We left the Streetsboro KOA yesterday morning and made the 200-mile drive to the Dayton area without any trouble.
We were settled into the Bass Lake campground at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (AFB) by around 3 PM and took the dogs for a walk. This campground is not fancy, but its clean and functional and a good place to stay if you need to be in the Dayton area.
Our friend Dede came over around 5 PM and it was so nice to see her - its been about 18 years! I first met her in 1986 when we were stationed at Travis AFB in California, and then we were stationed together again in Germany at Lindsey Air Station from 1990 to 1992. This is also where I first met Lynda, and so the three of us have known each other for 20 years or more. Dede is now retired from the Air Force.
Dede was very pleased to meet Sydney and Barley. A big-time dog-lover, she is very involved in the local dog obedience club and frequently runs her dog, Sadie, in CPE trials, etc. Dede loaded us and the dogs up in her SUV and took us out to a dog park where Sydney and Barley ran around off-leash and got some real exercise. They really had fun! Then we dropped them off back at the campground and Dede took us over to the Gem City Dog Obedience Club land facility, which is very impressive. She told us a good deal about how this 43-year old club is run and it sounds excellent. The GCDOC would be a great club to model after! We spent some time at the outdoor area, watching dogs undergo various training and meeting some of Dede's friends.
Dede came over again this morning, and the three of us went over to the National Museum of the Air Force, which is on Wright-Patterson AFB. Enthusiasts come from all the world to visit this museum and you could easily spend several
days looking at the hundreds (perhaps thousands) of exhibits. We were there for about two hours and barely scratched the surface, but at least we saw a little bit!
After the museum, we had lunch at Olive Garden and then went over to Dede's house to visit Sadie. Not surprisingly, this little dog is very cute and we could easily understand why Dede is so fond of her!
Dede had a commitment to teach a dog obedience class this evening and so she dropped us back at the campground around 5:30 PM. It's been a nice visit and it was great to have this time to catch up - hopefully, we won't let so much time go by before we see each other again!
As hard as this is to believe, we head home tomorrow! I'm a little sad that Our Great RV Escape is winding down, although it will be nice to see family and friends after being gone for over 5 months.
