Columbus, OH
By this point Lew had become phobic about travel with the Airstream. So Bobbi and Lew decided that, in order for him to extinguish the phobia, it was important for him to go camping again as soon as possible. On the 25th (Wednesday) we loaded the rig and hitched up, then headed up the old Scioto Trail, US-42, and US-23 to the familiar campground at Maumee Bay State Park (see our previous description here)

It rained, so we idled the evening away watching a frivolous film. The next morning (26th) after a leisurely breakfast Lew unhitched, we loaded the dogs into the van, and Lew headed through the rain into the city. By noon he stopped at the Ottawa Hills Memorial Park, and with some persistence located the graves of some old neighbors from his childhood -- under two inches of water. This project completed, we stopped at a fast food restaurant on Secor Road to get lunch for ourselves and the dogs. Then we drove around the neighborhood where Lew grew up, and finished the afternoon by touring some of the older Catholic churches from his childhood (Blessed Sacrament, St. Clement's, the cathedral, St. Anthony's, St. Stanislaus, Ss. Peter and Paul, Immaculate Conception, Good Shepherd, Sacred Heart, and St. Stephens). From St. Stephen's it was just a short drive back to campground for supper. Fortunately the rain had stopped.

Friday the 27th Bobbi spent the morning shopping at the nearby "Wally World". We took the perishables back to the Airstream and took off for lunch at Tony Packo's. After lunch we continued our tour of the old Catholic churches: St. Louis, St. Francis de Sales, St. Joseph's, St. Mary of the Assumption, St. Martin de Porres (which Lew knew as St. Ann's), Gesu and St. Hyacinth, St. Charles, past Immaculate Conception again and the empty lot that used to be Our Lady of Guadelupe, past Ss. Peter and Paul again, and out Navarre Ave to St. Ignatius. In the graveyard behind St. Ignatius we found the grave of the husband of Lew's old neighbor whom we had found the previous day in Ottawa Hills Memorial Park.

Another short drive took us back to the campground for supper. In the evening another neighbor and classmate from grade school days returned Lew's phone call. So Lew had a rather long discussion about their deceased neighbor and others from the same street, as well as the general destruction of the Toledo where they had gone to school.

All this was traumatic for Lew -- seeing the graves of childhood friends, their houses occupied by strangers, the closure of once bustling churches, the devastation of old ethnic neighborhoods bulldozed for freeways or simply "urban renewal", the deterioration of most of the remaining housing even in formerly "good" neighborhoods. But he tolerated it without getting too symptomatic.

Saturday the 28th Bobbi and Lew got right up, walked the dogs, and did breakfast. Knowing they had no time to waste, they hitched quickly and hit the road. They made it back to Osborn Drive by about 1 PM, parked the Airstream and unhitched, ate lunch, and changed clothes quickly enough to get to mass with time to spare. In short, it was a successful outing, and Lew gained a little confidence back.