Ohio - Streetsboro: Visit with 'Rain and Mare

We left the Riverside Park Motel and  Campground around 10 AM, in plenty of time to make the 220-mile drive to Streetsboro, Ohio where we would spend the night and have dinner with some old friends.

We made the border crossing at Buffalo, NY and got through without any issues. This was our 10th and final border crossing for Our Great RV Escape. Although other people have reported unpleasant experiences going back and forth between Canada and the US in their RVs, we've had no trouble at all. Perhaps we're just lucky.

The plan was that my friends would pick us up at the Streetsboro KOA at 6:30 PM, and I wanted to arrive at least a couple hours early so we had plenty of time to set up, walk the dogs, and freshen up. In fact, we even had time to take Sydney and Barley to the little KOA dog park and let them run around off -leash, which they really like.

I met 'Rain and Mare, who are cousins, in 1976 when I was a sixteen year-old exchange student with the American Field Service (AFS). Although I was an American citizen, AFS selected me to represent Barbados and I spent a year attending 12th grade at Euclid High School in Euclid, Ohio. I had already graduated from high school in Barbados but attending 12th grade was part of the deal.  Anyway, I made some great friends during that year in Ohio, with 'Rain and 'Mare being a big part of the core group I hung out with.  I have not seen these "girls" since we were 18 or 19, when they came to visit me in Barbados during the summer of 1978.  I was really looking forward to catching up!

Just as planned, 'Rain and Mare picked us up from the KOA at 6:30 PM and we went to a nearby Applebee's for dinner. It was so great to see them!  We exchanged news about children, husbands (a mixed bag), parents, and other friends. Although 32 years have gone by, we slipped right back into our friendship... isn't that amazing and wonderful?  And Lynda was such a good sport - she sat quietly and just absorbed as much as she could.

Well after a couple hours, we had to end our little reunion and the girls brought us back to the KOA.  We promised not to let another 32 years go by before we see each other again!

We leave tomorrow for Dayton, Ohio to visit Dede who we both knew in the Air Force. We reconnected via Facebook last year and it will be really good to see her. Stay tuned!