Big day of travel starting at 7:47 AM when we pulled out of Kamp Komfort and headed east on Route 24 across America's Heartland.
We stopped in Watseka, IL at "Recharge Coffee Co." for coffee, of course. And then stopped for a quick lunch at McDonalds in Peru, IN. Back in the eastern time zone so lost an hour, but weather was nice, traffic good and overall, a fine day UNTIL we got to Archbold, OH (less than 2 miles from our campground).
We've heard about this town a lot over the years as our friend, Doug grew up on a turkey farm nearby in Wauseon. Doug and Patty have been friends for over 50 years and now live in The Villages, FL.
Okay, so we arrive in Archbold (pop 4,516) and so close to our campground, that traffic came to a halt. Turns out a train was stopped on the tracks and we sat there for 40 minutes. Mark checked on Google that this is a fairly common occurrence in Archbold (the locals know where to go under the tracks to avoid this hassle). It has been a big problem and trying to solve, but.....the tracks have been closed up to 3-4 hours and with 4 trains coming thru town in an hour's time, it happens frequently. What a mess.....Mark was finally able to figure out the alternate route and in a very short time we arrived at the Sauder Village Campground. As we went under the tracks, everything still stopped.
Sauder Village (Ohio's largest destination settlement) was developed in 1976 and is 235 acres dating from 1803-1928 and the historic village has all the businesses, folks dressed in period costumes, etc. However, they had closed by the time we got there (summer hours will start after Memorial Day.) We walked around the huge parking lot (after sitting all day, needed to stretch the legs). And then we enjoyed a very delicious meal at The Barn - great home cookin' with so many choices. Mark had the roast beef dinner and I had honey glazed ham (5 slices) and excellent sides including beets 'n eggs (3 hard-boiled eggs with sliced beets - yummy). VERY GOOD MEAL!
Back to the campground and settled in - going to get down to 42 overnight. The site next to us is a tent! BURRRRR....
Mark's sister Joan called during dinner with the shock and sad news that a former classmate, John McCormick had passed away very unexpectedly. Both John and his wife Julie were in Mark's class and we were with them at their 56th reunion in Branson 2 years ago. Julie had the health issues including a very bad car accident and John has been her caregiver, They were in Chandler, AZ and John had a heart attack and passed away 11 days after his 76th birthday.
We have just 84 miles to Port Clinton and Catrina tomorrow!
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