Just catching up on our final days, got lazy and haven't written even though the fun continues! From Missouri we did some serious driving to get to Indianapolis where I had a great visit with my best friend from Zweibrucken (Germany) High School, the other Linda (T) and her husband and son - it's been years since I saw them and Roland has grown into a handsome, charming young man; George, Linda's husband, took us to see his "girlfriends" at the coffee shop for breakfast - all fun and good food on the side. And catching up with one of the few friends I have known since childhood means a lot now - we were both Army dependents and moved yearly, except for our 3 year friendship in Germany. Loved seeing Linda T again and rehashing a few high school escapades! Then another couple hours drive into Columbus, Ohio where Linda C planned to visit with her sister, Valerie. When I let my cousin Jill know we were in town, she and her son Derek decided to drive over to visit and tour the RV (I think I'm ready to be a sales rep for Thor!) - Valerie came home from work with a full barbeque dinner for the impromptu reunion. We had a great dinner and good visit looking back at pictures and reliving a few harrowing moments of the trip! Jill, Derek and Valerie were loyal followers of the blog so they just needed some embellishments to get a good laugh from our adventures. Valerie also offered to keep Sara at her house while I drove on to my family in Youngstown, OH (Lynn was coming to the family reunion with her two dogs, so it made for a crowded dog house) - so Sara and Linda stayed in Columbus. I arrived in Youngstown (Struthers), OH on Tuesday, August 2, and had a couple days to myself with Mom's family. On Thursday the rest of my family flew in to Pittsburgh for the family reunion. And that's when things went downhill - health issues flared for Mom's husband that same evening, and we ended up giving him the complete Youngstown tour, to include St Elizabeth's Hospital ER on a Thursday night! He was admitted after a long night in the ER, but was rightfully impressed to note that they had GRiTS on the hospital menu for breakfast! Someone even told him he sounded like Jimmy Carter, so we made lots of friends! Friday was a very rough day, but Bud rebounded Saturday and they tried to discharge him that morning - he talked the doctor into letting him stay longer so Mom and I had time to drive to Pittsburgh for the family reunion, then come back to Youngstown to get him discharged from hospital by 7pm. The reunion was a great success, great turnout, good weather, good food (beer, lamb, haluski , and desserts were the highlights for me!). We missed many of our older relatives who have died in the past few years, but it is inspiring to see the talents of the younger generation. We rushed back to get Bud discharged from the hospital and spent 2 days relaxing at home - just a couple side trips to the local farms for some incredible home grown corn and the local chocolate factory, Giannios! Tuesday morning I left early with the RV to drive to Kent to see my college roommate, Lynnda and husband Bob. I was able to show them the RV and then Lynnda did the driving so we could pick up Linda C and Sara from Columbus - the drive was a good time to catch up with Lynnda's busy life! So good to have friends that stand the test of time! This Lynnda and Linda C had been on my surprise 50th birthday trip to Germany, so we had a great reunion with Lynn (who had masterminded that celebration!) in Kent that evening. Lynnda's husband Bob was playing in a jazz band at Water St Tavern, so we played the "groupies" and pretended that no time had passed since we used to drink 3.2 beer in downtown Kent, my alma mater!! Lynn drove home to Struthers that night with Sara, while Linda and I stayed on with Lynnda and Bob for the evening (getting an updated tour of Kent and the DZ sorority house) and a great breakfast on Wednesday morning. Then it was back on the road, driving Mom and Bud to the Akron airport so they could get back home to Bud's doctors. Cousin Ginny and Bob came Thursday and Friday, sharing pictures of their Western trip (apparently we missed a few sites, may have to go back!!), and then Friday afternoon, we packed up and left for the Niagara Eggfest - you know, Lynn's Big Green Egg Cult, that makes us want to drive to all ends of the earth to cook and eat foods cooked on the Big Green Egg! And, if you think we are crazy, there were also four other Eggers who made the trip! We left Ohio at 1:30pm, got stuck in hideous rush hour traffic/construction/customs backups and finally arrived in St Catherine's, Ontario at 7pm. Checked into campground, left 3 Weimeraners in the RV, and drove 30 minutes to the Canadian Niagara Falls - lights, mist, humidity, crowds, neon, fireworks, and lots of falling water - it was beautiful, but I really appreciated my air conditioned RV that night even more! The next day was a quick trip to Niagara-on-the-Lake (NOTL) which was a quaint, flowered historic town of wineries and a peach festival - loved it!!! Then on to Costco to purchase Lynn's food for the Eggfest, back to RV to let dogs out, then on to the Meet-n-Greet Party at an Italian Restaurant in St Catherine. Very fun and delicious - our Canadian hosts were the best and showed us a great time! The Eggfest was on Sunday, Aug. 14 at Hernden Estates Winery - what a venue!! We were there until 4pm, then came back to campground to relax - the first time we had enjoyed the awning and outdoor television to catch up on the the Olympics (that would be the Canadian athletes at the Olympics!!). Lynn left Monday morn to drive back to Atlanta, Linda and I decided to see a little more of NOTL, this time taking in the waterfront - it is where the Niagara River meets Lake Ontario, and you see the Toronto skyline across Lake Ontario. We finally left town at 6 pm to drive back to Struthers by 11pm. The rest of the week has flown by while relaxing at Aunt Marilyn's, eating much too well, and getting to see more of cousin Don, Missy, and kids - AJ and Abby led us on a 20 mile bike ride down the Mill Creek Bike Trail! And to think these seniors could keep pace with the teens (except AJ went on to his lawn mowing jobs and we had to go back to bed!). But a great trail through city and corn fields! Sunday, August 21 we are finally heading back to Atlanta to face our responsibilities! I'm still trying to find a place to live in the RV for the month - much to do in Atlanta, a list of many repairs for the RV, and plans to be made for the next trip.