortunate, nothing bad happened to us, but the radio said there were terrible storms and tornadoes just south of us. Our prayers are with those people.

We are in the hills of Ohio. We haven't found many RV parks, but lots of forrest campgrounds with electrical hookups, so we've been camping. It's unbelievably beautiful and green, I'm a little frustrated that it's been raining so much I can't go out exploring. I've spent the last 3 days in libraries and Court houses, and I've found more information about our family. We are driving to Logan, OH tomorrow, to visit the Hocking County Courthouse. Hopefully I'll find more birth, marriage and death records.

We finally stopped to eat lunch yesterday about 2:00, we walked to a restaurant down the block. Well, we thought it was a restaurant, turned out to be more of a biker bar. It's in an historic hotel in downtown McArthur, OH. Mom walked in, looking at all the momentos, but I stopped short at the doorway when I saw a line of bikers at the bar. How do you get Mom's attention without everyone else noticing? No frantic "Mom- stop!", or anything I could think of. They did have a couple tables set out...

Anyway, While we sat down, 'Pappy's Lady' knocking back a shot of whiskey, while 'Pappy' talked to the bartender. We know them because her leather jacket was emblazoned with "Pappy's Lady", so I assume the guy next to her was Pappy. He had a leather jacket on with all kinds of patches on it. They all were eating lunch too, though, not just talking and drinking. Here we are, 2 old ladies just out of the library, primly sitting at the table ordering tea, with a half-dozen bikers and their chicks sprawled across the bar, talking tough to the rough looking bartender. She was a blonde that had spent way too many years working nights and smoking cigarettes. We got more than a couple side-long looks, and I imagine they weren't much more impressed with us than we were with them. Lunch wasn't too bad, for bar food, and we out-lasted the bikers, so the end of our meal was peaceful. We found Lake Hope campground north of McArthur. The only lake we saw looked more like a marsh, I could almost see the mosquitoes breeding there among the cattails and sedge. Luckily the camping is quite a bit higher, and not many bugs. The birds are singing right now, and it's very peaceful and calm. Happy Mother's Day!